The results of both categories are announced.

The 24 semifinalists are announced. There were 67 applications from 23 countries and the jury of Leslie Howard, Jeremy Siepmann and Chair Murray McLachlan were very impressed with the overall standard. All semifinalists are invited to Manchester in August for the final 2 stages of the competition. They will all have the opportunity to take part in the Chetham's International Summer School and Festival for Pianists - Europe's largest summer school devoted to the piano.

Manchester Camerata will once again accompany the finalists in this year's competition. Stephen Threlfall makes a welome return as the conductor of both the final concerts.

Manchester Camerata has been presenting live music for thirty-five years and has established an enviable reputation as an orchestra which delivers high quality concerts in a refreshingly relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

This new competition was successfully launched in 2007 and offers young pianists the rare and exciting opportunity to perform a concerto with an outstanding professional orchestra. It is unusual too in that every member of the jury is a well established concert pianist.

In this respect it looks back to an earlier era of musical history, when the majority of jurors in piano competitions were players rather than teachers or critics. But the emphasis of the competition is forward looking, emphasising the positive for every young pianist who chooses to enter what promises to be an outstanding international event.