The 66th Busoni Competition

The jury

The Candidates

Competition Schedule

Prizes

Repertoire

Competition Rules

The Glocal Piano Festival 2026

In the spirit of Ferruccio Busoni’s pioneering approach, the International Piano Competition’s preliminary rounds are organised as a global festival, the Glocal Piano Festival. A long journey in collaboration with leading partners through piano marathons, held in iconic concert venues across the world.

The audience takes centre stage: they do not simply attend the events of this far-reaching festival, but are active participants in the process of selecting one of the finalists.

Florence

08.11.2026

Amici della Musica

Teatro Nicolini

Paris

11.11.2026

Salle Cortot

Tickets

Shanghai

14.11.2026

Shanghai Symphony Hall

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Miami

15.11.2026

Miami International Piano Festival

Aventura Arts and Cultural Center

Tokyo

16-17.11.2026

Toppan Hall

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Dortmund

19-20.11.2026

Orchesterzentrum NRW

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Vienna

21.11.2026

Wiener Konzerthaus

Schubert Saal

Rome

22.11.2026

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Parco della Musica, Sala Petrassi

Boston

30.11.2026

New England Conservatory

Jordan Hall

Are you looking for the Bolzano Festival Bozen 2026 Piano Concerts?

Since the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition began taking place every two years, the start of each new edition brings something special: a Piano Festival that enriches the Bolzano Festival Bozen with music and emotion.

The 120 candidates admitted to the Glocal Piano Festival are:

Yuval Avital
Jaesung Bae
Dmitry Batalov
Pierre Blanc
Chiara Bleve
Roman Borisov
Rachel Breen
Pierpaolo Buggiani
Simon Bürki
Alice Burla
Yangrui Cai
Robert Carlson
Tanrui Chen
Hoi Leong Cheong
Seungho Chung
Victoria de Melo
Hougjiyuan Deng
Yubo Deng*
Ivan Dobrorodnyi
Bogdan Dugalić
Pietro Fresa
Yuanzhong Fu
Mitsuki Fukuhara
Jacopo Giovannini
Sofia Grishcheva
Hanbei Han
Joshua Han
Sakina Hatakeyama
Johannes Huber
Miguel Iglesias Lista
Hasan Ignatov
Ibrahim Ignatov
Adam Jackson
Jongwon Jeon
Andrea Jermini
Qinyaoyao Ji
Mohan Jia
Shengen Jin
Zihan Jin
Mikhail Kambarov
Nejc Kamplet
Mikhail Kan
Chaewon Kim
Hyelim Kim
Sunmin Kim
Emin Kiourktchian
Sakurako Kita
Sonja Kowollik
Ariya Laothitipong
Giorgio Lazzari
Yu-Wei Lee
Jeongwoo Lee
Yifan Lei
Ben Lepetit
Tiantuo Li
Xizhu Liang
Juhee Lim
Xinyi Liu
Yi Cai Liu
Victor Yuanhan Lu
Nikita Lukinov
Megumi Maekawa
Ionah Maiatsky
Federico Manca
Edoardo Mancini
Daniele Martinelli
Wataru Mashimo
Giacomo Menegardi
Leonardo Merlini
Carter Muller
Zihao Nan
Jan Nikovich
Maya Oganyan
Takuma Onodera
Ot Ortega Travé
Marco Ottaviani
Ana Paitchadze
Kristina Papiieva
Marta Papoian
Chaeyoung Park
Ivan Petrović-Poljak
Sebastian Picht
Sonya Pigot
Daria Podorozhnova
Stipe Prskalo
Nelli Rerikh
Jamil Sadizade
Kazusa Sagawa
Can Saraç
Natalie Schwamova
Dmytro Semykras
Young-Ho Shin
Miyu Shindo
Haolun Sun
Kohei Taruya
Barbare Tataradze
Hao Tian
Shunshun Tie
Patrick Hideomi Townsend
Brecht Valckenaers
Lev Vladimirov
Xiaoya Wan
Jiapeng Wang
Yuetong Wang
Yenfei Wang
Taige Wang
Matteo Weber
Ruogu Wen
Christy Wu
Kongyan Xin
Jiwon Yang
Ru-An Yang
Jialin Yao
Yoonji Yeo
Ido Zeev
Zhongkai Zhang
Jacky Zhang
Xinyue Zheng
Chenxi Zhou
Hanyuan Zhu

*Due to health reasons, the 2024/2025 finalist’s participation has been rescheduled for the Glocal Piano Festival 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

The Glocal Piano Festival is the second round of selections of the Busoni Competition, developed as a truly international, multi-venue festival.

