19 countries from three continents entered this year's Bartók World Competition
Among the applicants are 12 from Japan and 11 from Hungary, but there are also entries from Turkey, Indonesia and Canada. No minimum age limit has been set by the organising Liszt Academy, with the youngest competitor being 15.
This year's piano round attracted 55 entries from 19 countries, which is a good number considering the difficulty of the repertoire, as the competitors are not only expected to know frequently played works, said András Csonka, project manager of the Bartók World Competition. He added that the orchestral finals of the competition will feature the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by János Kovács, and the Musicology Department of the Academy of Music's Central European Music History Research Group will organise its second international conference as a related event.
The pre-jury of the Liszt Academy will soon meet and, based on the videos submitted, will select the 30 contestants who will be invited to participate in the live rounds of the competition, which will start on 1 September. They will be notified by email.