· The Valencia International Piano Competition, organised by the Provincial Council of Valencia, will take place from 31 May to 9 June and feature four performers from South Korea; three each from Spain and Russia; two each from the United States, Italy and Taiwan; and one each from Serbia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Sweden

· The pre-selection process was carried out by Ana Guijarro (Chair) and pianists Carles Marín and Ángel Sanzo, who evaluated the musicians’ videos. The organisers have published the list of those admitted on its website

Gloria Tello, councillor responsible for the Iturbi Prize, said “The jury has done a magnificent and complex job in determining which candidates will compete in the first round”, and welcomed “the record number of applications received”

Ana Guijarro, Chair of the Pre-selection Jury, stressed that “the standard achieved in this edition has been very high. Selecting 20 candidates from among the 184 applicants has been an arduous and very difficult task”

Valencia, 7 February 2023

The Iturbi Prize, organised by the Provincial Council of Valencia, has selected the 20 pianists who will participate in the 22nd edition of the Valencia International Piano Competition, which will take place at the Teatro Principal from 31 May to 9 June. The competition jury, under the artistic direction of Joaquín Achúcarro, noted the high standard and difficulty of the task of pre-selecting the pianists who will compete in the first round.

The complicated task of pre-selection was carried out by a jury made up of the Artistic Advisor to the Iturbi Prize, Ana Guijarro (Chair), and pianists Carles Marín and Ángel Sanzo, who evaluated the videos of the musicians registered, who submitted an audiovisual recording of between 20 and 30 minutes. The organisers have published the list of those admitted to the competition on its website (www.pianoiturbi.dival.es).

The pianists come from 10 countries, with South Korea having the largest presence with four contestants, followed by Spain and Russia with three, and the United States, Italy and Taiwan with two. Other countries represented in the Iturbi Prize are Serbia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Sweden.

Gloria Tello, councillor responsible for the Iturbi Prize, Councillor for Culture at Valencia City Council and President of the Palau de la Música, congratulated the jury, highlighting that “they have done a magnificent and complex job in determining which candidates will compete in the first round of this new edition of the Iturbi Prize”.

The 20 pianists selected were chosen from among the 184 (from 36 different countries) applicants for the competition, a record number of participants that makes this edition the most popular in the history of the prize, which began in 1981. There has been a 3.3% increase on the 178 participants in the previous edition in 2021, which in turn was six times higher than in 2017 (there was no competition in 2019) with 31 applicants; previous editions were also far exceeded: in 2010 there were 31 applicants, 39 in 2013 and 70 in 2015.

Quality of the performances

Councillor Gloria Tello stressed that “we are very satisfied, both with the record number of applications received and with the quality of the performances given by the pianists selected to participate in an edition in which they will be able to show their worth and delight the Valencian public”.

Ana Guijarro, Chair of the Pre-selection Jury, also stressed that “the standard achieved in this edition has been very high. Selecting the 20 candidates from among the 184 applicants was an arduous and very difficult task, although it was carried out unanimously, in an atmosphere of maximum cordiality and good understanding among the jury”.

Three elimination rounds

Once the pre-selection has been completed, the competition will consist of three elimination rounds and the Grand Final. In the first round (recital) and the second (semi-final), the performers selected will be free to choose from the following works: one of a contrapuntal nature, Preludes and Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach, Preludes and Fugues by Dmitri Shostakovich, Ludus Tonalis by Paul Hindemith, Preludes and Fugues by Felix Mendelssohn, Bach-Ferruccio Busoni, Bach-Ferenc Liszt, etc.; a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven; a sonata by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; two short works by Fryderyck Chopin, one of which must be a nocturne; a piece from Goyescas by Enrique Granados, a piece from the Suite Iberia, Navarra, or La Vega by Isaac Albéniz, or the Fantasía Bética by Manuel de Falla. Participants may not repeat works throughout the competition.

The first round will feature the 20 selected performers, the second round will feature 10, the final will feature six, and the Grand Final will feature three. In the last two rounds, the contestants will perform alongside the Orquestra de València, the resident orchestra of the Palau de la Música. In the final, they will be able to choose one of Beethoven’s five concertos for piano and orchestra, and in the Grand Final, they will have to perform a concerto for piano and orchestra from among those designated by the organisers, by composers such as

Chopin, Liszt, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Joaquín Rodrigo and Manuel Palau, among others.

Increased prize money

Another of the commitments made during the current term of office has been to increase the prize money for the winners. The first prize will be €30,000, plus the recording of an album and several recitals and concerts; the second prize will be €20,000 and the third €10,000. There will also be a special prize for the best performance of Spanish music, worth €2,000.

The other contestants will be eligible for a series of special prizes. For example, the finalists who are not selected for the Grand Final will receive €5,000. There will also be an award for the finalist who does not win the first, second or third prize (€3,000), and a prize for the best performance of a work by Chopin (€2,000), both awarded by Valencia City Council.

Coll, resident composer

The competition will continue to feature a resident composer, who this year is Francisco Coll from Valencia, responsible for writing the piece, Madre – homenaje a Joaquín Sorolla (2022), which will be compulsory for all musicians who reach the second round.

As councillor Gloria Tello pointed out, “the Iturbi Project works along three strategic lines: promoting the talent of young pianists from all over the world and boosting their artistic career through the competition; programming leading musicians at the Iturbi Piano Festival, which successfully held its second edition from 28 October to 4 November, in which a total of 25 leading Spanish and foreign performers took part; and also to highlight the prestige and musical legacy of José Iturbi (Valencia 1895 – Los Angeles 1980), to whom permanent tribute is paid”.

The Iturbi Prize is part of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, an association based in Geneva that brings together competitions from countries on all five continents, including the most prestigious international music competitions in the world. The Valencia International Piano Competition is a member of the Alink-Argerich Foundation, which brings together most of the international piano competitions around the world.