What would classical music in our country be without the Queen Elisabeth Competition? The ‘mother of all music competitions’ is this year given over to the piano. As is customary in recent years the National Orchestra is conducted by the American conductor Marin Alsop during the final of the competition. The musical director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has also worked with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouworchestra and the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan. Along with the musicians in the orchestra she accompanies the twelve remaining candidates to the final victory. For the latter, as well as an extremely difficult exercise, it could be a springboard to a great musical career.

In alphabetical order, the finalists are : Alexander Beyer, Alberto Ferro, Chi Ho Han, Atsushi Imada, Aljosa Jurinic, Yoonji Kim, Henry Kramer, Okada Kana, Dmitry Shishkin, Hans H. Suh, Lukas Vondracek and Larry Weng.