Queen Elisabeth Music Competition

The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, a founding member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (1957) has been, since its foundation, considered the world over to be one of the most prestigious, but also one of the most difficult in existence. It is devoted to violin (since 1951), piano (since 1952), to composition (since 1953) and to singing (since 1988). It is named after Queen Elisabeth of Belgium.

History

Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian concert-violinist, had wanted to set up an international music competition for young virtuosi showcasing their all-round skill, but died before he could do so. Queen Elisabeth, patroness of the arts and good friend of Ysaÿe, set up the competition in his memory in 1937. The prestige of Ysaÿe and Belgium's Royal Court (King Albert and Queen Elisabeth were admired heroes of the First World War) assured that the first competition would draw great entrants.

The Soviet school was the resounding winner in 1937: the great David Oistrakh won first prize without the slightest discussion. In 1938, the competition was dedicated to piano; Emil Gilels won, and again, the Soviet school was victorious.

The competition did not resume until 1951; World War II and several royal scandals prevented the competition from taking place. In 1951, the competition was renamed for its patroness, Queen Elisabeth, and has taken place under that name since then.

Entrants are expected to learn a compulsory work written especially for the competition. (The work is picked during the composition competition.) Usually there is also a section where contestants are expected to perform a work by a Belgian composer.

From 1963 to 1980, Marcel Poot of the Brussels Conservatory chaired the jury of the competition and wrote several commissioned works to mark the occasion, that were used as competition-required pieces.

Patronage

The Queen Elisabeth Competition generates income from its own activities, from private patronage and from sponsoring. Resources are varied: part of the funding for the prizes laureates receive is provided by public authorities and patrons, corporate sponsors, donors contributions, ticket and programme sales, advertising in the programmes and the sale of recordings. The Competition also benefits from the volunteer assistance of families who open their homes to candidates for the duration of the competition.

Current Edition (15th Piano edition, 2007)

The current edition in 2007 is the piano competition, the finale round being held from May 28 until June 2 2007. The first round counted 73 candidates not older than 27 years old, who were selected for the first time in the history of the competition by means of a DVD recording during February 2007 in the Flagey studios, Brussels. In this round, candidates play a Prelude & Fugue from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier by J.S. Bach, an Etude and a work of free choice.

The 24 semi-finalists prepare for the semi-final in the Royal Conservatory of Brussels a classical sonata, a Belgian composition, a 20th/21st century work, three works from the grand solo piano repertoire, a piano concerto by Mozart, and the compulsory work "Dedicatio VI" by Kris Defoort.

The 12 finalists play in the Henry Le Boeuf Hall of the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten (Centre for Fine Arts) in Brussels. The programme consists of a classical sonata, the compulsory work "La Luna y la Muerte" by Miguel Gálvez-Taroncher (winner of the 2006 composition competition), and a piano concerto. They are supported by Gilbert Varga directing the National Orchestra of Belgium.

The laureates are:
* 1st Prize: Anna Vinnitskaya (Russia):: Programme: Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.13; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2
* 2nd Prize: Plamena Mangova (Bulgaria)
* 3rd Prize: Francesco Piemontesi (Switzerland)
* 4th Prize: Ilya Rashkovskiy (Russia)
* 5th Prize: Hyo-Sun Lim (Korea)
* 6th Prize: Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort (Belgium)Other finalists, in order of playing:
*Mariangela Vacatello (Italy)
*Hisako Kawamura (Japan)
*Hong-Chun Youn (Korea)
*Miyeon Lee (Korea)
*François Dumont (France)
*Stanislav Khegay (Kazakhstan)

Past Winners

Piano

Composition

Prizes

First Prize:"INTERNATIONAL QUEEN ELISABETH GRAND PRIZE"HM Queen Fabiola Prize20,000 euro - numerous concerts - recording on CD

Second Prize:"BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PRIZE"17,500 euro - concerts - recording on CD

Third Prize:"COUNT DE LAUNOIT PRIZE"15,000 euro - concerts

Fourth Prize:"PRIZE AWARDED ALTERNATELY BY EACH OF THE COMMUNITIES OF BELGIUM"10,000 euro - concerts

Fifth Prize:"BRUSSELS CAPITAL REGION PRIZE"8,000 euro - concerts

Sixth Prize:"CITY OF BRUSSELS PRIZE"7,000 euro - concerts

ee also

* List of classical music competitions
* Queen Elisabeth Medical Foundation

References

* [http://www.concours-reine-elisabeth.be Queen Elisabeth music competition - official page]
* [http://www.wfimc.org World Federation of International Music Competitions]
* [http://www.concours-reine-elisabeth.be/files/1937-2007.pdf|Laureates from 1937 in violin, piano, singing and composition]
* [http://masamizuno.com Directory of International Piano Competitions]