Tokyo violinist wins Paganini prize

MOSCOW (Kyodo) Kyoko Yonemoto of Tokyo won first prize Wednesday in the Fourth Paganini Moscow International Violin Competition.

Yonemoto, 22, who hails from Tokyo, is the first Japanese to win the competition.

Yonemoto played a concerto by Antonin Dvorak in the final round, with six out of 50 participants chosen as finalists.

Yonemoto began studying violin at age 3, and placed fourth at the 1997 Paganini Competition in Italy when she was 13, becoming the youngest-ever prize winner.

In 2002, Yonemoto came to third in the violin category of the prestigious Long-Thibaud Competition, which is considered to be a major stepping-stone for young musicians.

Yonemoto, who graduated from the Paris-based Ecole Normale de Musique, currently studies at Conservatorium Maastricht in the Netherlands.