The fourth place was for the Japanese Tomoki Sakata. Russian Vitaly Starikov is the fifth-ranked laureate. The Russian Dmitry Sin finished in sixth place. Never before has a pianist achieved first place in the Queen Elisabeth Competition with Johannes Brahms’ second concerto. It has been no less than 30 years since a Frenchman won the competition: in 1991 that honor went to Frank Braley, who this year accompanied the semi-finalists with Orchester Royal de Chambre de Wallonie as conductor.
Jonathan Fournel has been artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under the direction of Louis Lortie since 2016. In the semifinals he played a recital of the compulsory work “Nocturne” by Pierre Jodlowski, alongside “Nocturne n. 17″ by Fryderyk Chopin and “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel” by Johannes Brahms. As concerto he chose the eighteenth concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Preparation for the final
After the semi-final, the finalists were given a week to rehearse the unpublished, compulsory work in the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel: it was “D’un jardin férique” by Bruno Mantovani, French composer and director of the Conservatory in Paris. In the Brussels Center for Fine Arts, the six finalists – each in turn, from Monday to Saturday – performed the compulsory work and a concerto of their choice. They were accompanied by the Belgian National Orchestra and music director Hugh Wolff. On Saturday, on the last day of the final, it was Fournel’s turn.
Three months after a fire broke out on the roof of the Center for Fine Arts, the Great Hall Henry Le Boeuf was ready for the competition. A proscenium, a proscenium, was even added to the stage, so that the orchestra members could sit at a safe distance. It was a special edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, especially because there was no audience. In addition to the patroness of Queen Mathilde, the hall also contained the composer of the compulsory work Bruno Mantovani, the jury chairman Gilles Ledure and the ten international jury members. Unlike in previous years, the judges were allowed to applaud.
Safety precautions
Of the 74 selected candidates, 58 candidates eventually took part in the competition, which was originally planned. They came from all over the world, but not from Belgium. In order to allow the twentieth edition of the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition to take place this year, a number of safety measures have been taken. The number of semi-finalists was limited to twelve, instead of the usual 24 semi-finalists. The final had only six candidates, instead of the usual twelve. Also new this year were the streams of the pianist’s hands during the final, which could be followed on VRT NU and the website of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and the streams of the final concerts on the Twitch platform by RTBF.
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