In 1988, after 37 years of violin, piano and musical composition (the latter was only incorporated in 1953), the voice made its entry in the Queen Elisabeth Competition. And in 2017, the cello was finally entered in the competition, exactly 80 years after the creation of what was initially called the Eugène Ysaÿe Competition. Cello winners were (in order, from First to Sixth Prize) Victor Julien-Laferrière from France, Yuya Okamoto from Japan, Santiago Cañón-Valencia from Colombia, Aurélien Pascal from France, Ivan Karizna from Belarus, Brannon Cho from the United States. Therefore, we’ll listen to these six winners’ performances (semi-final and final performances with an orchestra or in recital) recorded live, as well as several other entrants who reached the last round. We can only wish fair winds to these wonderful talents! For the record, the jury was composed of no less than Gautier Capuçon, Henri Demarquette, David Geringas, Natalia Gutman, Gary Hoffman, Mischa Maisky, Antonio Meneses, Truls Mørk and, last but not least, Pieter Wispelwey: the very best in international cello. © SM/Qobuz