THE BARTÓK WORLD COMPETITION

The Liszt Academy with the subvention of Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities launched the Bartók World Competition & Festival on the occasion of the 135th anniversary of the birth of Béla Bartók in 2017.                                                                                                                                         

Besides featuring a repertoire demanding the very highest musical expertise, the Bartók World Competition achieves – also in its structure – something totally new compared to traditional music competitions. The competition is built around the most characteristic strands of the Bartók oeuvre, that is, piano, violin, chamber music and composition, in a six-year cycle. The individual instrumental competitions are organized every other year, with composer competitions in between, which always tie into the forthcoming instrumental category.

This distinctive structure is effective both at drawing the attention of the best instrumentalists of the upcoming musician generation to the works of Bartók and at the same time inspiring young composers to create new works written in the spirit of Bartók.

Timing of the Bartók Competition

More than just a competition

The Bartók World Competition is much more than just a music competition: every other year, beside the competitions in instrumental categories there will be a scientific conference, with the focus firmly on Bartók in a scientific context where the theme is always topical and illuminated by the very latest research from Hungary and abroad.