ARTIST - Information on the 2026 Semifinals

Semifinal Schedule & Practical Information
ARTIST category
Samson François International Piano Competition

Venue Information

The contest will take place at the following address:

Cagnes-sur-Mer Racetrack 2 Boulevard J. F. Kennedy 06800 Cagnes-sur-Mer, France All events will take place at the Salon Masséna (2nd floor).

Rehearsal Pianos & Shuttle Service

For rehearsals, contestants will have access to several pianos throughout the competition:

4 practice pianos at the Hippodrome.
There are 4 to 5 practice pianos at the Cagnes-sur-Mer Conservatory. For your rehearsals the day before at the Conservatory, please note the address: 103 Chemin du Val Fleuri. To help you find the entrance easily, two photos are attached: Photo1 and Photo2.

Shuttle service: A dedicated driver will provide a continuous shuttle service between the main entrance of the Hippodrome and the Salon Masséna.
You’ll find the link to the interactive Google Map to guide you from the racetrack entrance at 2 Boulevard J. F. Kennedy to the grandstand where the Masséna Lounge is located (2nd floor):
– in French
– in English
– under fixed form

Essay piano: As indicated in the schedule, each group of contestants will also have access to the official competition piano during the rehearsal session preceding their performances.

Accommodation

Regarding accommodations, please note that we do not provide hotel recommendations, as prices and availability can vary significantly depending on the booking platform and dates. We therefore encourage applicants to choose the accommodation that best suits their preferences and budget.

If you need further information, please feel free to contact us at: samsonfrancoiscompetition@gmail.com

2026 Jury

Here is the 2026 jury for the ARTIST category:

Biography

Nicolas Bringuier

Born in Nice in 1980, French pianist Nicolas Bringuier is one of the most brilliant artists of his generation. Invited to perform as a soloist at venues such as the Philharmonie and Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Auditorio in Madrid, and the Seoul Arts Center, his career as a soloist and teacher has taken him to most European countries, the United States, China, South Korea, and Japan.

He is also Artistic Director of the Negresco Music Festival and the Samson François International Piano Competition.

After studying at the Nice Regional Conservatory with Christine Gastaud, he entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 13, studying under Bruno Rigutto, where he was awarded first prize in piano at the age of 16 and completed the advanced program at 18.

He then continued his training at the Berlin University of the Arts under Klaus Hellwig, graduating with the highest honors.

During masterclasses, he also benefits from the advice of masters such as Dimitri Bashkirov, Oleg Maisenberg, Dominique Merlet, Jean-Claude Pennetier, John Perry, Charles Rosen, Kristina Steinegger, and Vladimir Viardo.

Winner of the Banque Populaire, Cziffra, Langart, and Yvonne Lefébure foundations, Nicolas Bringuier has also distinguished himself in major international competitions: the youngest participant selected in 1998 for the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he won the Grand Konzerteum in Greece in 2000 and was a finalist in the Pro Piano Competition in New York.

In 2004, he won second prize and the silver medal at the prestigious Robert Schumann International Competition in Zwickau. He also won a medal at the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona and was a semi-finalist at the Monte-Carlo Piano Masters and the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2005, where he was one of the favorites of the press and the public.

Nicolas Bringuier has a repertoire of more than 30 concertos, which he has performed with numerous European and Asian orchestras: the Berliner Symphoniker, the Wiener Concertverein, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Capitole Orchestra of Toulouse, the Zwickau-Plauen Orchestra, the Nice Orchestra, the Wuhan Orchestra, the Cannes National Orchestra, the Avignon Orchestra, the Castilla e Leon Symphony Orchestra, the Balearic Symphony Orchestra, the Euro-Asian Orchestra, and others.

He is invited to perform at the most prestigious festivals, including: the Monte Carlo Spring Arts Festival, the Nuits du Suquet in Cannes, the Colmar Festival, Radio France in Montpellier, Génération Virtuose in Antibes, Les Serres d'Auteuil, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Mosel Festwochen and the Klassik Festival Ruhr in Germany, Sonoro in Romania, Schermonnikoog in Holland, Alba in Italy, and many others around the world.

His recordings of Schumann, Bartók, and Fauré for the Audite and Klarthe labels have been highly acclaimed by critics and have received the highest awards.

With pianist Olga Monakh and their Duo Siloti, they performed at the invitation of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany at his residence in Schloss Bellevue, toured China three times, and played together in most European countries.

A passionate chamber musician, he also performs alongside Andrej Bielow, Alexandra Conunova, Nicolas Dautricourt, Philippe Graffin, Julien Hervé, Gary Hoffman, Esther Hoppe, Alissa Margulis, Raphael Oleg, Régis Pasquier, Razvan Popovici, Estelle Revaz, François Salque, Istvan Vardai, Ukjin Yang, Alexander and Dana Zemtsov, among others.

Lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts, visiting professor at Inje University in South Korea, N. Bringuier is now a professor at the École Normale de Musique de Paris.

He is regularly invited to sit on the juries of prestigious international competitions.

