After two special years, this second edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition dedicated to the cello has rediscovered the fervour of the audience and the extraordinary enthusiasm created each year by this major musical event in Belgium and abroad.

The 4-CD box set with the best moments of the 2022 Cello Competition highlights the great diversity of the repertoire for this instrument, even if it is resolutely turned towards 20th-century music, reflecting the performances offered by the candidates of this session.

It opens with the masterful performance of Lutosławski’s Concerto by the first laureate Hayoung Choi, followed by Jörg Widmann’s compulsory work by Marcel Johannes Kits (3rd Prize) and Shostakovich’s Concerto no.1 performed by Yibai Chen (2nd Prize), all accompanied by the Brussels Philharmonic under the baton of Stéphane Denève.

The second CD takes us back more than two centuries, with Haydn’s Concertos performed by Marcel Johannes Kits and Bryan Cheng (6th Prize), in the company of the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie conducted by Vahan Mardirossian; then come two Boccherini sonatas by Oleksiy Shadrin (4th Prize) and Taeguk Mun, heard during the first round.

Three great cello sonatas make up the third disc: Shostakovich firstly with Petar Pejčić (5th Prize), Franck with Stéphanie Huang and Schubert’s Arpeggione with Jeremias Fliedl. We then return mainly to the 20th century to close this box set with a disc including in particular the sonatas of Britten (Hayoung Choi), Ligeti (Yibai Chen) and Schnittke (Oleksiy Shadrin).

In a repertoire that will be new for some, the 12 laureates of this 2022 session present, thanks to their musical personalities, an original programme which will allow you to find some of the most beautiful moments of this Queen Elisabeth Competition.