Thanks to the Maria Canals International Music Competition, for another consecutive year, Barcelona will be transformed into the world capital for pianists. 81 pianists of 31 different nationalities, aged between 18 and 30, will participate in this competition. The participants have until April 7th to pass 4 test rounds which will be held at the Palau de la Música Catalana. The final, hosted in collaboration with Banco Sabadell, will be held on April 6th at 20.00. The 3 finalists will play together with the Orquesta Nacional de Catalunya (JONC- National Youth Orquesta of Catalonia) and the public will vote for their favourite finalist.

Throughout the week, the competition has organised different activities to bring culture out onto the street. This includeds events such as ‘Tu hi toques?’ (Do you play?) in which grand pianos are brought out onto the streets of Barcelona, with the objective of encouraging the sharing of music, and making it possible for anybody to play the piano, and share their experience in social networks with the hashtag #johitoco.

More information about the competition

The competition, which was founded in 1954 has been transformed in an annual benchmark on the international piano stage, and it is one of the oldest music competitions in Spain. Maria Canals, and her husband, Rossend Llates, were the creators of this competition. They were supported by various people and families of civil society in Barcelona.

In 1958, the Competition then formed part of the Federación Mundial de Concursos (the World Federation of Music Competitions), and it is currently the most prestigious competition, and the competition with the largest international scope in the world.