From Friday, 26 September to Sunday, 28 September, the Grieg-Begegnungsstätte, the Lions Club Leipzig Saxonia and Edition Peters Publications invited audiences to the now third edition of the International Piano Competition "Die jungen musikalischen Löwen" in Leipzig. A total of 30 children and young people aged 8 to 17 showed their pianistic skills in the former headquarters of the Peters music publishing house.
"It is always a joy to take part in this competition in the beautiful city of Leipzig!" – so said a family from Fürth who, after 2023, had come to the trade fair city for the piano competition for the second time.
The opening was marked on Friday, 26 September by Marie-Luise Reiche, 3rd prizewinner at the 2nd International Piano Competition, with a concert. The programme featured pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin. Prof. Dietmar Nawroth, Christoph Siems and Eric Buchmann opened the event on behalf of all the organisers.
As many as 18 participants in age group I delighted the audience on Saturday, 27 September. They were followed on Sunday, 28 September by the twelve contenders in age group II. More than 160 visitors came to the performances over the course of the weekend.
The jury around Prof. Dietmar Nawroth had 5 prizes to award in each group. The first prizes went to Jonas Diehm from Bad Mergentheim in age group I (8–12 years) and Ioana Andriescu from Strejnicu/Romania in age group II (13–17 years). With Agnes Lehnert, Maximilian Leu, German Mozalkov and Christian Boslau, four Leipzig talents were also honoured. Some of them will be heard on Friday, 24 October 2025 at 7:00 pm at the prizewinners' concert in the ceremonial hall of the Old Town Hall.
The third edition of the format was under the patronage of Christian Grøvlen – director of the Grieg Museum Troldhaugen in Bergen. Great thanks go to the Lions Club Leipzig Saxonia and Edition Peters Publications, without whose sponsorship the project would not have been possible. Thanks are also due here to the many other supporters.