International Prize Emmanuel Durlet for Piano

The “Prize Emmanuel Durlet for Piano” was founded in 1978 at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Antwerp (Belgium) in memory of the late Emmanuel Durlet, pianist, pedagogue of the piano, composer and, from 1920 to 1959, professor for the higher piano cycle at this institution. The foundress of this Prize is Juliane Castro, old-pupil of Emmanuel Durlet. This international piano competition took place, for the first time, in 1979.

The competition will be open to participants of all nationalities. The candidates must be at least 16 and may not be 29 years old on the 1st of March of the year of the competition.

The next edition of the competition will be held in “deSingel” in Antwerp in March 2012.
Proper dates will be communicated later on.

The competition will be split up into preliminary rounds (to which maximum 50 participants are allowed), a semi-final (maximum 16 participants) and finals (maximum 8 participants). A total amount of € 12.600 is available to award prizes. The prize of the laureate amounts € 5.000. The winner is also offered recitals. 10 (9+1) other prizes, from € 1.500 to € 600 are provided.

The prizes will be awarded by a jury presided by a chairman, assisted by at least four members, all eminent Belgian and foreign pianists.

Besides works of the current repertoire, the programme of each participant must include original compositions of Emmanuel Durlet. The compulsory work for the preliminary round will be the piano work “Chrysanthemums” (3’30) by Emmanuel Durlet.

Candidates living in far-away countries will be accommodated free of charge, for the duration of the competition, in host families in Antwerp.

Additional information can been obtained at the Emmanuel Durlet Foundation v.z.w.

Prize Emmanuel Durlet for Piano 2005

Results of the competition:

1st Prize: Prize Emmanuel Durlet 2005: Olga KOTLYAROVA (1980) – Russia
2nd Prize: Maria DVOSKINA (1976) – Russia
3rd Prize: Tatiana PRUSHINSKAYA (1983) – Russia
4th Prize: Chu-Fang HUANG (1982) – China
5th Prize: Nicolas FRANCO (1983) – Belgium
6th Prize: Ying ZHOU (1984) – China
7th Prize: Justyna MAJ (1979) – Poland/Canada
8th Prize: Maryia PRAKOFYEVA (1981) – Belarus
9th Prize: Barbara BALTUSSEN (1982) - Belgium
10th Prize: Michael ZERTSEKEL (1980) – Israel

Supplementary Prizes:

“Prize for the best performance of the 18th century Flemish work for harpsichord, arranged for piano by Emmanuel Durlet”, compulsory work for the semi-finals : Nicolas FRANCO (1983) – Belgium
“Prize of the Belgian Music Press” (awarded by a jury composed of members of the Belgian Music Press) : Maria DVOSKINA (1976) – Russia
“Prize of the Public” : Michael ZERTSEKEL (1980) - Israel

Laureates

1979: Cécile MULLER (Belgium)
1981: Eliane RODRIGUES (Brazil)
1983: Luc DEVOS (Belgium)
1985: Nigel HILL (England)
1987: Rita DEGRAEUWE (Belgium)
1989: Jan MICHIELS (Belgium)
1991: [ex aequo] Stefaan DE SCHEPPER (Belgium) and Thomas DIELTJENS (Belgium)
1993: Mikhaïl TRUSHECHKIN (Russia)
1996: Yasuko TOBA (Japan/Austria)
1999: Irene RUSSO (Italy)
2002: Lucas BLONDEEL (Belgium)
2005: Olga KOTLYAROVA (Russia)