After the successful conduct of the 12th edition of the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians in Enschede in February 2024, the IPC Foundation plans to organize the International Piano Festival in October 2025.
The IPC Foundation is trying, just as in the past, to ensure that the public does not forget our competition in the ‘intervening’ years. With the International Piano Competition in even years and the International Piano Festival in odd years, an annual event in Enschede focuses on piano music.
From 2009 onwards (also in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019), we had successfully organized performances by several winners of our competitions in Enschede and the surrounding area as part of the International Piano Festival. Due to the pandemic, we had to postpone our 11th edition of the competition in 2020 twice and, of course, we could no longer organize the Piano Festival. After the competition in 2022, we resumed this tradition with the festival in 2023.
For the competition organization – caring for and guiding our winners is a very important point. Not only prize money, but also ‘aftercare’ in the form of performances is the most important feature of all competitions. This contributes to the fame of the competition and strengthens its appeal. For the winners of our competition, the festival is a great opportunity to play for an audience and build up their own concert experience.
For Dutch music students and music school students, visiting these concerts is very educational. Hearing ‘live’ how their peers, are making music at a very high level, is a great stimulus for their own musical development. The festival therefore also has an important educational function, where everyone involved can have a valuable experience.
