Eurovision Young Musicians 2026

Polish accordionist Michał Stochel won the Eurovision Young Musicians 2026.

Eighteen-year-old Polish accordionist Michał Stochel won the Eurovision Young Musicians competition in Yerevan. He impressed the jury with his performance of the third movement of Mikołaj Majkusiak's Concerto Classico for accordion. This marks Poland’s fourth victory in the competition's history.

This year's edition featured representatives from 11 countries. The contestant from Latvia came second, while the representative from Armenia came third. Previously, Polish musicians won the competition in 1992, 2000 and 2016. In terms of the total number of victories, Poland now ranks second behind Austria.

Hailing from a village near Rzeszów in Poland’s southeast, Stochel started playing the accordion as a young child. His prodigious talent soon made him a star as he wowed audiences on a TV talent show aged just 10. Now a student at a music school in Przemyśl, not far from his hometown, he has won numerous awards and beat other Polish musicians in a domestic competition to get the Eurovision finals. He won both the Grand Prize and the Audience Award at the Young Musician of the Year 2026 competition organised by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the National Institute of Music and Dance, and Telewizja Polska.

Following his victory in Armenia, Stochel urged other aspiring musicians to work hard and follow their dreams.

“Keep trying and never give up. I think that is very important. There will always be challenges along the way, but if you truly want something and are willing to work for it, you can achieve it,” the teenager said.