The Belgian piano brand behind the Queen Elisabeth competition

Did you know that the Queen Elisabeth competition relies on Belgian know-how for its pianos? 

The Queen Elisabeth Competition is a yearly classical music competition where the worldwide cream of the crop squares off against each other for a prestigious title and prize. Every year, it’s centred around a different instrument, rotating between violin, piano, voice and cello. 

Maene, a company based in Ruiselede (West Flanders) has built up a lot of expertise since its inception in 1938, and the Queen Elisabeth Competition has been counting on their knowhow since 1999. Every single piano has a distinct sound, you see, with different characteristics, and the competition organisers count on Maene’s expertise to find the two most optimal pianos to meet their requirements; it’s always a piano made by Steinway but it has to meet certain requirements when it comes to the acoustics of the concert halls in both Flagey and Bozar (two legendary Brussels cultural institutions).  

That’s not where the Belgian company’s input in this world-renowned competition ends, though. First of all, it takes a proverbial village to get a piano onto the stage (especially at Flagey, where it’s a six-person job), and one always has to be waiting in the wings, ready to go, should disaster strike with the piano on stage. ‘Ready to go’ also means both pianos should be tuned, which they have a guy for as well. 

Did you know that the competition was dreamt up by our very own Queen Elisabeth – queen consort of Albert I -- and the too-often forgotten brilliant composer Eugène Ysaÿe?