The competitors in the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition are pianists this year. In the three-year cycle, they’re followed by singers and violinists before coming round to pianists again. There is also a composition prize given every other year.

The last winning pianist was Russia’s Anna Vinnitskaya in 2007. Other distinguished laureates from the competition’s history include Soviet violin master David Oistrakh in 1937, Soviet virtuoso pianist Emil Gilels in 1938 (both won the first-ever competitions in their fields), Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer in 1967, Belgian soprano Marie-Noëlle de Callataÿ in 1988 and Lebanese pianist and composer Abdel Rahman El-Bacha in 1978.

The competition was set up in 1937 by Elisabeth of Bavaria, who was the queen of Belgium from 1909 to 1934, as the wife of King Albert I. She founded the event in the name of star violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, who had dreamed of a competition for young musicians but never realised his goal before his death in 1931. After only two years, the competition disappeared until after the war in 1951. It took Elisabeth’s name and patronage and has had an unbroken run since. Singing was added in 1988.

The jury has been presided over since 1996 by Arie Van Lysebeth, a multi-talented Belgian musician and former conductor. The world’s greatest performers have sat on the jury over the years, including the US-born violinist Yehudi Menuhin, famous Australian soprano Joan Sutherland, celebrated Belgian bassbaritone José Van Dam and Arthur Rubinstein, considered one of the best pianists of the 20th century.

“I’m like a mother to them”
Apart from the audiences admiring the candidates from afar, there’s another section of the population involved in the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Of the 83 candidates who start the competition, 12 will go all the way to the final evening on 29 May – a stay of a month, and too long to expect a budding musician to room in a hotel.

So the candidates, for the most part, stay with local hosts, one of whom is Bernadette De Clerck. She and her late husband, economics professor Louis Phlips, welcomed QE competitors for 25 years, as well as opening their house in Sint-Pieters- Rode to young musicians who needed the use of the two grand pianos in the living room.

“We put them up, feed them and ferry them about to their appointments,” De Clerck explains. “Basically, we just make sure they have nothing to worry about apart from their performances. We also have to be there to give moral support if they fail.”

The opening field of 83 is whittled down to 24 at the end of the first week, so there’s plenty of opportunity for disappointment. “I like to feel that I’m like a mother to them. I’m sad when they’re eliminated.”

The candidates arrive on 29 April. After registering, they visit the Royal Conservatory in Brussels to listen to the acoustics and spend 10 minutes deciding which piano they’ll play. The next day, there’s a drawing of lots to determine the order of play. At the end of a gruelling first week, 59 of them will go home.

“I’ve only ever had one guest who made it past the first round,” De Clerck says. “But the stress is all on the musicians; there’s no stress for me. Some of them are more confident than others. The singers seem to have the most aplomb. But these are not little beginners who come to take part in the Queen Elisabeth competition. These are [already] experienced musicians.”

Do musicians present particular problems? What about the fabled artistic temperament? “No, musicians have all the same problems as everyone else,” smiles De Clerck. “You have to have an open spirit, that’s all, to be open to young musicians. Though, to be honest, I’d do the same if it were about young sports people.”

Family of six: one piano
For Pieter Thyssens, this year is the first time he’s rubbed shoulders with Queen Elisabeth contestants. The doctoral student also lives in Kampenhout, and when De Clerck was looking for an available piano for her Korean contestant, Thyssens was quick to volunteer his family’s instrument.

Thyssens is at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), where he’s carrying out research on the position of certain elements in the Periodic Table. “I’ve been playing the piano since I was young. It’s the absolutely perfect relaxation for me after a day’s work. After chemistry, it’s my second passion.”

At De Clerck’s suggestion, the Thyssens (the father is a piano teacher) contacted the competition to offer their piano. Surprisingly, their demands are not particularly strict. “As long as the piano is a grand, and it’s in working order, they’re quite happy,” he says.

Their shared competitor will stay with De Clerck and have access to the piano during the day. “It’s central, in the living room, so there’s not much chance of being isolated. There are six people in our house,” says Thyssens. “One brother lives in Leuven, and my two younger sisters are at school. Father and I are both at work in the daytime. That only leaves my mother at home. The experience will be a kind of test for us. Maybe the next time we’ll take in a musician ourselves.”