The 4 CD box set with the highlights of the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition is now available in music stores and on digital platforms.
The 2026 Cello Session provided an opportunity to celebrate three major anniversaries: the 75th anniversary of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Queen Elisabeth, the Competition’s founder, and the 150th anniversary of one of her closest friends, the great cellist and humanist Pablo Casals.
This edition was distinguished by the remarkable diversity of its repertoire, often extending into contemporary music, a feature championed both by the Artistic Committee and by the laureates themselves through their programme choices.
The concertos performed by the first four prize-winners are brought together in this box set. As tradition dictates, it opens with First Prize winner Ettore Pagano in Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto, followed by Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto performed by Second Prize winner Tae-Yeon Kim. Next come Barber’s Cello Concerto performed by Third Prize winner Leland Ko and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto performed by Fourth Prize winner Álvaro Lozano Cames, all accompanied by the Belgian National Orchestra under the baton of Antony Hermus.
A full disc of chamber music extends the programme. It begins with Josef Suk’s Ballade, performed by Clara Dietlin during the First Round, and concludes with Kaija Saariaho’s Lullaby, performed by Andrew Ilhoon Byun and recorded here for the first time. Highlights also include Schnittke’s Cello Sonata No. 1 performed by Fifth Prize winner Maria Zaitseva, Harold Noben’s compulsory work Caffeine performed by Krzysztof Michalski, and Dmitri Kabalevsky’s impressive Sonata performed by Leland Ko.
The programme then returns to the orchestral repertoire, this time with the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia and conductor Vahan Mardirossian in the concertos by Anton Kraft and Leopold Hofmann heard during the semi-finals at Flagey, once again performed by Ettore Pagano and Tae-Yeon Kim. A brief moment of repose comes with Dvořák’s Klid, performed by Ivan Sendetsky, before the set concludes with Fang Man’s Four Odes to the Tidings of Flowers, the compulsory work of the Final Round, in the performance by Fifth Prize winner Yo Kitamura.
This box set, documenting the third Queen Elisabeth Competition session dedicated to the cello, brings together the twelve laureates who provided audiences with exceptional musical moments. Beyond the prize list itself, however, it also reflects the richness of an edition marked by the broadening of repertoire, the curiosity of its performers, and the extraordinary diversity of musical personalities gathered in Brussels. From major concerto repertoire to chamber music and contemporary creation, it offers a vivid portrait of the cello today and extends the artistic and human adventure experienced throughout these weeks of competition.
The 2026 Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition box set is sold at the price of €45.00.
It is also available on the main digital platforms.
