Franz Liszt International Piano Competition

hu

12. - 20. Sep 2026

Franz Liszt International Piano Competition

Budapest

Jury

Olli Mustonen

Newly appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Olli Mustonen has a unique place on today’s music scene. Following the tradition of great masters such as Rachmaninov, Busoni and Enescu, Mustonen combines the roles of his musicianship as composer, pianist and conductor in an equal balance that is quite exceptional, often bringing them together in one fascinating triple role performance.

Olga Kern

Russian-American pianist Olga Kern is now recognized as one of her generation's great pianists. She jumpstarted her U.S. career with her historic Gold Medal win at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas as the first woman to do so in more than thirty years.

Cyprien Katsaris

Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born in Marseilles in 1951. He first began to play the piano in Cameroon where he spent his childhood, at the age of four, with Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse.

Pavel Gililov

Pavel Gililov was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, made his first appearance with an orchestra at age eight and by 11 he performed the third piano concerto of Dmitry Kabalevsky with such aplomb that the composer invited him to study in St. Petersburg at an academy for highly gifted children. The school has produced such talent as Boris Pergamenschikow, Grigory Sokolov and many others. During his studies, Pavel Gililov received high honors at the All-Russian Piano Competition in Moscow (1972) and the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1975).

Boaz Sharon

Boaz Sharon is Professor of Piano and Chairman of the Piano Department at Boston University and Director of the Piano Program of the Boston University Tanglewood Program. He is a Steinway Artist.

Balázs János

János Balázs is a Kossuth Prize-winning Hungarian pianist and a regular performer at world-class music venues, also artistic director of the György Cziffra Memorial Year and Festival.

Farkas Gábor

Gábor Farkas (born in Ózd, Hungary, in 1981) graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest in 2005 after studying under Sándor Falvay and Attila Némethy. He finished his DLA studies in 2014 at his Alma Mater under the mentorship of Zoltán Kocsis and Tamás Vásáry. At the same time, he was a student of Professor William Grant Naboré at the International Piano Academy Lake Como.

Mácsai János

János Mácsai musicographer graduated in 1987 from the Musicology Department of the Budapest Liszt Academy and in 1993 also graduated as music director. Until 2000 he worked at the Musicology Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, since then he has been a free-lance musicographer, critic and musical instrument restorer.