The inaugural concert at Warsaw's Royal Castle on the February 2, 2011 officially opens the competition. The evening's programme features a number of superb performances featuring the soprano Agata Zubel and pianist Leszek Możdżer, accompanied by Andrzej Bauer and his Warsaw Cellonet Group.
This year's competition is judged by an international panel of nine adjudicators under the leadership of Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, who has taken over from Kazimierz Kord.
The Lutosławski Cello Competition proudly boasts that it is the only instrumental competition in the world aimed specifically at young people. By imposing an age limit of twenty-four, it provides the opportunity for aspiring young cellists to make the first steps to a successful career. Speaking with regard to the competition's age limit, Marcin Zdunik - a laureate of the Sixth edition of the Lutosławski Cello Competition - claimed that "in competitions that do not impose an age limit, young instrumentalists feel they have little or nothing to aim for". And with regard to the future successes of the competition's previous laureates, he added that "in all cases, these cellists' careers began in earnest with this competition".
Among the sixty-four participants are thirteen Poles, alongside representatives from Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Great Britain, China, Japan and North and South Korea. In terms of music, the competition's program will include all of Lutosławski's works for cello, as well as his Cello Concerto performed in the Finals.
On February 10, the competition's finalists join the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra for a concert conducted by Piotr Dąbrowski. Laureates of the competition are to be announced on the same day.
Alongside cash prizes, winners from the competition will have the opportunity to perform at the Belvedere Palace in Warsaw, the National Philharmonic, the Artur Rubinstein Łódż Philharmonic and the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice.
Together with the Danczowski Cello Competition, the Lutosławski Competition is only one of two competitions specifically for the cello in Poland. Organised every two years by the Foundation for the Promotion of Young Cellists, the competition has also been a part of The World Federation of International Music Competitions since February 2000, and from December of the same year it has been a member of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth.
The eighth edition of the Lutosławski Competition will take place between February 3 - 10, 2011 in Warsaw. Further information can be found at: www.lutoslawski-cello.art.pl.
For more information on the inaugural event, see: Inaugural Concert
Source: PAP, www.lutoslawski-cello.art.pl