51 Quarterfinalists Announced for the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition

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Calgary, AB, December 17, 2024 — Fifty-one pianists representing 19 countries (country of origin and residence) have been chosen to compete in the Quarterfinals of Canada’s 11th Honens International Piano Competition, one of the world’s most prestigious events of its kind. The Applicant Screening Jury evaluated 149 candidate submissions—a 15 per cent increase from the most recent Competition in 2022—based on proposed Competition programming, experience relative to age, and confidential reference letters. There were 29 countries represented among the 149 applicants. The 51 talented pianists who have been selected as Quarterfinalists—one more than the usual 50, owing to a tie—will participate in the Quarterfinal (International Audition) Round in 2025, in either Berlin (March 2 to 4), or New York (March 17 to 19).

“It’s both challenging and rewarding to pick the Quarterfinalists,” says Honens Artistic Director Jon Kimura Parker. “The Applicant Screening Jury has arrived at this list of 51 highly accomplished young pianists, who we believe will have promising careers in music, no matter the outcome of the Competition,” he adds. “We’re confident all of them have the potential to fully embody the philosophy of the Complete Artist—a consummate collaborator, an inspiring virtuoso, a communicator, and a risk-taking explorer. We wish them the best in their performances in March!”

Honens Artistic Director Jon Kimura Parker.

The Applicant Screening Jury for the 11th Honens International Piano Competition consisted of acclaimed pianists Tanya Bannister (United States), Tema Blackstone (Canada), Karim Said (Jordan), and Micah Yui (Japan).

For the upcoming Quarterfinals, each pianist performs a 40-minute solo recital and participates in a 10-minute English-language interview with an arts journalist. The First Jury then selects 10 pianists to advance to the Semifinals in Calgary. All performances are recorded on video for review by the First Jury, which consists of both pianists and arts professionals: Sara Davis Buechner (Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tschaikowsky Competition in Moscow and Gold Medalist of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition), Nicolas Namoradze (2018 Honens Prize Laureate), Marianne Perron (Senior Director, Artistic Sector, Montreal Symphony Orchestra), and Robert Roux (Chair of Keyboard Department at Shepherd School of Music, Rice University).

The Semifinalists will be announced in spring 2025. The Competition culminates with the Semifinal and Final live performances in Calgary, Canada, from October 16 to 24, 2025, with the collaborating musicians Rachel Mercer, on cello, Isidore String Quartet, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Elias Grandy.

The triennial Honens International Piano Competition will this year award its Gold, Silver, and Bronze Laureates a cash prize of $100,000 CAD, $40,000 CAD, and $20,000 CAD, respectively, and a comprehensive three-year artistic and career development program, tailored to each Laureate. The Gold prize, awarded to the pianist who most embodies Honens’ philosophy of the Complete Artist, is one of the largest of its kind in the world.