The Competition aims to discover new talent among young musicians and open them a way to the world of big musical achievements. Since Leon Fleisher in 1952, the competition has seen moments of glory, with first prize-winners like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrei Nikolsky, Frank Braley, Severin von Eckardstein, and Anna Vinnitskaya.

Now the competition consists of a four-year cycle, each year it specializes either on violin, piano, solo singing or composing, one by one.

Among the Russian participants are winners and finalists of both youth and adult musical competitions: Polina Bogdanova, Yury Favorin, Denis Kozhukhin, Olga Kozlova, Nikolay Leshchenko, Maria Nemtsova, Varvara Nepomnyashchaya, Anton Smirnov, Maria Tretyakova, Samson Tsoy, Sofia Vasheruk and Anna Volotovich.

Some 63 musicians, 28 women and 35 men, are taking part in this year’s competition, including four representatives of Ukraine and one from Armenia. A total of 19 countries are represented at the contest by the most promising young pianists. The most numerous team at the contest is South Korea, with 15 pianists set to show their talents in the Belgian capital.

The semi-final will see 24 pianists, and the final, 12.