The Glocal takes place across 10 leading concert venues in Asia, Europe and the United States, where pianists perform their own choice of repertoire in front of a live audience.

To qualify for the finals of the Busoni Competition in Bolzano in 2027, candidates may be selected either by the professional jury, who will follow the Glocal Piano Festival performances remotely, or by the live audience, who will be asked to vote for their favourite artist at the end of each concert.

You must complete the online form, which includes the audition video and payment of the €40 registration fee (to be paid by credit card directly via the online form). Once the registration form has been submitted, the jury will select 120 candidates who will be invited to perform at the Glocal Piano Festival.

You can find the registration form at this link: https://application.busoni-mahler.eu/

No, the location will be allocated to you by the Organisers of the Competition.

A three-person jury will watch all the videos and read the short biography you submit, and will select 120 pianists to proceed to the next round: the Glocal Piano Festival.

  • You may only upload a single video
  • The video must be between 12 and 16 minutes long
  • Maximum file size: 5 GB (a 15-minute video in Full HD is approximately 1 GB)
  • Video format required: MP4
  • The recording must be of good technical quality, preferably a professional recording
  • The video must be filmed using a single camera from a fixed position, without any cuts whilst performing a single piece
  • If you are playing two or more pieces, you may record them separately (each piece filmed in a single take) and then merge them into a single video file
  • The video must have been made within 24 months prior to the application for admission
  • The recording must not be edited. Do not include titles, fades or video transitions.
  • Recordings of rehearsals or rounds from other competitions are permitted, provided they include a statement from the respective organisers confirming that no manipulations or modifications have been made to the audio. Competition videos may include cuts and titles
  • Only complete works will be accepted. “Complete work” refers to individual études, interludes or pieces that are, in normal concert practice, performed outside the compositional cycle; individual movements of sonatas or suites are not permitted.

The programme for the pre-selection video must include:

  • An etude by F. Chopin (Op. 10 or Op. 25) or an etude by F. Liszt.
  • One Étude by one of the following composers: C. Debussy, B. Bartók (Op. 18), S. Rachmaninov, S. Prokofiev, I. Stravinsky, A. Scriabin or G. Ligeti.
  • One or more pieces chosen by the candidate that fall within the permitted time limit.

The term ‘complete works’ refers to the performance of a musical work in its entirety; it is therefore not possible to submit individual movements of a piece (such as individual movements of a sonata or individual parts of a suite).

Exceptions are made only if it is common practice in concert performance to perform these parts individually. For example, it is possible to perform Ravel’s Scarbo from Gaspard de la Nuit as a standalone piece.

If you wish to apply as a winner of a WFIMC competition, you will need to wait until 1 July 2026. At that point, we will publish a specific application form for you to use. You will need to complete a form with your personal details and information about your studies, your biography, the certificate for the prize you have won, one or more videos (preferably those from the other competition in which you won the prize) and the musical programme for the final.

You will have until 31 October 2026 to submit your application. Please bear in mind that we receive a large number of applications from WFIMC prize winners and that only 3 of these are admitted to the finals. It is therefore not guaranteed that you will make it through to the finals.

The Busoni Competition supports the launch of the first edition of the Cape Piano International Piano Competition: all registered participants of the Busoni Competition who enter the Cape Piano will receive a discount on the participation fee. Find all the details here: https://capepiano.com/

Application form WFIMC

Application form for WFIMC prizewinners

By October 31, 2026, candidates who have won first or second prize in music competitions affiliated to the World Federation of International Music Competitions between 01/01/2023 and 30/10/2026 may directly enter the F. Busoni Competition finals. The Glocal Piano Project panel of judges can select up to a maximum of 3 candidates for participation in the final rounds.
For applying, please fill out the appropriate entry form and send it by October 31, 2026 to info@busoni-mahler.eu

Please refer to the Competition Rules for more information regarding the WIFMC application.

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