There were 56 candidates from 32 countries who applied to compete at the XV Vianna da Motta International Music Competition in Lisbon, Portugal. From the applicants, 25 contestants were selected to perform for a 12 member jury consisting of Founding President Sequeira Costa, Yuri Boukoff, Helena Sá e Costa, Akiko Ebi, Kazimierz Gierzod, Klaus Hellwig, Jaime Ingram, Luís Pereira Leal, Anna Malikova, Miguel Proença, Joaquín Soriano and Elisso Virsaladze.

Contestants were:
- Jose Bagaria-Villazan (Spain)
- Lie Chen (China)
- Donald Dolan (USA)
- Javier Gutierrez (Chile)
- Bei Lin Han (China)
- Maxime Hochart (Georgia Republic)
- Fumio Kawamura (Japan)
- Eleonora Karpoukhova (Russia)
- Alexey Koltakov (Australia)
- Aki Kondo (Japan)
- Jedrej Lisiecki (Poland)
- Ana Laura Manero (Venezuela)
- Maria Massytcheva (Russia)
- Elena Melnikowa (Russia)
- Olga Monakh (Ukraine)
- Paulo Oliveira (Portugal)
- Tristan Pfaff (France)
- Daria Rabotkina (Russia)
- Tomomasa Sakata (Japan)
- Jean Fabien Schneider (France)
- Ketevan Sepashvili (Georgia Republic)
- Sergey Smirnov (Belarus)
- Neven Sobajic (Serbia)
- Takashi Yamada (Japan )

The preliminary round and semifinals took place July 20-23 at the Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa, of which José Vianna da Motta was appointed director in 1917. The Conservatório was also the site of his performances of all thirty-two Beethoven Sonatas in 1927, as he represented Portugal in the commemorations of the 100-year anniversary of Beethoven’s death. Vianna da Motta made a valuable contribution to the commemorations by performing that repertoire, with the profits being used to set up the Beethoven Prize.

Works of Bach, Chopin and Mendelssohn-Rachmaninov were the repertoire of the first stage of the Competition.

Semifinalists were:
- Jose Bagaria-Villazan (Spain)
- Javier Gutierrez (Chile)
- Bei Lin Han (China)
- Fumio Kawamura (Japan)
- Eleonora Karpoukhova (Russia)
- Aki Kondo (Japan)
- Jedrej Lisiecki (Poland)
- Maria Massytcheva (Russia)
- Elena Melnikowa (Russia)
- Olga Monakh (Ukraine)
- Paulo Oliveira (Portugal)
- Tristan Pfaff (France)
- Tomomasa Sakata (Japan)
- Jean Fabien Schneider (France)
- Ketevan Sepashvili (Georgia Republic)
- Takashi Yamada (Japan )

The jury selected six finalists from the second round. The final two rounds took place in the prestigious Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where each candidate presented a solo performance which included Vianna da Motta’s Balada, op. 16. The solo finals took place July 24-26, while the final performances with orchestra took place on July 29 and 30.

Finalists:
- Bei Lin Han (China)
- Eleonora Karpoukhova (Russia)
- Maria Massytcheva (Russia)
- Olga Monakh (Ukraine)
- Tristan Pfaff (France)
- Ketevan Sepashvili (Georgia Republic)

While the jury greatly appreciated all of the contestants, they decided not to award the 1st Grand Prize. Paulo Oliveira earned the “Best Portuguese Contestant” prize, and Jose Bagaria-Villazan earned the prize for “Best Interpretation of the Chopin Nocturno.”

Prize winners were:
- Eleonora Karpoukhova (Russia) – 2nd Prize
- Olga Monakh (Ukraine) – 3rd Prize
- Ketevan Sepashvili (Georgia Republic) – 4th Prize
- Maria Massytcheva (Russia) – 5th Prize
- Bei Lin Han (China) – 6th Prize
- Tristan Pfaff (France) – 7th Prize

The Awards Ceremony took place on July 31 in the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The Republic President, the Minister of Culture, and the President of Banco Comercial Portugues were all present. To the delight of the audience, all six of the prize winners performed.

Since the conclusion of the Competition, we have learned of the death of a great pianist. We would like to pay tribute to Gleb Aksselrod of Russia, who won the Second Prize in the first Vianna da Motta International Music Competition, which took place in 1957. We will miss his beautiful piano playing and his great artistry, which is rarely heard these days.