Finally, a truly international competition exclusively for the classical piano accompanist. Are you a vocal accompanist? Are you a singer working with an accompanist? Maybe you just love lieder, whatever your interest, this is the place for you. A friendly competition, a fun competition, a competition highlighting the unique and wonderful skills of the vocal accompanist. The competition will take place in the Beurs van Berlage, which is the old stock-exchange in the beautiful city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Within this building there is a magnificent glass concert hall, called the Amvest hall and this is where the semi-finals and the finals will take place. We hope that the first round will be held at the Amsterdam Conservatory, a wonderful new building situated in the centre of Amsterdam.

This competition is the initiative of the renowned accompanist and teacher Kelvin Grout who is currently celebrating more than fifty years of playing the piano. In addition to special concerts and master-classes throughout the seasons 2008/2009 and 2009/2010, he has created this annual event intending to raise the profile of the piano accompanist and encourage young pianists to pursue this increasingly sought after and exciting specialisation. With prize money in the region of 25,000 euro, and a first prize of 10,000 euro this promises to become one of the most important competitions in the classical music world. Jury member Irwin Gage, the great American accompanist once said; "There are many accompanists who are very good pianists, but there are not many pianists who are good accompanists!" With this competition we hope to give all accompanists around the world, young and not so young (there is no age limit) the chance to show how great a pianist you need to be to perform in this magnificent art-form.

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