144 compositions submitted for this year’s Bartók World Competition

Composers under the age of 40 were eligible to apply for this year’s composition round of the Bartók World Competition, which offers total prize money of €10,000. The deadline for submissions was August 25, 2026. The winners will be announced at a gala concert open to the public at the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy on 29 November. The award-winning compositions will be performed during the evening by the Wanderer Quartet (András Vavrinecz and Zsófia Fóris – violin; Dorina Anna Molnár – viola; Izumi Hagiwara – cello), the Szigeti Quartet (Haruka Nagao and Nóra Németh – violin; Dénes Ludmány – viola; Richárd Rózsa – cello), and the Dohnányi Quartet (Áron Dóczi and Dávid Pintér – violin; Péter Tornyai – viola; Orsolya Mód – cello). The event will also be broadcast live on Liszt Academy’s YouTube channel.

Thanks to the support of the Hungarian state, the first-prize winner will receive €5,000, the second-prize winner €3,000, and the third-prize winner €2,000. One of the works submitted will be selected as one of the compulsory pieces for the next instrumental round of the Bartók World Competition, the 2027 string quartet competition.

The largest number of entries came from China, followed by South Korea and the United States. Ten composers entered from Hungary, while a significant number of submissions were also received from Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and France. The competition’s international reach is further demonstrated by entries from such countries as Australia, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Nigeria and Armenia, among others. The youngest contestant is 19 years old, while the average age of participants is 27.

The competition is conducted anonymously: in September, a preliminary jury comprising professors of the Liszt Academy will review the submitted works and select 15 compositions forwarded to the international jury chaired by renowned Swedish composer Anders Hillborg. The news about shortlisted composers will be published on bartokworldcompetition.hu at the end of September. The international jury will determine the final rankings in October, while the results will be announced at the gala concert on 29 November.

The preliminary jury consists of Gergely Barta, Máté Bella, D. Balázs Kecskés, Péter Tornyai and Gyula Fekete, Head of Composition Department at Liszt Academy, and Artistic Director of the composition competition.

The international jury is chaired by Anders Hillborg, one of the most highly acclaimed contemporary composers of our time. A graduate of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Hillborg works across a wide range of genres, composing for symphony orchestra as well as for choir, film and chamber ensembles. The jury also includes Australian composer Dr Natalie Nicolas, lecturer at the University of Sydney; American composer Matthew Aucoin, a Juilliard graduate whose commissions include works for such prestigious institutions as the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and Lyric Opera of Chicago; and Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang, a former student of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Eastman School of Music, currently serving as Vice Dean and Head of Department at the Central Conservatory of Music. The jury is completed by Gyula Fekete.

A distinctive feature of the Bartók World Competition is its structure, which reflects some of the defining strands of Béla Bartók’s oeuvre: violin, piano, chamber music and composition. The competition was launched in 2017 with its inaugural violin round. In the intervening, even-numbered years between the instrumental rounds, Liszt Academy organizes a composition competition. The Bartók World Competition is member of the prestigious World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC).