A special Queen Elisabeth Competition for its 75th birthday
It’s a very special year for the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and they are sparing no effort to make this cello-focused edition one to remember.
The first edition of this internationally renowned classical music competition took place in 1951, or 75 years ago, and it coincides with the 150th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth, the wife of King Albert I. The competition will also honour the birthday of her good friend, the famed cellist Pablo Casals, who was born in the same year as the Queen.
As luck would have it, cello happens to be the instrument of focus this year (the competition rotates between piano, cello, singing, and violin), and the laureate of this years competition will get to borrow the cello that once belonged to none other than Casals himself.
We will know who that lucky performer will be in June, after the brave and young cellists will face off in three rounds throughout May, but the festivities start in January, with 2021 second-prize winner Sergei Redkin dazzling Antwerp and Waterloo with piano performances, followed in March by a musical reunion of sorts, during which ten Queen Elisabeth Competition winners “share the stage in a festival devoted to virtuosity and exceptional artistic encounters.”
The more visually oriented can enjoy an exhibition exploring the 75 years of the competition by getting a look at its archives. This can be visited in the Flagey building from 4 to 16 May, that is the duration of the first round and the semifinal.