A total of 136 composers from 36 countries submitted 144 short works for string quartet to the composition round of Liszt Academy’s Bartók World Competition 2026.

With performances by the twelve finalists, the ceremonial presentation of the prizes, and the announcement of the special awards, this year’s Éva Marton International Singing Competition of the Liszt Academy came to a close on Sunday with a gala evening at the Hungarian State Opera.

Valentina Pravdina received the 30,000 euros first prize as well as the 5,000 euros special prize for the best performer of a Liszt song and the audience award at the Saturday evening final of the 7th Éva Marton International Singing Competition organized by the Liszt Academy.

Liszt Academy’s world-renowned event began on 30 August with the drawing of the order in which the 80 contestants from all over the world will perform in the preliminaries.

The world-renowned opera star has agreed to support the prestigious international competition at the invitation of its namesake, Éva Marton, and its organiser, the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest.

In the 2026 subject rankings published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music is 17th worldwide and 5th in the EU, making it one of the highest ranked music universities.

This year is for composers, the application form is now available on the website.

With a total prize fund of more than 70,000 euros, Liszt Academy's 7th Éva Marton International Singing Competition will be held in early September 2026 in Budapest.

Jeonghwan Kim was awarded with the first prize of €22,000 after Sunday's orchestral final at this year’s Bartók World Competition organised for pianists at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, by the international jury headed by Yoheved Kaplinsky from The Juilliard School.

The competition, which this year is open to pianists and has a total prize fund of more than €51,000 (HUF 20 million), will begin with the semi-finals on 1 September and end with the final and award ceremony on 7 September. The solo final will also include the chance to play on a brand new Bösendorfer 280VC concert piano.