The contestants were chosen from 185 applicants aged 18 to 30, who were required to submit video recordings of a programme including works by François Servais, Felix Mendelssohn and Eugène Ysaÿe, as well as a piece of their own choice for solo cello or cello with piano accompaniment composed after 1950.
Born in 1998, Leszczyńska began playing the cello at age eight. A graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, she is continuing her studies with Pieter Wispelwey at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Her awards include second prize at the 12th Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw in 2024. She has performed in concert halls across Poland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States. She is also active as a chamber musician and arranger.
Michalski, born in 2003, is studying for a master’s degree at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
He has won several competitions in Europe and the United States, including the Johansen International Competition for Young String Players in Washington, DC. He has performed as a soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras in Poland, Germany and Colombia, and has given recitals in Poland, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia, Israel, the United States and Colombia.
The first round of the competition will take place from May 4 to 9.
The top prizewinner will receive the Queen Mathilde Prize of EUR 25,000.
Founded 75 years ago, the Queen Elisabeth Competition is one of the world's most prestigious music contests. The 2026 edition is dedicated to the cello for the third time.
(mk/gs)
Source: The Strad