XII SOLO COMPETITION 2026
CHECK IN: MARCH 28th
ROUND 1: MARCH 29, 30, 31
ROUND 2: APRIL 2
FINAL ROUND: APRIL 4
WINNERS
SOLO SAXOPHONE COMPETITION
WATARU HIRAI
2025
GIORGI DZHISHKARIANI
2022
CARLOS ZARAGOZA
2018
MAKOTO HONDO
2015
DMITRY PINCHUK
2024
MIKHAIL KAZAKOV
2021
FRANCISCO RUSILLO
2017
ANTONIO GARCIA JORGE
2014
MARC FELIS CANDELA
2023
VALENTIN KOVALEV
2019
JUAN PEDRO LUNA
2016
XII SOLO SAXOPHONE 2026
XII SOLO SAXOPHONE 2026
RULES
2026 RULES PDF EN
2026 RULES PDF CA
2026 RULES PDF ES
2026 RULES PDF FR
2026 RULES PDF CHI
2026 RULES PDF JAP
2026 RULES PDF RUS
XII SOLO SAXOPHONE 2026
JURY
Christophe Grèzes
Erzsébet Seleljo
Femke IJlstra
Jan Gričar
Joonatan Rautiola
Lars Meklusch
Mariano García
Martin Trillaud
Nacho Gascón
Nahikari Oloriz
Nikita Zimin
Tomás Jerez
Valentin Kovalev
XII SOLO SAXOPHONE 2026
REPERTOIRE
VIDEO SELECTION PROCESS
The candidate must submit the following video:
Caprice en Forme de Valse, Paul Bonneau (from the beginning of the piece to bar 52 on page 3, just before the 2nd “Presto”) – Ed. Leduc
This video file must be sent by WeTransfer to videos@andorrasaxfest.com by 30th October 2025.
File name: SURNAME_FIRST_NAME_CAPRICE
Resolution: minimum 640 x 480 pixels. Format: only mp4 will be accepted.
The video file must not exceed 2Gb.
In the video, the candidate must be fully visible at all times on the screen and the camera angle must be fixed.
The video must be filmed in a single take. A montage of the video will not be accepted.
All videos are viewed confidentially by the competition’s organising team to ensure that no editing has been used.
It is the responsibility of the competition’s organising team to decide whether a video is inadmissible due to insufficient technical quality and/or non-compliance with the rules defined above.
In the case of inadmission, the contest’s organising team reserves the right to ask the candidate to provide a new video.
FIRST ROUND
Brilliance, 3rd mov. Dolcissimo, Ida Gotkovsky
Without previous piano rehearsal.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Babioles, I (Jongleurs de sons) i VI (Gnomes fantaisies), Marc Monnet - Éditions Lacroch
https://lacroch.com/partition/babioles/
SECOND ROUND
Sonatine, Claude Pascal - Ed. DURAND
- - - - - - - - - - - -
2nd free work
Solo piece chosen by the contestant. It must be original for any member of the saxophone family. It must be published and transcriptions won´t be accepted unless is made by the composer and it´s published as well. The contestant will bring copies of the piece for the jury. It is recommended that the piece is shorter than 12 minutes. The piece could be longer than 12 minutes but the jury could stop the interpretation in the competition once it passes the 12 minutes mark.
FINAL ROUND
Concerto, Pierre Max DUBOIS - Ed. Leduc
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Lutte, Thierry Escaich - Misterioso Editions
XII SOLO SAXOPHONE 2026
PRIZES
First prize:
SELMER PARIS Alto Saxophone Supreme, offered by SELMER PARIS.
€8,000
Expenses paid for one week and a paid saxophone and piano recital during the ANDORRA SAX FEST'27
A Performance accompanied by Piano during the FESTIVAL CLASSICAND 2027 season (Andorra).
Participation as a member of the Jury of the X Andorra International Contest for Young Saxophonists 2027 during ANDORRA SAX FEST’27.
Second prize
€5,000
A Performance accompanied by string quartet in the "Cicle de Concerts Colors de Música d'Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra)", July / August 2026.
Third prize
€4,000
Fourth prize
€2,000
Fifth prize
€2,000
Sixth prize
€2,000
SECOND ROUND: 200€ for each participant who does not pass to the FINAL ROUND.
XII SOLO SAXOPHONE 2026
ACCOMPANISTS
Takahiro Mita
Takahiro started his piano studies at age 5. He studied piano at the Tokyo National University of Music and Fine Arts with Mutsuko Kobayashi, where he obtained the highest score as a soloist. He received advice from many great pianists such as Vlado Perlemuter, Badura Skoda, Jorge Pludermacher, Jacque Rouvier, Vladimir Tropp and Aquiles Delle Vigne and furthered his piano studies at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles with Jean- Claude Venden Eynden and Burkard Spinley.
