The 3rd Busoni Glocal Piano Project is about to start!

Don’t forget to join the audience vote!

It’s no longer a novelty, but still a great challenge: Starting on November 20, 2024, the third edition of the Glocal Piano Project (which is in fact the first stage of the new edition of the Busoni Competition) will be hosted by Steinway & Sons Showrooms in twelve cities on three continents. This time, participants will play at the company’s residence cities, New York City and Hamburg, but also in Istanbul, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Vienna. The locations were coordinated with the selected participants. Thanks to the commitment of Steinway & Sons, 120 young artists will find equally excellent conditions for their performances, which will be recorded by professional film crews.

Invented out of necessity during the pandemic, the Glocal Piano Project stays true to the original idea of an innovative hybrid concept, with live audiences in most Steinway & Sons Showrooms, accessibility of the videos over the internet, involvement of the global audience through the audience vote that directly influences the list of participants to be invited to Bolzano in 2025. Holding the first crucial phase of the competition all over the world turned out to be a great alternative to inflicting the journey to Bolzano to all competitors – making the competition more efficient yet more sustainable in terms of air travel and, most of all, gaining greater exposure to a wider audience for both the participants and the competition by taking the event to the doorstep of piano enthusiasts worldwide, who are invited to experience the diversity and the breathtakingly high level of contemporary piano playing – by following it online or as part of the local audience.

A preliminary jury selected 120 participants (out of 648 applications) who were subsequently admitted to the Glocal Piano Project. This year’s jury consists of seven acknowledged pianists: Giuseppe Albanese, Jan Bartoš, Anna Gourari (president of the jury), Nicolas Namoradze, Alberto Nosè, Herbert Schuch and Zee Zee. They will independently evaluate all live performances recorded at the concerts at the Steinway & Sons venues. Based on their combined scores, a group of 26 pianists will be chosen to enter the upcoming finals of the Busoni Competition.

Don’t forget to join the audience vote: Not only the jury has the power to influence who will travel to Bolzano next summer: as in previous years, YOU can register and vote for up to three candidates that YOU want to see and hear in the final stages in 2025. Up to four participants have the chance to enter the finals through the audience – it’s fun to follow the great diversity displayed during the Glocal Piano Project – it’s even more fun to make your own decision count!

The first videos will be ready on November 22 at: https://glocalpianoproject.busoni-mahler.eu/