Dutchman Nikola Meeuwsen wins Queen Elisabeth competition for piano

« This feels unreal for me, like a dream, » he says afterwards to VRT Canvas. « I’m speechless. » The second place is for the Japanese Wataru Hisasue. The Belgian Valère Burnon finishes in third place and also wins public prize from the listeners of Klara and the viewers of Canvas and the public prize of the listeners of Musiq3. It was ago from 2007 that a Belgian achieved the final round of the leading piano competition. According to VRT NWS, Burnon has achieved the best results for a Belgian pianist since Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden in 1964.

The first prize or prize Koningin Mathilde yields Meeuwsen 25,000 euros. The second prize or prize of the Belgian federal government is worth 20,000 euros. With his third prize or prize Graaf de Launoit, Burnon raises 17,000 euros. The Frenchman Arthur Hinninkel and Japanese Masaya Kamei, born in the United States, won the fourth (price of the communities of Belgium, 12,500 euros) and the fifth place (price of the Brussels -Capital Region, 10,000 euros). The Russian Sergey Tanin is the sixth laureate (price of the city of Brussels, 8,000 euros). Three of the six laureates – Meeuwsen, Burnon and Hinnewinkel – study at the Koningin Elisabeth music chapel.

The non-ranked finalists are the American Rachel Breen, the French Mirabelle Kajenjeri, also in residence on the music chapel, the Japanese Shiori Kuwahara, the French Nathalia Milstein, the Chinese Jiaxin Min and the Japanese Yuki Yoshimi. They each receive 4,000 euros with the support of the National Lottery.

During the final, the pianists played in addition to the work imposed, ‘Music For The Heart’ by the Belgian composer and jazz pianist Kris Defoort, also a self -chosen Concerto. The 23-year-old Meeuwsen brought the second piano concerto of the Russian composer Sergej Prokofjev on Wednesday. « It is as if I have had a marathon, » he told the Dutch newspaper Trouw afterwards. « You give everything every time. An overwhelming experience, but in general I am very happy with it. In any case, it is a fantastic honor to be a finalist on this most appealing competition. »

In total, seven male and five female pianists competed against each other. With four finalists as a country, Japan was the strongest represented in the final phase of the music competition. In addition, in addition to Belgium, France with three candidates, the Netherlands, the United States, China and Russia were also represented in the final.

On Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 June, the non-ranked finalists will perform again in Flagey in the capital. Hinnewinkel, Kamei and Tanin will in turn perform on Monday 9 June in the Brussels Palace of Fine Arts with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège led by Martijn Dendievel. The same concert is also given in Liège on Wednesday 11 June and in Bruges on Saturday 14 June. The final concert with Meeuwsen, Hisasue and Burnon will take place on Wednesday 11 June, also in the Brussels Palace of Fine Arts, but with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra led by Marc Albrecht. It will be transferred to Bruges on Saturday 7 June, in Ghent on Sunday 8 June, in Hasselt on Monday 9 June and in Antwerp on Tuesday 10 June. On Friday, June 27, Burnon will perform in Flagey in Brussels at the MusiQ3 festival.