Biography

Gülsin Onay

Gülsin Onay began playing the piano at the age of three and gave her first public recital on Turkish radio at the age of six. Thanks to a special state scholarship, she studied with Ahmed Adnan Saygun and Mithat Fenmen, then in Paris, where her teachers were Pierre Sancan, Monique Haas, and Nadia Boulanger. She graduated from the Paris Conservatory at the age of 16, winning the prestigious "First Prize in Piano," and quickly went on to win prizes in major international competitions, including the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud (in Paris) and the Ferruccio Busoni (in Bolzano). Gülsin Onay's international career has since spanned 80 countries across all continents, from Venezuela to Japan. She has given concerts in the world's greatest concert halls, such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and Miller Theater in New York. She has performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Japan Philharmonic, the Munich Radio Symphony, the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony, the Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. She has performed under conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Erich Bergel, Michael Boder, Andrey Boreyko, Jorg Faerber, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Edward Gardner, Neeme Jarvi, Emmanuel Krivine, Ingo Metzmacher, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jose Serebrier, Vassily Sinaisky, Stanislaw Wislocki, and Lothar Zagrosek. Gülsin Onay has performed at numerous festivals, including Berlin, Warsaw, Granada, Mozartfest Würzburg, Newport, Schleswig-Holstein, Singapore, Ohrid, the Azores, and Istanbul. She has played with chamber musicians such as Antonio Meneses, Kirill Troussov, Maxim Vengerov, and the Endellion Quartet.

Gülsin Onay is recognized worldwide as the leading interpreter of the music of Ahmed Adnan Saygun, the greatest Turkish composer of the 20th century, whose works feature prominently in her concerts and recordings, and whose Second Piano Concerto (which she premiered in Turkey and abroad) was dedicated to her. Other contemporary composers who have dedicated works to Gülsin Onay include Hubert Stuppner, Denis Dufour, Jean-Louis Petit, Muhiddin Dürrüoğlu-Demiriz, Marc-André Hamelin, and Bujor Hoinic.

The more than 20 albums recorded to date by Gülsin Onay illustrate the breadth of her repertoire and her powerful interpretations, with solo works and concertos ranging from Haydn and Mozart to contemporary composers. Her 2007 CD, which includes live concert recordings of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, was praised by critics and virtuosos alike. In 2008, CPO released her recording of Saygun's two concertos, which was widely acclaimed by critics. To mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Gülsin Onay recorded two CDs devoted to the composer's works. Her latest album, devoted to the piano concertos of Ulvi Cemal Erkin and Khachaturian, has been widely acclaimed by critics. Many of her concerts have been broadcast on European radio and television, as well as on National Public Radio in the United States. During the 2020-2021 coronavirus pandemic, Gülsin Onay performed regularly on social media, where her live concerts were viewed millions of times.

Gülsin Onay holds the title of State Artist in her native Turkey, where she has been the official soloist of the Ankara Presidential Symphony Orchestra for many years. She is Artist in Residence at Bilkent University in Ankara and holds honorary doctorates from Bosphorus University in Istanbul and Hacettepe University in Ankara. In 2007, she was honored by Poland with a State Medal for her interpretation of Chopin's music. In the same year, the Sevda-Cenap And Music Foundation awarded her its prestigious 2007 Honorary Gold Medal. Gülsin Onay was named "Pianist of the Year" at the 2011 Donizetti Classical Music Awards. In 2014, she received the Medal of Honor at the 42nd Istanbul Music Festival, followed by the Medal of Honor at the Bodrum Music Festival in 2018. Since 2015, the Turkish city of Tekirdağ, where one of the streets is named after Gülsin Onay, has organized an annual concert series called "Gülsin Onay Piano Days" in her honor.

Outside of her professional career, Gülsin Onay is a tireless promoter of classical music through her charitable activities, event organization, teaching, and outreach. Since 2003, she has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and regularly gives charity concerts to support and raise awareness of their activities. She has been artistic advisor to the Gümüşlük International Classical Music Festival and Academy since its inception in 2004. Gülsin Onay is particularly interested in training young musicians and has taught more than 400 students. Gülsin Onay regularly contributes to arts programs on radio and television, and since 2017, she has hosted her own weekly program, "In the Studio with Gülsin Onay," on Turkish national radio.

Biography

Congyu Wang

Hailed as a "complete musician, sensitive artist, and extremely talented young pianist," Congyu Wang is an internationally renowned soloist who has distinguished himself as a recitalist, accompanist, and chamber musician.

Born in Singapore, Congyu Wang began playing the piano at the age of 3. He was awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious École Normale de Musique de Paris, where he studied with renowned French pianists Jean-Marc Luisada and Odile Catelin-Delangle. He then enrolled at the Schola Cantorum (Paris) to continue his studies with Gabriel Tacchino (who was Francis Poulenc's only student). From an early age, Congyu Wang has enjoyed phenomenal success in international piano competitions, ultimately winning the Grand Prix in Berlin and Bordeaux. He has also won prizes in Vulaines-sur-Seine, Lagny-sur-Marne, Mérignac, Paris, Jakarta, Tallinn, and at the Clé d'Or in La Réunion. He was featured in the national newspaper Zao Bao as Singapore's most promising young artist in 2016.
At the International Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Slovenia, Congyu won 6th prize. One of the jury members, François Weigel, felt that he should have won and resigned in protest. Since then, Congyu Wang has performed in over 1,200 recitals in France, England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Mauritius, South Africa, Reunion Island, Dubai, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries.

