American Violinist Kevin Zhu, 17, wins the 55th Paganini International Violin Competition 2018

April 18, 2018, 12:30 PM · Congratulations to Kevin Zhu, 17 of the United States, who has won the 55th Paganini International Violin Competition, which concluded Saturday in Genoa. Zhu will receive a €20,000 cash and the opportunity to perform a recital on the 1743 "Cannon’" Guarneri del Gesù, once played by Paganini.

Kevin Zhu. Photo courtesy the Paganini International Violin Competition.

Here are all the finalists in the 2018 Paganini Competition:

First prize: Kevin Zhu, 17 of the United States
Second prize: Fedor Rudin, 25 of France
Third prize: Stephen Kim, 22 of the United States
Fourth prize: Yiliang Jiang, 21 of China
Fifth prize: Oleksandr Pushkarenko, 28 of Ukraine
Sixth prize: Luke Hsu, 27 of the United States

Kevin Zhu also received the special prize for the best performance of a Paganini caprice during the competition. Fedor Rudin received the 2018 audience prize, and Rennosuke Fukuda received the special prize for the best performance of the contemporary work in the semi-final round.

Zhu grew up in California and studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music preparatory division with Li Lin and at The Juilliard School with Itzhak Perlman and others. At age 11 he won First Prize in the Junior Division of the 2012 Menuhin Competition, the youngest person at the time to do so.

The Paganini International Violin Competition was founded in 1954, and previous winners have included György Pauk, Salvatore Accardo, Gidon Kremer, Leonidas Kavakos and Ilya Gringolts. This year’s jury includes Sergei Krylov (chairman), Dimitri Berlinsky, Bin Huang, Heiner Madl, Svetlana Makarova, Anna Tifu, and Daniel Smith.

BELOW: Kevin Zhu plays Paganini Concerto No. 1 in D Major at Harpa International Music Academy in 2016.