Councours Géza Anda

One of the most challenging music competitions

Top Classical, May 2021
In 1979, Hortense Anda-Buhrle, the widow of the Hungarian-Swiss pianist Géza Anda, founded the Géza Anda piano competition in Zurich to commemorate her husband. The master pianist is celebrated as a great virtuoso thanks to his very first complete recording of all of Mozart’s piano concertos, and above all as a Mozart specialist.  

For the past 39 years, the Géza Anda Piano Competition is regarded as one of the most difficult piano competitions, and indeed the candidates have an immense set of specifications to master.  Held every three years, in Zürich, it aims to promote the development of pianists from the younger generations, and to help them succeed in the music world in the spirit of Géza Anda. 

What sets this competition apart is that the Géza Anda Foundation guarantees the prizewinners a certain number of solo engagements in international music centers, and provides free concert management for three years. That way, young pianists receive support to become professional pianists and the opportunity to cultivate their careers with care. The winners of the previous Géza Anda piano competition, such as Denes Varjon, Pietro De Maria, Alexei Volodin, Varvara Nepomnyashchaya, Dasol Kim and Andrew Tyson, after winning the Zurich competition, have performed in the main concert halls of all the world, achieving great popularity and prosperity. 

At the award ceremony of the final concert of the past edition, on June 2018, the seven-member international jury awarded the first prize worth 30,000 Swiss francs to the American Chinese pianist Huang Ci, in recognition of her wonderful performance of Beethoven’s piano concerto (Ludwig van Beethoven) no. 4 in G major, op.58, conducted by Jury President Christian Zacharias in Zurich. The pianist was accompanied by the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. 

The jury of the competition is generally formed by pianists, conductors and other personalities closely related to the world of music. In past editions there were also organizers and representatives of major record companies. Pianists must have, above all, a remarkable career on stage. In the 2021 jury we can find Mr. John Fiore, a very experienced conductor with a deep knowledge of the relationship between orchestra and soloist. Ye Xiaogang, an important representative of the Chinese music institutions will also be found in the jury.  

2021 is the centenary anniversary of Géza Anda, so the Géza Anda Foundation plans to carry out several events that will celebrate and commemorate the anniversary, the main one will be the fifteenth edition of one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world. The competition will be held in Zurich from May 27 to June 5, 2021.