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50th anniversary of the Santander Competition!

The Paloma O’Shea  Santander International Piano Competition celebrates its 50th anniversary ! Josep Colom, first winner of the competition in 1972, opened the event with a recital.  He remembers they were 7 finalists at that time, all Spanish, since it was a national competition. It became an international event in 1974 with a final with orchestra - first winner was Ruriko Kikuchi, and since the beginning it appeared to be a very important cultural and musical event in Santander as well as a spingboard for young artists at the beginning of their careers. Every laureate gets a a world wide concert tour after winning the competition and plenty of invitations to play everywhere.

In 1976 the Competition becomes a member of  the WFIMC. Paloma O'Shea has dedicated these last 50 years to this great event with passion, in the benefit of the young artists. 

 

2022 has proved to be an exceptional year, not only because of the anniversary, but also because the competition received 300 applications from around the world, the highest number ever in 50 years of existence.

While pre-selections happened in Paris, New York and Madrid, 20 competitors where selected and arrived in Santander in order to participate in the 1st round of the 2022 edition.

The semi-finalists had the privilege to perform with the world renown Quartetto Casals. 6 finalists then played with the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pablo Gonzalez.

The competition was broadcasted live on RTVE Play and on its youtube channel.

Laureates:

1st Prize

Canon Audience Prize and

Best Chamber Music Performer award:            Jaeden Izik-Dzurko

2nd Prize:                                                                  Xiaolu Zang

3rd Prize:                                                                   Marcel Tadokoro

 

Jury:

Joaquin Achucarro, chair; Péter Csaba; Barry Douglas; Akiko Ebi; Ana Guijarro; Marta Gulyas; Claudio Martinez Mehner; Rena Shereshevskaya; Huseyin Sermet