66 young talents from 17 countries around the world are coming to Kronberg from March 21–23, 2025!
Belgium, Germany, Georgia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the Czech Republic, the United States, the United Kingdom
204 registrations from 37 countries also means 204 young talents who have been eagerly awaiting today, hoping and fearing that they will find their name on the list of approved participants.
We kept our fingers crossed for each of them, but we also knew that unfortunately only a quarter of them would be invited to Kronberg due to the limited time available for the auditions .
The jury took a lot of time to make a well-founded and careful selection. Their statement gives an insight into how challenging it was to decide which of so many outstanding pianists to admit. 66 young talents from the age groups AG II to VII are now invited to fill the Casals Forum with the sounds of piano music and showcase their art at the "2nd International Piano Competition for Young Pianists Kronberg" from 21.03. - 23.03.2025, see competition schedule. We congratulate them from the bottom of our hearts on this great success!
It is bitter for the participants who were not admitted, who have also prepared very well, play the piano at an exceptional level and would have been admitted if the auditions had been longer.
We ganz thinking of them in particular! However, we are convinced that they will not be discouraged despite their disappointment! We are convinced that their passion for music, their expressiveness and their pianistic skills will prevail and continue to grow. We wish them every success and good luck for the future!
We wish the admitted pianists every success in the competition and look forward with them to a wonderful second edition!
Your International Piano Competition Taunus e. V.
Statement from the Jury of the Digital Preliminary Round
We, the jury for the digital preliminary round, have had some wonderful weeks! Listening to your performances in the videos, seeing and hearing your passion for music and piano playing, encountering your ganz personal musical expression, and experiencing you through your music has deeply moved and impressed us. We were also thrilled by the tremendous musical and pianistic progress made by absolutely all of the pianists who participated in the competition two years ago!
We’d like to thank you very much for your tremendous dedication and for all the hard work that went into developing your repertoire and recording the video! We know exactly what this means to you. Your preparation for the competition is never in vain—you’ve learned a lot and grown as performers. That, without a doubt, is your reward!
We would also like to thank your teachers and families for their fantastic support, without which our competition would not be possible!
We received 204 applications from 37 countries and 66 young pianists from 17 countries were admitted to the competition.
We would have loved to invite all of you to the in-person round in Kronberg—you certainly deserved it! However, due to the limited time available for the “ auditions ,” we had to select approximately 60 pianists, and we wanted to make that decision as transparently and fairly as possible.
We already made the approach to our evaluation clear before the competition.
The level of performance was exceptionally high, particularly in age groups IV–VII. Because the field was so competitive, only a few of the participants from the intermediate round—2 x Yes/1 x No and 1 x Yes/2 x ???—could be admitted due to time constraints.
We therefore decided to admit a record number of 66 participants to the competition. In addition, we admitted more pianists from the groups with the highest number of participants—AG IV and AG V—which had a particularly high concentration of talented performers, than from the other groups. No one from AG I, which already had few participants, was admitted.
The decisions—many of which were very close calls—were made with great care. We are very aware of our great responsibility and understand how difficult it is not to see one’s name on the list of accepted participants.
Many of you will be disappointed. But we hope that, despite your disappointment, you know how much we enjoyed your playing, how impressively you make music and how beautifully you play the piano! Don't let yourselves be put off on your way! Stay with yourselves and - above all - continue to develop yourselves musically and pianistically with enthusiasm and immerse yourselves deeper and deeper into the wonderful world of music with joy and curiosity! We wish you every success for the future!
We wish you all the best!
Yours,
Prof. Claudia Schellenberger,
Prof. Christian A. Pohl,
Ulrike Danne-Feldmann