Istanbul’s French high school launches new piano contest

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

NDS manager Yann de Lansalut announces the piano contest that will be organized in November 2013.

The Notre Dame de Sion (NDS) French high school, one of the oldest schools in Istanbul, is launching the “Istanbul International Piano Contest Orchestra’Sion,” the school announced during a recent press conference.

NDS manager Yann de Lansalut, pianist Stephane Blet and the jury revealed that the competition would take place between Nov. 11 and Nov. 17, 2013.

“The piano contest was organized at Yann de Lansalut’s initiative. Turkey and France will have a musical bridge between each other. Both countries are rich in musical culture,” Blet said. “Young virtuosos will come to Istanbul and this competition will contribute to the cultural give and take.”

“This competition is expected to contribute value to Istanbul and Turkey’s musical development,” de Lansalut said.

The competition’s jury, led by Blet as the president, will be comprised of piano virtuosos and experts including Ali Darmar, Eric Heidsieck, Etsuko Hirose, Dong Jun-kim, Süher Pekinel, Nikoloas Samaltanos and Ayşegül Sarıca.

The piano contest is the second part of an NDS cultural project. The first part focused on translations from French to Turkish and Turkish to French.