darjastravstisu__Alberto Ferro

2nd Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition 2026

The second edition of the Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition concluded on 1 March 2026 in Ljubljana, organized by Festival Ljubljana.

The triennial competition continues to establish itself as one of the most important international piano competitions in Central Europe, bringing together outstanding young pianists from around the world and presenting demanding repertoire from the classical, romantic and modern piano literature.

This year’s edition once again confirmed the high artistic level of the competition and the growing international recognition of the event.

Winner of the 2026 Competition

The winner of the 2026 Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition is Italian pianist Alberto Ferro, who received the Ljubljana City Award after impressing both the jury and the audience with his musical interpretation and technical mastery.

Official Results – Ljubljana Festival Piano Competition 2026

1st Prize – Ljubljana City Award
Alberto Ferro – performed on a Fazioli piano

2nd Prize – Triglav Insurance Award
Youl Sun – performed on a Fazioli piano

3rd Prize – Ljubljana Festival Award
Zhiquan Wang – performed on a Steinway & Sons piano

4th Prize
Jonathan Mak – Fazioli

5th Prize
Elia Cecino – Fazioli

6th Prize
Heeseong Noh – Fazioli

Special Awards for Outstanding Performances

Several special diplomas were awarded for exceptional interpretations of works from different musical periods.

Best Performance of a Classical Sonata
Heeseong Noh – Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 by Ludwig van Beethoven

Best Performance of a Romantic Work
Jonathan Mak – Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5 by Johannes Brahms

Best Performance of a 20th Century Work
Zhiquan Wang – La Valse by Maurice Ravel
Youl Sun – Trois mouvements de Petrouchka by Igor Stravinsky

Best Performance of a 21st Century Work
Kiryl Bartashevich – Étude No. 2 “Sequenzen” by Unsuk Chin

Best Performance of a Work by Fryderyk Chopin
Matteo Bortolazzi – 24 Preludes, Op. 28 by Fryderyk Chopin

Competition Statistics and Instrument Choice

The 2026 competition also revealed interesting statistics regarding instrument selection among the participants.

  • 29 pianists participated in the competition

  • 17 competitors chose the F278 concert grand piano by Fazioli

  • Among the 12 pianists admitted to the second round, 9 performed on Fazioli

  • In the final round, 5 of the 6 finalists performed on a Fazioli piano, while one finalist chose a Steinway & Sons instrument

These numbers illustrate the range of instrument choices made by pianists during the competition and highlight the presence of the Fazioli F278 among the available concert instruments.

Watch the Winner’s Final Performance

Below you can watch the video of the winning final performance, recorded at the closing concert of the Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition 2026.

The performance captures the artistic level of the finalists and the atmosphere of the competition’s concluding evening.

© Darja Štravs Tisu

Fazioli v Cankarjevem Domu

Fazioli F278 piano review

The first Fazioli at the Piano Salon Benton is the F278 model. The piano was manufactured in 1996. Recently, one of our long-time clients gave an opinion that certainly describes it the most.

“This piano is like a fine wine. The older, the better! ”

The piano was chosen in Fazioli Pianoforti, located in the town of Sacile, in the province of Pordenone (60km northeast of Venice). When choosing the piano in Fazioli, we were accompanied by pianist Aci Bertoncelj, whose opinion was very important to us, as he was our greatest constructive critic, who helped us a lot in achieving perfect tones. He also had a very big impact on the development of our company, and he was also our good friend!

 

fazioli 278 Benton
Fazioli string
Fazioli tipke

 

 

Concerts

Fazioli pianos are also available for renting for concerts and events all over Slovenia, and occasionally also to Croatia and Austria. Over 300 concerts have been performed on our Fazioli F278 in the 25-year history of the piano. A large number of Slovenian and internationally renowned pianists performed on it such as Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak, Tatjana Ognjanović, Aci Bertoncelj, Hinko Haas, Tomaž Petrač, Luciene Lončina, Natalija Saver, Uroš Perić, Gašper Konec, Milko Lazar, Herbie Hancock, Aldo Ciccolini, Ivo Pogorelic, Maksim Mrvica, Oliver Dragojevic etc..

The most remote location where it was rented for concerts was Cavtat in Croatia (20km south of Dubrovnik) and Belgrade, Serbia.

One of the most unusual locations is definitely the floating stage in Most na Soči, where firefighters also helped us to lower the piano to the floating stage.

 

dostava z dvigalom
most na soči
klavir na plavajočem odru

 

 

Recording

The Fazioli F278 is also great for recording music records where the piano is in the lead role or as a backing instrument.

The piano is distinguished by an extremely beautiful and unique sound and excellent responsiveness of the keyboard and action. Pianists who recorded on this piano said that they really feel comfortable behind this piano and even long hours of recording, to record the best record, are not a problem.

The first to record his record on it was Luiz de Moura Castro. The first to record his record at the Piano Salon Benton and one of the first to record his record on our first Fazioli piano was also Aci Bertoncelj, who wrote after the recording:

Aci Bertoncelj pianist

»Without an interpreter, music remains a dead art, nothing but black dots on white paper. Some of us interpreters have received the privilege of trying to magically convert the composer ‘s thoughts into a mysterious world of sound, full of wonders.

However, we depend on the instrument under our hands, like a rider depends on his horse. If the animal is an Arab thoroughbred, it will respond to the slightest cue, received from his rider and show up in the full palette of its character, from uncontrollable fieriness and ardour, to delicacy and a heart-stirring attachment to its master.

The sonorous ideal exists only in the head of the interpreter; but if the instrument gives more and sounds even more beautiful than the music in the interpreter’s imagination, it must be the king of all grand pianos – a FAZIOLI.«

Also recorded on Fazioli F278: Uroš Perić, Dominik Bagola – Balladero, Jan Plestenjak, Miran Juvan, Blaž Pucihar, Adriana Magdovska and many others.

 

 

First choice

If we ask pianists, what is your favorite brand of piano? Usually the answer was Steinway, but today Steinway is no longer the only one at the top.

Fazioli is relatively new to the world of pianos, but in less than 40 years of production it has become the first choice of the great artists of our time. Among them are Herbie Hancock, Louis Lortie and Angela Hewitt.

These remarkable pianos are handcrafted in Sacile, in northeastern Italy, a region known for its ancient and prestigious tradition in woodworking. The resonant bottom of the Fazioli pianos is made of wood from the Val de Fiemme valley, a valley in the eastern Italian Alps. Antonio Stradivari used the same wood to make his violins.

The secret of the quality of Fazioli pianos is that no piano leaves production until it is perfect and this is confirmed by Paolo Fazioli himself, the founder and director of Fazioli. Perfect, completely finished and ready for the concert stage.

Paolo Fazioli had a dream. Dreaming of building the best piano in the world. We can definitely say that he succeeded in this and his desire to build the best piano in the world means to improve his own creation. Paolo continues to explore, testing new ideas and new concepts. Together with his son Luca Fazioli, the pursuit of perfection will never stop at this piano factory.

Experience the perfection of Fazioli and see how the Fazioli piano deserves the reputation of impeccable quality by visiting our showroom, where you can try out our 3 models of Fazioli pianos – model F278, F228 and F212.

 

Fazioli Slovenia black