Italian euphonium player Domenico Cima has won the Euphonium Competition at the 19th Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival in South Korea.

His performance of the set-concerto work, Karl Jenkins' 'Euphonium Concerto' saw him finish ahead of fellow finalists Lorenz Havermans (Belgium) and Thomas Dubois (France).

He now joins a formidable list of past winners such as Yu-Han Yang, Lilian Meurin, Glenn Van Looy and Bastian Baumet. He will now perform in the forthcoming Winners Concert alongside the other solo competition winners

Happy

Speaking about his victory he said on his Facebook page: "Happy to announce that I won the first prize at Jeju Brass and Percussion Competition 2024. Thank to all the jury.

Many congratulations to all the participants and obviously to the finalists Lorenz Havermans and Thomas Dubois."

Domenico has a degree in the euphonium from the Santa Cecilia di Roma conservatoire and plays in the Italian Army Band alongside a number of the members of the Italian Brass Band in Rome where he also plays.

Proud

Band spokesperson Giovanni Celestino said: "We are all very proud of this amazing achievement by Domenico. He is a fantastic player and a great friend to us all here in the band.

We were all willing him to win and the honour that it brings to him as a performer. He was the only Italian performer in the final stages of the contest which made it even better!"

55 performers from Europe and Asia took part in the first round of competition, reduced to 22 for the second round, with the jury speaking in glowing terms of the quality of performances of 'Pulcinella' by Philip Sparke, John Reeman's 'Sonata for Euphonium' and two movements from Adam Wesolowski's 'Euphory Concerto'.

Happy to announce that I won the first prize at Jeju Brass and Percussion Competition 2024 Domenico Cima

Jury

The international jury comprised Adam Frey, Baek Seung Yeon, Fernando Deddes, Mark Jenkins, Ryuji Usigami, Steven Mead and Tzu Hsiang Lin.

Reflecting on the event, Steven Mead said on his Facebook page: "This has been a quite memorable event with almost a record number of participants and the highest standard in the competition's history.