Bolzano - Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition
The Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition was launched on 12 September 1949. It immediately captured the attention of the contemporary music scene, due in part to the presence of an extraordinary Honorary Committee, which included Claudio Arrau, Wilhelm Backhaus, Alfred Cortot, Walther Gieseking, Dinu Lipatti, Arthur Rubinstein and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, who made a considerable sum of money available for second prize. From a one-off competition, it would soon become an indispensable annual event.
Today, the Busoni Competition is much more than a piano competition. Building on its history the competition aims to create and develop a real platform for contact between teachers and young people, continuing its role as seismograph of contemporary musical life.
Deadlines
Agenda
Founded in 1949, the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition is rich in both tradition and innovation, and is regarded as one of the most successful institutions of its kind. Its biennial structure includes the Glocal Piano Project and final stages that are both intensively followed by audiences worldwide.
After the successful conclusion of the final rounds of the 65th edition in September 2025, the work of the Busoni-Mahler Foundation is now dedicated, on the one hand, to supporting the current prize winner, who benefits from a large number of worldwide concert engagements, and on the other hand, registrations are about to open for the next biennium in February 2026. The competition is firmly against any nationalist appropriation or political propaganda and instead promotes an understanding of musicians as Weltbürger, independent transnational citizens, in the spirit of its namesake Ferruccio Busoni.
Contact
Monika Torresan
Fondazione F. Busoni - G. Mahler
Via Portici 19/A
39100 Bolzano
Italy
Yifan Wu, 2025 1st Prize Winner
Arsenii Moon, 2023 Prize Winner
Jae Hong Park, 2021 Prize Winner
Ferruccio Busoni
2015 prizewinner Chloe Jiyeong - photo Gregor Khuen Belasi
2019 prizewinner Emanuil Ivanov - photo Luca Guadagnini
Emanuil Ivanov - photo Tiberio Sorvillo
2017 prizewinner Ivan Krpan