The competition, which offers one of the world’s largest cash prizes, aims to discover and foster pre-eminent talent in the art of piano performance. The Honens seeks out a winner they deem to be the ‘Complete Artist’, which they believe should demonstrate outstanding virtuosic ability, risk-taking, effective collaboration and communication, and be able to interpret ideas from a wide cultural context.

In addition to prizes of $100,000, $40,000 and $20,000, the medal winners will be enrolled in a 3-year comprehensive Artist Development Programme which will be tailored to each individual artist. It will include opportunities for recitals, career-building markets and coaching and mentorship, as well as assistance in securing worldwide artist management and media training.

In addition to the programme, the finalists will also benefit from individual post-performance feedback from the Honens Mentor-in-Residence. In 2025, the competition mentor will be British classical pianist Sir Stephen Hough.

Honens President & CEO John Kieser says: ‘This Competition showcases to the world and our audiences the new generation of Complete Artists who are performers, leaders, teachers, advocates, and communicators.’

The quarter-finals will be held in Berlin and New York in March 2025, with the semi-finals and finals in Calgary the following October.