There, he received the First Prize in Chamber Music and obtained the Higher Diploma in piano with Distinction. He has been participated in several national and international competitions, obtaining the First Prize from Japan’s Union of Education, First Prize at the Concurs Ciutat d’Osca, Second Prize at the Concurs Maria Canals (Barcelona), Third Prize and the Award to the Best Spanish Music Interpretation at the Concurs Ciutat de Carlet, Honor Award at TIM and Second Prize at the Concurs Ciutat de El Ferrol, where he also received the Audience Award and the Award to the Best Spanish Music Interpretation. Furthermore, he has been selected to take part in other prestigious competitions, such as the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition and the Sydney International Piano Competition.
In 2007 and 2008, he was invited to be a repertoire teacher at the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander.
He has performed in orchestras and has given many solo and chamber music recitals in Japan, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
He currently resides in Aragon, combining his concert life with his pedagogical activities as a professor at the Conservatori Superior d’Aragó.
Aniana Jaime
Aniana Jaime is Professor of Piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid. She has previously taught piano, chamber music, improvisation, and viola and cello accompaniment at the Conservatory of Music of Aragon, the Conservatory and Integrated Center of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and the Professional Conservatory of Zaragoza. She has given recitals and lectures in numerous venues in Europe, Mexico, and the United States at Shenandoah University, Greensboro, South Carolina, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Minnesota. Highlights include her collaborations with the Zaragoza Auditorium Chamber Orchestra “Grupo Enigma” and her participation in 2016 in the Chamber Music series of the Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra. She has been pianist of the Andorra Sax Fest International Saxophone Competition since its inception. In 2010, she founded AniMa Duo with saxophonist Mariano García. With a repertoire ranging from transcriptions to 20th-century music, the duo has recorded four albums: Sculptures (2014), Ritmo en el espacio (2016), Hommage (2020), and L'éveil d'AniMa (2025) with the labels Ibs Classical, Delicias Discográficas, and ARIA classics.
In 2022, she will premiere her first works as a composer.
More info at www.anianajaime.com
Miriam started studying music when she was 6 years old with Daniel Areny. She has also been a student of Dolors Bellera and Josep Maria Escribano.
She obtained the Superior Piano Degree from the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona in 1992 under the tutelage of maestro Miquel Farré. She then went on to receive a postgraduate scholarship from the Fundació Crèdit Andorrà that allowed her to study at the Trinity College of London with the pianist Kaoru Bingham, where she obtained two postgraduate degrees in piano performance. She has performed as a soloist, accompanying pianist and in chamber music orchestras.
She has participated in the Narciso Yepes Festival several times and in the Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition, as well as performing in Madrid, Ljublyana, Strasbourg and Paris.
She was head of studies at the Institute of Music of the Comú of Andorra la Vella for 5 years, is also a certified Early Childhood teacher by IGEME (Instituto Gordon de Educación Musical España), and is currently a teacher of musical awareness, a piano teacher and pianist accompanying the Institut de Música del Comú d'Andorra la Vella and is doing the level 2 in Music Childhood Theory by Edwin Gordon for children from 3 to 6 years old.
Kic Barroc
He began his training at the Institute of Music and Dance of Andorra, where he obtained the professional degree in classical piano, studying with professors such as Míriam Manubens, Toni Gibert, and Marina Vallcorba.
After moving to Barcelona, he earned his higher degree in jazz piano at the ESEM Taller de Músics, studying with Marco Mezquida and Txema Riera. Additionally, he attended numerous masterclasses with musicians such as Agustí Fernández, Stefano Bollani, Perico Sambeat, Jerry Bergonzi, and Jacob Collier.
Later, he specialized in music production and composition, studying under Santiago Galán and Néstor Jiménez, and obtained two master’s degrees: Musical Composition with New Technologies (2022, UNIR) and Master's Degree in Teacher Training (2021, UNIR).
He collaborates with the International Jazz Festival of Escaldes and Andorra SaxFest, and has carried out numerous projects with institutions such as the ONCA (National Classical Orchestra of Andorra), the El Temps de les Arts program, and the JOCAND (Young Theatre Company of Andorra).
In 2022, he released his debut album, Mon noM, alongside the prestigious saxophonist Baptiste Herbin, with a 100% Pyrenean ensemble. This project has taken him to perform in some of the most emblematic venues and festivals in Andorra and Spain.
In September 2021, he made his debut with ONCA in a talk-concert format, where he presented works composed specifically for the occasion and analyzed the history of the national anthem and its composer. In March 2022, he debuted as a solo pianist with ONCA, performing his own composition, Suite Andorrana for Piano and Orchestra, in a special concert celebrating the anniversary of the Andorran Constitution.
He is the co-creator of Fonorama, a production company where, together with Lluís Casahuga and Toni Gibert, he creates music for theatrical and audiovisual productions, including Temps Era Temps (with JOCAND), Jo dic Mai Més (with Ferran Castells, Àlex Polls, and Teresa Davant), and Angelika (with Josep Galindo), among others.
