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Leipzig, Germany

Miha Zhu Triumphs at 2026 Leipzig Bach Competition

Competitions

A demanding programme curated by jury chair Reinhard Goebel made for an exciting violin edition of the annual contest

The 2026 Leipzig Bach Competition, with its finals held on Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday, March 21, culminated in a spirited final and awards ceremony at the Lutherkirche. This year’s edition, devoted to the violin, showcased a generation of players adept at meeting the exacting demands of Bach’s repertoire.

Top honours went to German violinist Miha Zhu (29), who took the First Prize of €20,000. In addition to the cash award she earned the €2,000 audience prize, a €500 Bärenreiter Urtext voucher and a custom stage outfit from Wagler Leipzig GmbH. French baroque specialist Céleste Klingelschmitt (23) received the €10,000 Second Prize and a four‑year loan of a reproduction baroque violin from the Christa Bach Marschall Foundation. The Third Prize of €5,000 was awarded to Dutch violinist Cosima Soulez-Lavière (29). All three laureates have been offered engagements at the 2026 Leipzig Bachfest and in the Im Zeichen Bach series in Bruneck, Italy.

Two further special awards recognized emerging talent and instrument support: German violinist Moë Dierstein (20) won a €1,000 grant for a masterclass, while Greek violinist Phoebe Rousochatzaki (26) received a four‑year loan of a modern violin from the Christa Bach Marschall Foundation.

Zhu, a graduate of the Berlin University of the Arts and the Hanns Eisler School of Music, has studied with Viviane Hagner and others and since 2024 has been a student of Natalia Prishpenko at the Carl Maria von Weber School of Music Dresden. She also holds a position with the Staatskapelle Halle and the associated Halle Handel Festival Orchestra.


 

Miha Zhu ©Bach-Wettbewerb Leipzig / Gert Mothes

The jury was chaired by Reinhard Goebel and included Rachel Barton Pine, Eleonore Büning, Friedemann Eichhorn, Rachel Podger, Johannes Pramsohler and Kathrin Rabus. Artistic director Michael Maul praised the competition’s demanding programme — selected by Goebel — noting that the three winners “could scarcely have been more different” and highlighting the final’s greatest tests: Bach’s Chaconne and a Bach violin concerto, the works that ultimately decided the prize.

Founded in 1950 and organized by the Bach Archive Leipzig with the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy,” the competition—recently moved to an annual cycle—continues to be a major platform for performers who combine scholarly insight with technical and expressive mastery.

 

Winners
First Prize: Miha Zhu (29)
Second Prize: Céleste Klingelschmitt (23)
Third Prize: Cosima Soulez-Lavière (29)

Jury
Reinhard Goebel (Chair), Rachel Barton Pine, Eleonore Büning, Friedemann Eichhorn, Rachel Podger, Johannes Pramsohler Kathrin Rabus

Artists
Collegium Musicum ‘23, Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum

 

©WFIMC 2026