Imposed work for the final

After the semi-final, the finalists of the instrumental sessions are hosted for one week at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, in particular to study without any outside help an unpublished concert piece. For the 2026 Cello Competition, this work has been composed by Fang Man. Four Odes to the Tidings of Flowers [In Spring Valleys, An Ode to Orchid - In Summer Winds, An Ode to Bamboo - In Autumn Frost, An Ode to Chrysanthemum - In Winter Snow, An Ode to Plum] has been unveiled at its world premiere on the first day of the final, on Monday 25 May, at 8.15pm at the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts. It is interpreted by the twelve finalists, with the Belgian National Orchestra under the baton of Antony Hermus.


The compulsory work was commissioned from Fang Man, made possible thanks to the generous support of Mr. Rudolf Schülgen.

Fang Man’s music, which is rooted in Chinese literary and philosophical traditions and shaped by Western musical aesthetics, unfolds between cultures, memory and imagination. Educated in China, the United States and Europe, she creates sound worlds that resonate across cultures while remaining deeply personal and poetic. Her music has been performed by ensembles such as the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Camerata Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Sinfonia Rotterdam, Basel Sinfonietta, Mannheimer Philharmoniker, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, American Composers Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Minnesota Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Prism Saxophone Quartet and Dolce Suono Ensemble. Supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, her sheng (Chinese mouth organ) concerto Song of the Flaming Phoenix was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony and the League of American Orchestras. She has also served as composer-in-residence with the Mannheimer Philharmoniker. Fang Man has received numerous honors, including a Charles Ives Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Koussevitzky Foundation Commission, Toru Takemitsu Award, and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Opera America, New Music USA, among others. She has been invited to festivals such as the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music, Gaudeamus Music Week, Cabrillo Festival and Aspen Music Festival, and has held residencies at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Aldeburgh Music Centre and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Cornell University, pursued advanced studies at the Ircam in Paris and received her Bachelor of Music from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She is currently a composition professor at the University of South Carolina.

A few words from the composer about her work
This work draws its title from the traditional Chinese concept of huā xìn , the ‘tidings’ carried by flowers as they mark the unfolding of the seasons. In Chinese aesthetics, flowers are not merely botanical presences but spiritual emblems. Across four movements - orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum and plum - the concerto traces a journey through spring, summer, autumn and winter, illuminating the inner landscapes these seasons awaken. Yet this journey is not bound to a fixed chronology. Just as memory and emotion do not unfold in linear time, the four movements may be performed in an order chosen by the solo cellist. Each performer shapes a personal seasonal arc. In this way, the soloist becomes both interpreter and storyteller, reimagining the relationship between season, flower and spirit with each performance.
The concerto is shaped by two composers I deeply admire. From Bach come rhythmic vitality, contrapuntal clarity and the physicality of string writing. From Messiaen I draw pitch material from the Modes of Limited Transposition, whose luminous harmonies evoke mysticism and suspended time. In this concerto, Eastern poetic imagery meets Western musical architecture.

Imposed work for the semi-final

Harold Noben has written the imposed work for the semi-final of the 2026 Cello Competition. Caffeine, for cello and piano, has been premiered on Monday 11 May at 3pm at Studio 4 in Flagey and has been performed by the 24 semi-finalists. The candidates have received the score of this work after the preselection.




With the support of Sabam, which encourages creation.




Harold Noben has developed a distinctive musical language, free from a predetermined framework. His work, often imbued with literature, blends diverse styles and currents. This eclecticism stems from an atypical, self-taught compositional path. Initially trained as a pianist under Jean Schils and Marie-Paule Cornia at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège, he later turned to composition by founding his trio Cardamome, situated at the crossroads of jazz and classical music, and inspired by tango nuevo and traditional musics. In 2011, Sébastien Walnier commissioned his first work for the ensemble Ô-Celli. He worked with the 12 cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker on their album Hora Cero (2016), received a commission from the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège for White House 1921 (2018) and held a composition residency from 2018 to 2020 at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under the supervision of Benoît Mernier. This led to the creation of his chamber opera À l’extrême bord du monde, staged at La Monnaie in 2020 and restaged in 2026. His collaboration with La Monnaie continued with Beyond (2022), commissioned by Peter de Caluwe. His most recent opera Bovary (2025), with a libretto by Michaël De Cock, premiered at the Théâtre National. In the chamber music repertoire, commissions have come from numerous ensembles, artists, and institutions such as Musiques Nouvelles, Sturm und Klang, the Roeland Hendrikx ensemble and Ô-Celli.
He received the Marcel Hastir Prize in 2022 for his string quartet Quartet from the Portuguese and the composition prize from the Fondation des Treilles in 2024, resulting in a three-month residency at the Foundation. Harold Noben also teaches at IMEP in Namur and at the Arthur De Greef Academy in Saint-Gilles.

A few words from the composer about his work:
Caffeine was conceived as an exuberant outlet for the tensions that candidates in a competition such as the Queen Elisabeth might experience and feel. I aimed to create music full of rhythm, the occasional groove and a kind of frenzy, a certain nervousness even that has to be released. The kind you feel bubbling up under the influence of caffeine … especially when you’ve had a little too much. It’s an outlet that allows you, despite the circumstances, to find pleasure, a kind of primal joy felt at plunging headlong into this electric current, without restraint.
This frenzy is also a reflection of today’s society, where constant acceleration and hyperactivity are dragging us all along in an unrelenting movement at breakneck speed, raising major questions. It is as if our world itself were under the influence of caffeine, which seems to flow relentlessly through our hectic lives, impacting our communities, our families and each of us individually.



Both works will be released on CD and on the main streaming platforms after this year's Competit