The Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition (in Spanish: Concurso Internacional de Piano de Santander "Paloma O'Shea") is a piano competition taking place in

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Founded in 1972 by

Paloma O'Shea Paloma O'Shea Artiñano, 1st Marchioness of O'Shea (born 19 February 1936) is a pianist, patron of the arts, founder and current president of the Reina Sofía School of Music, and founder and president of the Albéniz Foundation, which organizes ...

as a national prize, it turned into an international competition in its 2nd edition, and was professionalized in the mid-70s, being accepted into the

World Federation of International Music Competitions The World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) is an organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that maintains a network of the internationally recognized organisations that aim to discover the most promising young talents in classi ...

in 1976. Organized by the

Albéniz Foundation The Albéniz Foundation (''Fundación Albéniz'' in Spanish), is a private non-profit organisation promoting classical music in Spain through its programmes: the Queen Sofía College of Music, Reina Sofía School of Music, the Paloma O'Shea Interna ...

and chaired by the

Infanta Margarita Margaret Theresa of Spain ( es, link=no, Margarita Teresa, german: link=no, Margarete Theresia; 12 July 1651 – 12 March 1673) was, by marriage to Leopold I, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and B ...

and sponsored by a network of civil service and private companies, it arranges an extensive world tour for the winners, including debuts in auditoriums such as the

National Auditorium of Music The Auditorio Nacional de Música (''National Auditorium of Music'') is a complex of concert venues located in Madrid, Spain and the main concert hall in the Madrid metropolitan area. It comprises two main concert rooms: a symphonic hall and a cham ...

and the

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...

and cash prizes. The competition takes place in the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria.

The competition

Currently, 20 pianists are accepted into the competition through a demanding shortlist of candidates. The competition consists of a preliminary round after a video-based admission round (pre-auditions in Spain, Paris, New York and Moscow), a recital round, a chamber music round, and final concerto round with a symphony orchestra.

Guest artists

During the last stages of the competition, the participants perform with guest artists and ensembles. Past ensembles include the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

Dresden Philharmonic The Dresdner Philharmonie (Dresden Philharmonic) is a German symphony orchestra based in Dresden. Its principal concert venue is the ''Kulturpalast''. The orchestra also performs at the Kreuzkirche, the Hochschule für Musik Dresden, and the ...

Spanish National Orchestra The Orquesta Nacional de España (Spanish National Orchestra) is a symphonic orchestra that is based in Madrid, Spain. History Although the orchestra originated as of 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, it was legally founded in 1940, by the mergin ...

Madrid Symphony Orchestra Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Northern Sinfonia Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. Since 2004, the ...

Scottish Chamber Orchestra The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an Edinburgh-based UK chamber orchestra. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and S ...

RTVE Symphony Orchestra The RTVE Symphony Orchestra (''Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española''), also known as the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra is a Spanish radio orchestra servicing RTVE, the Spanish national broadcasting network. The O ...

Takacs Quartet, Ysaÿe Quartet, Quiroga Quartet and the

Vienna Chamber Orchestra The Vienna Chamber Orchestra (Wiener Kammer Orchester, or WKO) is an Austrian chamber orchestra based at the Vienna Konzerthaus. History The WKO was founded in 1946, and its first artistic directors were Franz Litschauer, Heinrich Hollreiser, ...

and conductors

Philippe Entremont Philippe Entremont (born 7 June 1934) is a French classical pianist and conductor. His recordings as a pianist include concertos by Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns and others. Early life Philippe Entremont was born in ...

Sergiu Comissiona Sergiu Comissiona (June 16, 1928 – March 5, 2005) was a Romanian-Israelis, Israeli-Americans, American Conducting, conductor and violinist. Biography Early life Born in Bucharest, Romania in a Jewish family, he began violin studies at the ag ...

Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez (born 1949 in Granada, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further B ...

, and

Jesús López-Cobos Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet. Jesus may also refer to: People Religious figures * Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Ac ...

Juries

Members of the jury have included

Josep Colom Josep Colom (born January 11, 1947) is a Spanish classical pianist. Biography and career Colom was born in Barcelona, Spain. He began piano lessons in Barcelona with his aunt Rosa Colom, and later moved to Paris to study at the École Normale ...

Gary Graffman Gary Graffman (born October 14, 1928) is an American classical pianist, teacher and administrator. Early life Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of M ...

Federico Mompou Frederic Mompou Dencausse (; alternatively Federico Mompou; 16 April 189330 June 1987) was a Spanish and Catalan composer and pianist. He is remembered for his solo piano music and songs. Life Early years Mompou was born in Barcelona to the ...

Vlado Perlemuter Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter (26 May 1904 – 4 September 2002) was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher. Biography Vladislas (Vlado) Perlemuter was born to a Polish Jewish family, the third of four sons, in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas in Li ...

, Joaquín Achúcarro,

Aldo Ciccolini Aldo Ciccolini (; 15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971. Biography Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples. His father, who bore the title of Marquis of Macerata, worked as a typogr ...

Nikita Magaloff Nikita Magaloff (russian: Никита Магалов; 26 December 1992) was a Georgian-Russian pianist. He was born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian noble family named Maghalashvili. Magaloff and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland. H ...

Paul Badura-Skoda Paul Badura-Skoda (6 October 1927 – 25 September 2019) was an Austrian pianist. Career A student of Edwin Fischer, Badura-Skoda first rose to prominence by winning first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he perform ...

Hiroko Nakamura was a Japanese pianist. Born Hiroko Fukuda in Yamanashi, she grew up in Tokyo. She began to study piano at the age of 3 at Toho Gakuen School of Music under Aiko Iguchi. In 1959, whilst a student at Chutobu Junior High School, she won first ...

Fou Ts'ong Fou Ts'ong (; 10 March 1934 – 28 December 2020) was a Chinese-born British pianist who was the first pianist of his national origin to achieve international recognition. He came to prominence after winning third prize and the Polish Radio Prize ...

, Eliso Virsaladze,

Elisabeth Leonskaja Elisabeth Leonskaja (born 23 November 1945) (In Russian: Елизавета Ильинична Леонская) is a Soviet and Austrian pianist. She was born to a family of Jewish and Polish extraction living in Tbilisi, then the capital of t ...

, Rafael Orozco,

Alicia de Larrocha Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' "o ...

Dimitri Bashkirov Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Башки́ров; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an in ...

Dimitri Alexeev Dmitri Alexeev (russian: Дмитрий Константинович Алексеев, ''Dmitrij Konstantinovič Alekseev'', born 10 August 1947 in Moscow) is a Russian pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory, and additionally under Dmitr ...

Akiko Ebi is a Japanese-French pianist. Ebi was born in Osaka. She studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts, and won the piano prize of the 41st Music Competition of Japan. Her international career began with her winning second prize in the 1975 Marg ...

, Márta Gulyás and

Arie Vardi Arie Vardi ( he, אריה ורדי; born 1937) is a classical pianist, conductor, and piano pedagogue. He is laureate of the Israel Prize in 2017. Biography Vardi was born in Tel Aviv and graduated from the Rubin Academy (renamed the Buchmann-Me ...

Prize winners

This is a partial listing of prize-winners of the Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition.

Special prizes

Grant-prizes

References

{{Reflist

External links

Albeniz Foundation

Paloma O'Shea Santander Piano Competition
Cantabrian culture Albéniz Foundation Music competitions in Spain Piano competitions