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 contest 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 had already made our evaluation procedure clear before the competition began.

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 just how much we enjoyed your performance, how impressively you make music, and how beautifully you play the piano! Don’t let anything deter you from your path! Stay true to yourselves and—above all—continue to pursue your musical and pianistic development with enthusiasm, and keep delving deeper into the wonderful world of music with joy and curiosity! We wish you all the best for your future from the bottom of our hearts!

All the best to all of you!

Yours,

Prof. Claudia Schellenberger,

Prof. Christian A. Pohl,

Ulrike Danne-Feldmann