Queen Elisabeth Competition

The 21st edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, dedicated to the piano, concluded on Saturday, May 31, 2025 in a packed Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, buzzing with energy thanks to the twelve finalists. As a leading event in the Belgian and international music scene, the competition puts exceptional young artists in the spotlight every year. The 4-cd box of 2025 brings together the most striking moments of this edition. First Prize winner Nikola Meeuwsen follows Jonathan Fournel, Lukáš Vondráček, Boris Giltburg, Denis Kozhukhin and Anna Vinnitskaja. He shines here in Prokofjev's Second Concerto, accompanied by the Brussels Philharmonic under the direction of Kazushi Ono, and in Mendelssohn's serious Variations. Other orchestral performances on the album include: Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 3 by Valère Burnon (Third Prize, VRT Canvas-Klara Audience Prize and Musiq3 Prize), Brahms' Concerto No. 2 by Wataru Hisasue (Second Prize) and Schumann's Concerto by Arthur Hinnewinkel (Fourth Prize). The boxset concludes with Mozart's Concerto No. 27, performed by Jiaxin Min, accompanied by the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie under the direction of Vahan Mardirossian. A prominent place is reserved for solo and contemporary repertoire: the two mandatory works, Music for the Heart by Kris Defoort – performed by Yuki Yoshimi – and Two Studies by Ana Sokolović – by Shiori Kuwahara – precede Liszt's Réminiscences de Norma by Masaya Kamei (fifth prize) and Brahms' Sonata No. 1 by Sergey Tanin (sixth prize), recorded at Flagey. A lively testimony to this unforgettable edition, which you must discover anew with each listen.