Everyone is aware that, regardless of the outcome of this edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition Piano 2021, the corona crisis had a negative impact on the entire organisation and, consequently, on the candidates as well. A human matter, which is difficult to address. Good courage is something, but not everything. That courage and perseverance were there – and how needed, more than ever – to allow the competition to take place under these circumstances. It succeeded. Hats off to the entire organisation, all its staff members in front of and behind the scenes, the jury, the orchestra members and, of course, the candidates.
H.M. Queen Mathilde, the de Launoit family and the various governments of Belgium finance the prizes for the first six laureates of each Competition.
The ranking of the laureates of the Piano Competition 2021 was announced on the last final evening (Saturday 29 May 2021, around 11 p.m.). Due to the applicable safety measures, the organisation was forced to adapt the Competition regulations: because only six finalists were selected instead of twelve, there were no unranked laureates this year.
Prize Winners
Jonathan Fournel - Grand International Prize Queen Elisabeth
First Prize - Queen Mathilde Prize
€ 25.000
Sergei Redkin - Prize of the Belgian Federal Government
Second Prize, offered by Federal Science Policy - Arthur De Greef Prize
€ 20.000
Keigo Mukawa - Count de Launoit Prize
Third Prize
€ 17.000
Tomoki Sakata - Prize of the Community Governments of Belgium
Fourth Prize, this year offered by the Government of the German-speaking Community
€ 12.500
Vitaly Starikov - Prize of the Brussels Capital Region
Fifth Prize
€ 10.000
Dmitri Sin - Prize of the City of Brussels
Sixth Prize
€ 8.000
With the support of The National Lottery and some Generous Donors
the six semi-finalists not selected for the final each receive
€ 2.000
Canvas/Klara Prize: Jonathan Fournel
Klara and Canvas invite their listeners, viewers and internet users to vote for their favourite candidate among the finalists.
€ 2.500
Musiq3 Prize
Musiq3 and La Trois invite their listeners, viewers and internet users to vote for their favourite candidate among the finalists.
€ 2.500
All further information about the competition can be found on the QEC website. You can also listen back to the semi-finals and finals there. You will find information about the laureate concerts and the recording of the CD.
Closing Remarks
Please note that I am expressing a personal opinion here and that, throughout the entire competition, just as in all previous years when I reviewed the competition, I have not listened to or read any commentaries. I do this deliberately to avoid having to make compromises; to avoid having my opinion influenced in any way.
You will not read the opinion of the editorial staff of Klassiek Centraal here, but only my personal view: a reviewer, yes indeed, but also an individual listener. Individual as never before, because watching from home in front of a screen is really not what it is in a full auditorium. At home you listen to CDs that are produced precisely for listening at home. Where any potential mistakes can be corrected and where the approach is the recording, not the live event. That is a different working method and sometimes a completely different inspiration.
I share this with you because, as far as I am concerned, it was actually more difficult listening in the quiet of one's home than in a living hall where someone always has to cough, rustle with paper, a programme booklet falls, but also that fantastic atmosphere. Watching the orchestra musicians come on, the tuning of the instruments, the presenter raising the tension, someone from the royal court whose presence encourages the candidates, the candidate and the conductor taking their places, the breathless silence at the beginning, the deep breathing while listening, the applause and the stress we release with it, as if the audience is taking a burden of stress from the candidates. The murmuring and chatting, whether excited or not in the hall after a candidate's performance. Leaving the hall in dense crowds, the queue waiting at the toilets and then heading home to transform your notes into text and post them on the website in the middle of the night, because yes, you want to quickly give your readers your impressions.
All of that is not there. It is quite unreal: you feel involved, and yet you do not experience the same excitement. When a candidate seems a bit weaker to you, you tend to let your attention slip to something else in your domestic chores. Even if it's just filling your coffee cup, taking a sip…
For these and many other reasons that make listening at home so different, but that also mean the performance in that empty hall can never be compared to all other editions, I have decided not to make a forecast – as in other years – and to defer to the verdict of the jury, which is indeed sitting in that almost empty hall. A jury that now also listens differently because the hall, that large Henry Le Boeuf Hall, must sound completely different than when 2,000 people are sitting in it. It cannot be otherwise.
And yes, still a special word of thanks to the solitary queen Mathilde, who was present at every final evening. Her encouraging presence gave an extra dimension to the six laureates. That was of greater importance in this edition than in normal circumstances.
This closing reflection I wanted to share with you. I hope that everyone of you, dear readers, can understand me and also be more lenient towards the candidates – however sharp I sometimes was in my notes – and let us together hope that an edition like the one we had to endure never happens again. Next year, in a packed hall. The young musicians in themselves already deserve that. The entire organization with all involved, also those we do not see, deserve that. Music deserves that.