Which works do the candidates prepare for the Piano Competition?

Video-preselection

• A fugue from the Die Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080 by Johann Sebastian Bach;
• a sonata by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven or Franz Schubert;
• a Frédéric Chopin étude;
• a work of the candidate's choice for solo piano.

The videos are screened by the jury members of the preselection, in order to select the candidates who can participate in the first public round.

First round

For the first round the candidates prepare:

• The first movement of a sonata by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Ludwig van Beethoven (up to and including op.31);
• a work of choice;
• four études: one by Frédéric Chopin, one by Franz Liszt, one by Gÿorgy Ligeti and an étude of choice, written by another composer than Chopin, Liszt or Ligeti.

The jury chooses which works or parts of works each candidate has to perform. The candidate will be informed of this choice one hour before the performance. After the drawing of lots of Friday night 2 May, the candidates’ order of appearance will be published in the First round calendar. Each candidate's programme will be added once the candidate has been informed of the works to be performed.

Semi-final

At each session, which consists of two parts, four different semi-finalists are scheduled.

The first two play a Mozart concerto, to be chosen from concertos KV 271 (No. 9 in E flat major), KV450 (No. 15 in B flat major), KV453 (No. 17 in G major), KV456 (No. 18 in B flat major), and KV595 (No. 27 in B flat major). They will be accompanied by the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, conducted by Vahan Mardirossian.

After the break, the other two pianists perform their recital. The jury will choose one of two recital programmes proposed by the candidate, each including works of the candidate’s choice and the compulsory unpublished work, Two Studies for Piano, written especially for this year’s edition by Ana Sokolović (world première on Monday 12 May 2025).

You can discover the jury's choice of recital in the Semi-final calendar, the day before the candidate's performance. The semi-final schedule will be added on Sunday 11 May.

Final

The finalists will perform the imposed work, Music for the Heart, written specially for the final of this piano session by Kris Defoort (world première on Monday 26 May 2025), and a concerto of their own choice, with the Brussels Philharmonic under the baton of Kazushi Ono. After the semi-final, the repertoire chosen by the finalists and their order of appearance will be indicated in the Calendar of the final.