Five Disciplines and Global Selection: Khachaturian Youth Competition Receives a Major Upgrade
On January 26, the press conference for the 2nd Khachaturian International Youth Competition was held. According to Beijing Youth Daily, the competition will be comprehensively upgraded this year, with major expansion in both competition categories and format, as well as new public participation mechanisms. The event aims to build a global music celebration that links professional excellence with public aesthetic education.
Regional preliminaries around the world are scheduled to take place from July to September, and the global finals will be held in November.
The launch of this youth competition represents the continued development of the world-class Khachaturian music brand in China. Since the adult competition system entered China in 2023 and the first youth competition was held successfully in 2024, the event has quickly become one of the most influential youth classical music competitions in China and the Asia-Pacific region.
The 2026 edition will continue to be jointly organized by the Khachaturian Foundation and Jingse (Beijing) International Education Technology Co., Ltd., with support from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia, the Central Opera House, and the Chinese and Armenian embassies.
Based on the three original core disciplines of violin, piano and cello, the competition will add viola and chamber music, forming five tracks across strings, keyboard performance and ensemble art. It will also launch offline regional preliminaries worldwide for the first time. Selected contestants from each region will gather in Beijing for the global finals.
The competition will be divided into amateur and professional divisions. The amateur division includes global preliminaries and finals, while the professional division includes global preliminaries, a first round, semifinals and finals. The event is open to young musicians under the age of 18 worldwide and provides age-based groups for participants at different stages.
The Khachaturian Youth Music Week, held alongside the competition, will also present new formats. In addition to masterclasses, lectures and concerts by outstanding contestants, the music week will introduce interactive classical music activities, creating an immersive and highly engaging learning environment for participants and young musicians.
Original Chinese title: 【北京青年报】五大专业全球选拔！哈恰图良青少年比赛全面升级
Original link: https://www.khachaturiancompetition-cn.com/?p=202&a=view&r=207
