COMING UP Queen Elisabeth Competition 2026: Cello

This year's Queen Elisabeth Competition is dedicated to cello. It's a special edition since the world renowned music competition celebrates its 75th edition, a 150 years after the birth of its namesake and founder, Queen Elisabeth.

Queen  Elisabeth of the Belgians and Pablo Casals, 1961

First round: Monday 4 May to Saturday 9 May 2026 at Flagey.

Semi Finals: Monday 11 May to Saturday 16 May 2026 at Flagey.

Finals: Monday 25 May to Saturday 30 May 2026 at Bozar.

Laureate Recitals (by the 6 non classified laureates) on 3 June and 4 June 2026 at Flagey.

Laureate Concerts (by numbers 6, 5 and 4) on 8 June 2026 at Bozar.

Final Concert (By numbers 3 and 2 and the winner) on 10 June 2026 at Bozar.

Queen Mathilde, who's the Honorary President of the Queen Elisabeth Competition will no doubt attend as many concerts as she can. We'll be seeing less of her during the semi finals though, when she'll be accompanying a Belgian trade mission in Turkey.