Around the Music Festival

The Leeds International Piano Competition, scheduled to be held in 2024, has announced the introduction of new rules. According to the announcement, “blind judging” will be introduced, in which judging will be conducted in a style that does not allow the audience to see the performers.

The competition was founded in 1961 by Fanny Waterman, who died at the end of 2020, and others. Since the first edition in 1963, the competition has been held every three years and has produced pianists such as Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Schiff András, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lars Vogt.

The 2024 Competition will be held at St. George’s Hall in Bradford, the 2025 UK City of Culture, in the industrial city 15 kilometers to the west, as the Town Hall in Leeds, which has been used until now, is undergoing major renovations. 65 contestants for the September event were announced last month.

In introducing “blind judging,” which is already widely used in auditions, the competition states that this is to avoid race, gender, costumes, and gestures from influencing the judges, and notes that in the past 20 competitions, women have won only twice.

PHOTO：Leeds International Piano Competition


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