The Queen Elisabeth Competition was founded in the year 1937 in Brussels, initially a competition for violinists. In 1938, pianists were included, followed by singers in 1988, and cellists in 2017. Since then, these instrumentalists would take turns competing in their own disciplines once every 4 years. In addition, competition in composition was initiated in 1953 lasting till 2012.
2025 Queen Elizabeth Competition
Since its inauguration, this competition has been revered as one of the most prestigious and challenging for emerging professionals and was lauded as a springboard to international careers for complete artists. Some of the most renowned instrumentalists in the world were among the winners of this competition. Just to name a few:-
1. Violinists:- David Oistrakh (1937); Jamie Laredo (1959); Vadim Repin (1989); Ray Chen (2009).
2. Pianists:- Emil Gilels (1938); Leon Fleisher (1952); Vladimir Ashkenazy (1956); Boris Giltburg (2013).
2025 Queen Elizabeth Competition candidates
This year, 2025, was dedicated to piano, which took place from May 5th to June 11th. I was very keen on attending, as the Queen Elisabeth Competition had a long-held reputation of being very well organised, purely music oriented ( rather than commercialised), with a focus on the actual performances of the candidates (not commentaries and interviews), and transparency in exposing their teachers, educational backgrounds, past concert performances and competition experiences. More importantly, this competition is known to be the fairest out of all the international competitions in the industry, featuring dependable juries, strict rules, meticulous media coverage, and especially impartial voting systems.
Unfortunately, I was not able to be present in person, but thanks to advanced technology, I could live-stream the entire competition from the first round all the way to the finals. Since audiences could potentially savour every single note at close proximity, our expectations of the jury’s righteousness were elevated to sky-high levels.
In all competitions, the fate of each contestant is at the mercy of the jury. That is why it is always wise to be acquainted with the jurors via their resumes, recordings and articles, so as to familiarise the audience with their personal tastes, individual styles and musical inclinations. However, the information is incomplete, as not all jurors have public access, and every musician has different artistic perspectives.
Here is a list of the 2025 jurors:-
1. Anna Vinnitskya:- Russian pianist; Queen Elisabeth Competition 1st prize winner in 2007.
Brahms: Paganini Variations op. 35
2. Laura Mikkola:- Finnish pianist; Queen Elisabeth Competition 2nd prize winner in 1995.
Prokofiev: Concerto for Piano No. 2 op. 16
3. Denis Kozhukhin:- Russian pianist; Queen Elisabeth Competition 1st prize winner in 2010.
Bach: Concerto for Piano No. 2
4. Anne Queffélec:- French pianist.
Beethoevn: Sonata in F minor Op. 2 No. 1
5. Momo Kodama:- Japanese pianist.
Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B minor op. 58
6. Francois-Frederic Guy:- French pianist.
Brahms: Sonata No.3 in F minor op. 5
7. Boyen Vodenitcharov:- Bulgarian pianist and composer; Queen Elisabeth Competition 3rd prize winner in 1983.
Franck: Prelude, Choral & Fugue
8. Steven Osborne:- Scottish pianist.
Debussy: Reverie
9. Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden:- Belgian pianist and emeritus professor; Queen Elisabeth Competition 3rd prize winner in 1964.
Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye
10. Imogen Cooper:- English pianist and recording artist.
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 13, Andante
11. Daejin Kim:- South Korean pianist and professor.
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A Major, Op. 120
12. Jorge Luis Prats:- Cuban pianist living in Spain.
Ignacio Cervantes: Danzas Cubanas
13. Tamara Stefanovich:- European pianist who studied in Belgrade, Serbia; Curtis Institute of Music in USA; and Cologne, Germany.
Rachmaninoff & Ligeti Etudes
With so much diversity in the participants, jurors must have been aware of their multicultural profiles. Practically all of the pianists originated from different corners of the world, with most of them having received advanced musical training globally, and yet, the 2025 competition results ended up being totally surprising:- 5 out the top 6 prize winners studied locally, with close ties to the Queen Elisabeth Chapel – a Belgian academy for artistic training of young musicians located in Waterloo, Belgium. The institution was even proud to make the following announcement after disclosure of the results:- “An impressive achievement: three podium finishes and four finalists from a single institution…..So 4 out of the 12 finalists come from the Music Chapel! And 3 out of 6 prizes were attributed to our pianists!”
Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel
As it turned out, Frank Braley, a Queen Elisabeth Competition winner in 1991, taught Nikola Meeuwen, current 1st prize winner, and Arthur Hinnewinkel, 4th prize winner. Both had studied at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, while the 3rd prize winner, Valerie Burnon, is an artist in residence of the same academy. Meanwhile, the 5th prize winner, Masaya Kamei, studied with juror Momo Kodama in 2023, and the 6th prize winner, Sergey Tanin, with juror Anna Vinnitskya in 2024. It certainly projected the image that these winners were all “insiders”, except for the 2nd prize winner, Wataru Hisassue, who was trained in Germany.
Bestowed with the reputation as the fairest competition in the world, these results seemed to conclude otherwise and were noticed by remote audiences. Whether it was intentional or accidental, optics were that it had an “all in the family” outcome. Such unpredictability aroused suspicion, and became disappointing to those who have long trusted the competition’s unbiased stance. In this day and age, especially when all the sessions were covered by the media and witnessed by millions of audiences digitally, one could easily replay the programs and compare candidates’ performances, in an attempt to affirm the objectivity of the adjudication process. That was what I spent numerous hours doing.
Personally, the 1st to 3rd prizes were clearly deserving, and I have no qualms about them. However, the next 3 prizes (4th to 6th) were questionable, especially when there was stiff competition from the remaining 6 finalists, whom none was awarded prizes. Particularly striking were 3 women candidates among them – Jiaxin Min from China, Shiori Kuwahara from Japan, and Mirabelle Kajenjeri from France, who in my opinion, exhibited superlatively high-level standards.
Jiaxin Min
I was completely flabbergasted by Jiaxin Min’s rendition of the Prokofiev‘s 3rd Piano Concerto. It is a very popular choice for competitions because of its flamboyant characteristics, but this candidate not only was amazing in her technical proficiency, she was immensely powerful and hauntingly sensitive, in other words, masterful in the command of her skills and musicianship. I have witnessed multiple performances of this piece in concerts, but was totally astounded by Min’s passionate interpretation, the richness of her sound, as well as her quiet intensity. If she was playing behind a curtain, one would not suspect that it was not a male at the keyboard. When she went on stage as a laureate, but not a prize recipient, the audience’s applause was still thunderous. Most remarkable was the fact that 3 jurors stood up on stage to give her a standing ovation, which did not happen with other contestants. I was deeply touched by their gesture.
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Shiori Kuwahara
Shiori Kuwahara’s presence definitely exuded elegance and regality. Her touch at the piano was graceful and refined, while tackling her most demanding repertoire with competence and ease. It was intriguing to watch her manoeuvre technical passages so expertly and brilliantly, and yet maintaining a dignified composure. I imagine that she would be a perfect ambassador for the Queen Elisabeth Competition, radiating genteelness in tandem with Queen Mathilde of Belgium, their patron.
Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante
Mirabelle Kajenjeri
Mirabelle Kajenjeri’s personality reflected abundant energy and joy, and at the same time, incorporating intuitively an operatic touch. It was most refreshing to watch her perform with enthusiasm and creativity, taking compositional ownership of her repertoire. Usually, when candidates are well trained by great pedagogues, they tend to reproduce some sort of “sameness” resembling their fellow colleagues. It is the ability to be disciplined in learning and yet liberated in expressing that differentiates a true talent from an excellent student. To me, these 3 women are authentic talents and outstanding artists.
Rachmaninoff: Liebesfreud (after F. Kreisler)
If the Queen Elisabeth Competition, with its glorified history, ever transitions to being single-minded or provincial, existing international support will probably diminish. “Slipped Disc” publication (May 11th) exposed the fact that “most” Chinese contestants (15 out of 16) were eliminated from the early round, which was a bit alarming. I researched the backgrounds of all 16 candidates with Chinese names on the list – 3 were from Germany, Canada and the UK; out of the 13 from China/ Taiwan, 11 have received musical and academic training in prestigious institutions in Europe and North America; only 2 were primarily educated in China; one Chinese advanced to the semi-finals and finals. Nonetheless, such news can have negative connotations:-
Two-thirds eliminated in Queen Elisabeth competition
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