I’m not quite sure how I came across the link to the Queen Elisabeth Competition, but I’m very glad that I did.
It is one of the world’s most prestigious and difficult music competitions with a tradition that goes back to 1937. This year is all about the piano…
“This competition is for musicians who have completed their training and who are ready to embark upon an international career.
A record number of applications were submitted this year. An international jury has screened the DVD’s of 283 candidates, sent from all over the world.”
75 candidates were put forward to the first round, which took place at Flagey. Held in front of a jury and the public, the competition started on 6th May, with two shows being held each day (until the 11th), each show consisted of five candidates, who played five different pieces for our enjoyment.
If you are not a fan of the piano, you won’t enjoy it, but as I am, I found it absolutely wonderful. The music was just unbelievable – there are recordings on the Queen Elisabeth website, so you can actually hear it for yourself…
Fantee Jones was my favorite from the night that I visited. She didn’t make it through to the semi-finals unfortunately (although both Sangyoung Kim and David Fung did – congratulations) I found this video of Fantee playing in a competition from two years ago (when she was 17), which I think shows what a wonderful pianist she is…
This was the first time that I’ve visited Flagey and I was really impressed with it as a venue. We had a lovely glass of wine at the bar outside Studio 4, before the event started (although they use a ticket system to buy drinks, which I hate) and looked out over the lake opposite.
I’ve already got a ticket to one of the semi-final performances next week and I can’t wait to see the candidates in action again – this time they will be accompanied by an orchestra as well.
If you are in Brussels and like Piano music, you should definitely check it out.
