Maria Canals International Music Competition

The Maria Canals International Music Competition (Concurs Internacional de Música Maria Canals Barcelona, ) is a music competition held yearly in the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona. It was founded as a piano competition in 1954, but in 1964 it was expanded so other modalities could be held occasionally.

It was founded in 1954 by the Catalan pianist Maria Remei Canals i Cendrós (1913–2010) and her husband, the composer and writer Rossend Llates (1899–1973). Since 1954, the Competition has welcomed over 7,000 participants from 100 countries and 180 jury members from all over the world. It became a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in 1958.

The Maria Canals competition, for which artists such as Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies and Joan Clavé have made publicity posters, was declared to be of public utility by the Spanish Interior Ministry in 1996.

Commentaries on the competition

 * Of the multitude of international piano competitions, it is comforting to note that a competition like the Maria Canals at Barcelona, in which the piano is judged purely on a musical level, in which the player cannot forget the essential thing, interpretation, that such a competition takes on greater importance every year. Musicians can only praise and thank Maria Canals for her initiative. For my part, I can only warmly salute not only the longevity of this competition, but its ever more important participation in that magnificent combat in which, nobly and with exemplary probity, the artists of the future – those who will pick up the baton from their elders – face each other. – Vlado Perlemuter, 1964.
 * Those of us who follow the Barcelonan musical life can't forget the ascendant evolution of the Maria Canals International Music Competition, initiated in 1954, which has turned into one of the most important European competitions. In celebrating its 40th anniversary we can state that many performers of the highest level have arisen from the competition, such a thing having contributed to expand the prestige of Barcelona as an artistic city. – Xavier Montsalvatge, 2004.

Prize Winners
2021 - 1st prize - Sandro Gegechkori  (Georgia)    2nd prize -   Ziming Ren     (China)     3rd prize -    Rafael Kyrychenko   (Portugal)