May 27, 2026 • 7:57 pm 0
My profile of Élisabeth Pion, who triumphed last autumn at the Honens International Piano Competition, has been featured this month on Musical America‘s website:
Last October, when the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary was heading into the concerto finals round, there were no foregone conclusions, though contrasts in the personalities of the three finalists had steadily sharpened…
Filed under: Honens International Piano Competition, Musical America, piano
November 29, 2025 • 4:20 am Comments Off on Reflecting on the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition
My report on the 2025 edition of the Honens Competition, which I attended in Calgary in October, has been published here by International Piano magazine.
For a few days in October two leading piano competitions overlapped. In Calgary, gateway to the Canadian Rockies, the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition reached its finale just days after the Chopin Competition in Warsaw had announced its winners. North American pianists took the top prize at both. At Honens, the spotlight fell on 29-year-old Élisabeth Pion from Quebec, who was named Gold Laureate and also took the Audience Choice Award, ahead of fellow Canadian Carter Johnson and Russia’s Anastasia Vorotnaya, who respectively took Silver and Bronze….
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Filed under: Honens International Piano Competition, International Piano, piano
October 26, 2025 • 12:43 pm Comments Off on Awards Announced at 2025 Honens
The final results of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition are in – and the Gold goes to Élisabeth Pion! 
After a dazzling performance of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, the 29-year-old French Canadian was named 2025 Honens Gold Laureate in Calgary last night. She takes home CAD $100,000 and a three-year career-accelerator program valued at more than $500,000. She also swept up the Audience Choice Award (worth $5,000 CAD).
The final round featured all three finalists, each in a different concerto, with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra led by Elias Grandy.
Hearty applause as well for Silver Laureate Carter Johnson (29) and to Bronze Laureate Anastasia Vorotnaya (30) – and for all seven semifinalists who made this year’s Honens an inspiring, memorable festival. They included Ádám Balogh (28), Elia Cecino (24), Giorgio Lazzari (25), Sandro Nebieridze (24), Chaeyoung Park (28), Derek Wang (27), and Yuanfan Yang (28).
With performances this bold and individual, the Honens ideal of the “Complete Artist” feels alive and well.
Filed under: Honens International Piano Competition, music news, pianists
October 24, 2025 • 5:00 pm Comments Off on Sharing the Spotlight: The Isidore Quartet at Honens 2025
–> Follow the final round and announcement of awards starting at 7pm MDT on the Honens livestream here.
Tonight is the final round at the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition. I spoke with violinist Phoenix Avalon of the Isidore String Quartet about the experience of partnering with each of the three finalists in last night’s first round of the finals. Here’s my interview for The Strad:
For a string quartet, sharing the spotlight with fellow chamber musicians is second nature – but not usually in circumstances like this. The New York City-based Isidore Quartet took the stage last night (23 October) for the chamber-music final of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition, held at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in the Werklund Centre, downtown Calgary, Alberta. ..
Filed under: competitions, Honens International Piano Competition, pianists, string quartet, The Strad
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