Belgium – The First Prize – Queen Mathilde Prize includes a cash award of €25.000 and numerous concert engagements in Belgium and abroad.
Thanks to the Pau Casals Foundation, Ettore Pagano will also receive the Goffriller “Casals” cello on loan for a period of four years.
Prize List
QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIZE
First Prize – Queen Mathilde Prize
€25,000
Ettore Pagano
PRIZE OF THE BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Second Prize, awarded by the Belgian Science Policy
€20,000
Tae-Yeon Kim
COUNT DE LAUNOIT PRIZE
Third Prize
€17,000
Leland Ko
PRIZE OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE BELGIAN COMMUNITIES
Fourth Prize, this year awarded by the Government of the French Community
€12,500
Álvaro Lozano Cames
BRUSSELS-CAPITAL REGION PRIZE
Fifth Prize
€10,000
Yo Kitamura
CITY OF BRUSSELS PRIZE
Sixth Prize
€8,000
Maria Zaitseva
WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
Each of the six unranked laureates will receive
€4,000
Andrew Ilhoon Byun
Clara Dietlin
Lionel Martin
Krzysztof Michalski
Dilshod Narzillaev
Ivan Sendetsky
Álvaro Lozano Cames wins the RTBF Musiq3 Prize and Tae-Yeon Kim the Klara Prize, each worth €2,500.
The loan of the Goffriller “Casals” cello, in memory of a friendship
This cello was built by the renowned Venetian luthier Matteo Goffriller and acquired by Pablo Casals in 1908. The Catalan master played the instrument for more than sixty years and used it for all his legendary recordings. He regarded it as “his dearest friend” and always preferred its strong personality and distinctive sound, so close to the human voice, to the Stradivarius that had been given to him. Upon his death, Casals bequeathed the cello to the Pau Casals Foundation.
Queen Elisabeth and Pablo Casals shared a friendship and mutual esteem that extended far beyond music. They shared a social vision of art and a deep commitment to young musicians. The celebration of their shared 150th anniversary in 2026 offered the Pau Casals Foundation the ideal opportunity to pay tribute to this exceptional friendship by making this magnificent instrument available to the First Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition.
“The loan of the ‘Casals’ Goffriller reflects the very values of the Competition: passing on a living heritage to a new generation of musicians,”
– explains Marie Vander Elst, Acting Secretary General of the Queen Elisabeth Competition.
Yvan de Launoit, President of the Board of directors of the Competition, highlights how this exceptional instrument will enable the young cellist to fully showcase their immense talent for four years: “This act of great generosity offers performers a tangible link to a musical history that continues to be written, and reminds us that the Competition is not just about a ranking, but also about personal fulfillment. We are deeply grateful to the Pau Casals Foundation for this highly symbolic initiative, which carries the full history of the Competition.”
The instrument will be presented to the First Laureate during the Prize Ceremony on Tuesday 2 June at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo (Brussels), in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Mathilde, Honorary President of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, by Narcís Serra Serra and Jordi Pardo, respectively Vice-President and Director of the Pau Casals Foundation. Ettore Pagano will be able to enjoy the use of this exceptional instrument for four years.
This summer, the First Laureate will also be invited to perform in El Vendrell on 21 July at the Auditori Pau Casals, and in Barcelona on 22 July at the Palau de la Música. There, accompanied by the Pablo Casals International Music Festival Orchestra, the laureate will perform on the “Casals” Goffriller cello in a concert paying tribute to Pablo Casals.
Find more information about the Queen Elisabeth Competition at www.concoursreineelisabeth.be
