Turkish delights, French Style

Winners from South Korea and Japan at the Orchestra´Sion Competition in Istanbul

Held in cooperation with the Lycée Notre Dame de Sion, the International Piano Competition Orchestra´Sion feels somewhat like a French enclave in the middle of Istanbul. Surprisingly well organised considering the maddening traffic and increasing safety concerns in this Turkish metropolis of 16 million, the competition has been founded in 2013 and has been held every 2 years, showing a very high level of international playing throughout. While a total of 116 candidates from 31 different countries applied this year, 40 candidates were invited to participate in the competition in Istanbul. 

Since 2017, the famous Turkish pianist and composer Ali Darmar has been composing an original piece for each competition. This composition is performed by all the competitors in the 3rd round, and the winner of this section receives the Ali Darmar Award. Stanislav Korchagin (Russia) was the winner of this year’s award.