Kerson Leong won the Menuhin Competition in Oslo last week. (Menuhin Competition)

A 13-year-old Ottawa boy who recently triumphed in one of the world's most prestigious violin competitions takes to the stage of the National Arts Centre next week.

Kerson Leong won the Menuhin Competition in Oslo, Norway, last Friday.

The Grade 7 student at Ashbury College was the only Canadian in the contest and brought home the top prize in the under-16 category. There were 20 other contestants from around the world.

"Well, actually I didn't think of the competition, so it wasn't that tense for me," Leong told CBC News after returning from Oslo.

"I just stood up for the music and concentrated on playing and didn't care about the results."

The win in Oslo is a promising beginning for the young violinist. Along with his $7,000 prize, he wins a string of European concert appearances.

On May 8, he is scheduled to perform with his mother and brother in a concert that's meant to be a tribute to moms. They'll be under the baton of youth and family music conductor Boris Brott.

The family-friendly program includes story-telling by Lynn Johnston of For Better For Worse and a performance by the Tutti Muzik Trio.

Leong is already known in Ottawa music circles. At 11, he performed the Allegro from Vivaldi's Concerto in B-flat major for Violin and Cello with his brother Stanley at an NAC fundraising gala.

He has also performed at 24 Sussex Drive and been a top prize winner in the Canadian Music Competition.

Leong is studying with Serhii Vyhovskyi at the Tutti Muzik Academy in Ottawa, but he's unsure if music will be his lifelong commitment.

"I'm still deciding whether I should go into music or not, because I have many, many other things that I like to do — maybe history, math, sports," he said.