LAUREATE CONCERT | ANDRÉE CHARLIER COMPETITION

Whale song, traces of Estonian musical culture, and young piano talent: this concert opens up the stage to the laureates of the 2026 Andrée Charlier Piano Competition. The laureates of the competition are not yet known.

Yet, the winners of the composition competition for piano works are already known: their award-winning scores will be performed by the laureates of the piano competition. In Echo des Baleines by Simon d'Hooghe, the song of whales sounds as solemn and meditative as a Gregorian hymn. Childhood Scene by Ioannis Dimopoulos is a playful evocation of a distant childhood memory, while in his Chaconne, an Estonian melody gradually unfolds through continuous repetition into a poignant lament. The work follows the principle of the chaconne, in which an unchanging bass line returns cyclically, while the melody develops ever further above it.

The Andrée Charlier Piano Competition is an initiative of the Charlier-Blampain family. The director of the Ransart Music Academy founded the Competition following the tragic death of their daughter Andrée Charlier, who was a piano teacher at the academy. Every year the competition supports promising young pianists who are eager to showcase their talent.