Honens 2022, 20 – 28 October

10 Competitors, $500,000 Prize Package. Who will win it all?

Ten pianists aged 21 to 31 from seven countries have been chosen to advance to the Semifinals of the Honens International Piano Competition. Semifinals and Finals of the Competition take place in Calgary from Oct. 20 to 28, 2022. With the Competition taking place in less than a month away, here is a quick tutorial on the Competition and the various ways you can enjoy it.

The Honens Competition
The Honens International Piano Competition started in 1991 when Esther Honens, a Canadian philanthropist, entrepreneur, and amateur pianist, gave a $5 million endowment to host an international piano competition in her hometown of Calgary. Ms. Honens attended the inaugural Honens Competition which took place in 1992 and passed away at age 89—five days after seeing her dream come true.

30 years later, the Competition is known as one of the world’s richest piano competitions – for both cash prizes and the artist enrichment programs.

The Honens Laureates include Katherine Chi (Canada), Maxim Philippov (Russia), and Luca Buratto (Italy), as well as Krzystof Jablonski (Poland) and Dimitry Nesterov (Russia), who emigrated to Calgary after the Competition.

Semifinalists
Chosen from 50 Quarterfinalists, the ten pianists were selected after performing a 40-minute recital and completing a ten-minute interview in Frankfurt and New York. This year’s Semifinalists are Ádám Balogh (Hungary), Rachel Breen (United States), Łukasz Byrdy (Poland), Sae Yoon Chon (South Korea), Dmytro Choni (Ukraine), George Fu (United States), Simon Karakulidi (Russia), Aleksandra Kasman (United States), Illia Ovcharenko (Ukraine), and Philipp Scheucher (Austria).

These ten Semifinalists will be narrowed down to three finalists. Then one pianist will be named the 2022 Honens Prize Laureate and win one of the world’s largest awards of its kind—$100,000 (CAD) and a comprehensive, three-year artistic and career development program, that includes concert engagements around the world with major orchestras, professional recordings, media training, coaching, and mentorship.

You can learn about the Semifinalists online or by visiting the Honens’ social media channels. You can also download the Honens App to listen to Honens music, learn about upcoming events, read artist biographies, vote for your favourite Semiffinalist, and more.

Schedule and Tickets
Semifinals I to X take place from 20 to 24 October, Finals I is on 27 October, and Finals II and the Awards Ceremony take place on 28 October. All the Honens events will be performed on the Mount Royal University campus at the Bella Concert Hall, with the exception of Finals II and the Awards Ceremony taking place at Jack Singer Concert Hall in the Arts Commons. 

Single Tickets range from $10 to $102, full Competition Pass from $446 to $490. A Finals Pass is also available for both Finals I and II at a greatly discounted rate ranging from $96.50 to $140.

For the complete schedule and to purchase tickets, visit honens.com/2022.