24 cellists will progress to the next round, which will take place from 11 to 16 May
The first round of the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Competition took place from 4 to 9 May 2026 at Flagey, Brussels, Belgium. 64 cellists performed a recital programme comprising a sonata by Boccherini, a work with piano accompaniment, plus Lullaby for solo cello by Kaija Saariaho.
24 cellists have been selected to take part in the semi-final rounds, which will take place from 11 to 16 May. Each contestant will perform twice, once in the evening and once in the afternoon on a different day.
Semi-finalists will play a concerto from Concerto in C major op. 4 by Anton Kraft, Concerto in B flat major by Michael Haydn and Concerto in D major Badley D3 by Leopold Hofmann, accompanied by the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, conducted by Vahan Mardirossian.
They will also perform a recital. The jury will choose one of two recital programmes proposed by the candidate, each including works of the candidate’s choice and the compulsory unpublished work written especially for this year’s edition by Harold Noben, Caffeine.
The 24 semi-finalists are:
Andrew Ilhoon Byun
Roric Cunningham
Clara Dietlin
Léo Ispir
Tae-Yeon Kim
Yo Kitamura
Leland Ko
Theresa Laun
Isaac Lottman
Álvaro Lozano Cames
Lionel Martin
Anna Meipariani
Krzysztof Michalski
Marcus Michelin
Dilshod Narzillaev
Ettore Pagano
Ivan Sendetsky
Michael Song
Simon Tetzlaff
Michael Wehrmeyer
Alexander Wollheim
Jiaxun Yao
Maria Zaitseva
Arne Jesper Zeller
The jury for the first round comprised Gilles Ledure (chairman), Natalie Clein, Roel Dieltiens, Valentin Erben, Ophélie Gaillard, Anne Gastinel, Benjamin Glorieux, Marie Hallynck, Anssi Karttunen, Daniel Müller-Schott, Sharon Robinson and Jian Wang.
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