Among his most notable performances are his appearances at the Château de la Verrerie Festival (France), the Ernen Festival (Switzerland), the Geza Anda Piano Festival (Berlin), the Isang Yun International Academy (Paris), the Hammer Klavier Piano International Series (Barcelona), the Amarante International Piano Festival (Portugal), the Algarve Music Series (Faro), the Chopin Festival (Belgrade), and the International Goteborg Piano Festival (Sweden). Congyu Wang has performed before many distinguished international guests, including celebrities, bankers, diplomats, and ambassadors, such as the Prince of Brunei, the Prime Minister of Singapore, and the ambassadors and consuls of France, Singapore, China, and Norway.

Congyu Wang has built a reputation for his breathtaking interpretations of an extremely demanding repertoire. His extensive repertoire includes 30 piano concertos, as well as the complete solo piano works of Chopin and Poulenc. Congyu Wang has shared the stage with many renowned musicians, such as Roman Leuleu, Agnes Kallay, Giancarlo de Lorenzo, Elena Xanthoudakis, Pascal Roge, Grigor Palikarov, the Arsis Quartet, and others. Congyu Wang released his first album, "Charme," on KNS Classical, dedicated to the works of Francis Poulenc, which was internationally acclaimed. He recently released his second album, "Reflets," dedicated to Claude Debussy, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the French composer's death. His recordings are frequently broadcast on international radio stations: France Musique, BBC Radio 3 (United Kingdom), Radio Vie (Reunion Island), Radio Antena 2 (Portugal), Classic 1027 (South Africa), Symphony 92.4 (Singapore), etc. In 2019, Congyu Wang participated in the film "Une Barque sur l'Océan" directed by French director Arnold de Parscau.

Congyu Wang is the founder and artistic director of the Piano Island Festival, the Piano Concerto Festival, and the International Chopin Competition in South Africa. He is an ambassador for several charitable foundations: the Young Musicians Association, the Koinonia Association (international refugees), and the Grace International Foundation Liverpool (youth development).
Congyu Wang is a Steinway Artist.

Biography

Muza Rubackyte

Mūza Rubackytė, a French-Lithuanian pianist, lives in Paris, Vilnius, and Geneva. A graduate of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, she won the All Union Competition in Saint Petersburg and the Grand Prix at the Liszt-Bartok International Piano Competition in Budapest. A member of the resistance in Lithuania, she was unable to leave the USSR until 1989, when she arrived in France and obtained a concert diploma from the École Normale de Musique de Paris. After winning First Prize in Piano at the Les Grands Maîtres Français International Competition in 1990, her career took her to every continent, where she crossed paths with renowned conductors and orchestras. In 2024, she was artist-in-residence at the Gilmore Piano Festival (USA).

A renowned teacher, she is frequently invited to serve as a jury member at major international competitions in Cleveland, Budapest, Utrecht, Weimar, and Pretoria.

In 2022, she will chair the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians ." In Lithuania, Muza has received numerous awards recognizing her commitment to her country's independence and cultural influence. Among them is a Global Lithuanian Award has just been awarded to her as a pianist, teacher, and ambassador of classical music and Lithuanian culture around the world. She is the founder and artistic director of the Vilnius Piano Festival.

In 2024, Muza, designer and president of the LISZTuania companyand passionate interpreter of Franz Liszt, receives the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit from the Hungarian President.

Muza Rubackyté's repertoire spans more than forty programs for solo piano, chamber music, and concertos. Her discography includes more than thirty-five titles, which have been honored with numerous prestigious awards such as the Grand Prix Hungarian Liszt Society, the Diapason d'Or, Télérama's 4 ffff, Classica's 5 *****, among others.

In 2021, an autobiographical book is published an autobiographical book entitled "Born Under a Piano " (Ovadia Editions).

In 2024, " MŪZA," a musical documentary film dedicated to him (Fralita Films), shot in Lithuania, Hungary, Russia, the USA, Geneva, and Paris, is screened many times in the USA, France, Lithuania, and other countries, in his presence, and is a real success.

In Paris, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs is filming a report with Mūza for the series France as seen by...

Debussy's birthplace in Saint-Germain-en-Laye chose her as the patron of the inaugural season to mark its historic restoration.

In March 2024, she will perform at a major symphony concert at the Cathédrale des Invalides in Paris for the launch of The Season of Lithuania in France initiated by the Presidents of France and Lithuania. With the support of the two Cultural Institutes, she gave six recitals entitled "From the Baltic to the Adriatic, from Vilnius to Venice" across France and accompanied five screenings of the film, thus fulfilling her role as ambassador of Lithuanian culture.

In December 2025, after numerous concerts around the world, she returns to the French public at the Salle Gaveau in Paris with an original program. At the same time, her album dedicated to K. Penderecki is released by the Évidence label.