Míriam Manubens
IX YOUTH SAX SOLO 2026
ACCOMPANISTS
ROUND 1 PARTICIPANTS
XII SOLO SAXOPHONE 2026
Aidan Fowler
Aika Uozumi
Alberto Passini
Alessandro Scalone
Anastasiya Kravets
Anna Gennadeva
Anna Grishaeva
Annamaria Savitteri
Antón Gómez
Antonio Jarrell Saylors
Aoi Nakaya
Ariel Levy
Arsenii Budanov
Ashtyn Wolph
Banghan Xi
Carlos Álvarez
César Doisy
Chia-He Lee
Christian Soranzio
Ci Xiang
Claudia Rico Echegaray
Cristina Rodríguez Sánchez
Daeho Kim
Daniel Valerón Falcón
Daria Vanyukova
Diego Cruz
Diego Levices Sanz
Eduard Ruiz Mañó
Elvira Campo González
Emiri Nono
Enrico Leonarduzzi
Esther Hodson
Filipe Fernandes
Gabriel-Tom Beauvais
Gabriele Borro
Ganmin Xie
Giuseppe Isacco Buccoliero
Haoran Feng
Heleen Luyten
Helena Habekovic
Hugo Hernout
Ignazio Moscato
Jaewon Yu
Javier Janeiro Sánchez
Javier Úbeda Momblant
Jesús Salvador Carbó Sanchis
Jiacheng Zhu
Jiahuan Xie
Jiaming Xu
Joan Tous Pascual
Jorge Esteban Larreina
José Miguel Ortiz Solivelles
Juan Camilo Trujillo
Juan David Toro Martín
Juho Pétas
Junang Chen
Junming Zhu
Jurij Bregar
Kangbo Hong
Kazuyuki Takada
Kenji Fukunaga
Koki Koiwai
Kristóf János
Lee Pak Yin
Leonor Dias
Louis Caudrelier
Lucien Coquelet
Luis González Garrido
Lukáš Bartoš
Magnus Charette
Maho Nambu
Makar Zemtsov
Maksim Gal
Maksim Slobozhankin
Manuel Mondejar Amat
Marcin Zdanowski
Maria Chiara Tunno
Marin Balssa
Mario Romero Madrid
Matthieu Perrot
Mebuki Oishi
Merey Kaiyrken
Mickaël Solomin
Miguel Ángel Paredes Gabaldón
Mikhail Petukhov
Mirai Goto
Miyuki Takahashi
Naokaze Suwa
Orwin Requeno
Patrik Prežgaj
Pedro Pablo Diaz Carmona
Pei Li
Prescott Brown
Raffaele Marcovecchio
Rijad Šarić
Riko Yamada
Rio Togawa
Roi Alfonso Tojo
Santiago Ortiz Lira
Shiqi Zhang
Sho Shiobara
Simon Regis
Sofiia Petrash
Suyu Liu
Taerin Lee
Takahiro Fukuzumi
Takanori Hayata
Takaya Minami
Tatsuki Sugayama
Tia Ivajnšič
Ties van Echelpoel
Tomás Pastor Jiménez
Tomomi Goto
Tudor Gabriel Boloca
Tyler Herzberger
Uku Gross
Vicent Orón Bolós
Víctor Amadeu Puigbò Rincón
Vincenzo Spoto
Weronika Kalupa
Xinyi Lin
Xu Yang
Xurxo Morales
Xuyang Wei
Yang Liu
Yen-Chen Lee
Yibo Song
Yiming Yang
Yuting Liu
Zeping Han
Zhantong Chen
Zhuolin Li
IX YOUTH SAX SOLO 2026
RULES
IX YOUTH SAX SOLO 2026
2026 RULES PDF EN
2026 RULES PDF CA
2026 RULES PDF ES
2026 RULES PDF FR
2026 RULES PDF CHI
2026 RULES PDF JAP
2026 RULES PDF RUS
JURY
IX YOUTH SAX SOLO 2026
Aiwen Zhang
Christophe Bois
David Salleras
Jan Gričar
Nahikari Oloriz
Tomás Jerez
Toni Pola
Wataru Hirai
REPERTOIRE
IX YOUTH SAX SOLO 2026
CATEGORY A:
Résonances Alain Crepin - Ed. Robert Martin
Sheet music available from our partner Vandoren: https://www.partitionsvandoren.fr/en/
CATEGORY B:
Andante et Vivo, Ryota Nomura - Ed. Billaudot
Sheet music available from our partner Vandoren: https://www.partitionsvandoren.fr/en/
CATEGORY C:
15 Etudes (Révision Jean-Marie Londeix) (nº2), Charles Koechlin - Ed. Billaudot
Black & Blue, Barry Cockcroft - Reed Music Pty Ltd
Sheet music available from our partner Vandoren: https://www.partitionsvandoren.fr/en/
CATEGORY D:
Danse Folle, David Salleras - Ed. Billaudot
Commissioned by Andorra Sax Fest for the IX Andorra International Competition for Young Saxophonists
Tel un serpent qui danse, Karol Beffa - Ed. Billaudot
Sheet music available from our partner Vandoren: https://www.partitionsvandoren.fr/en/
Only legally obtained sheet music must be used in the competition.
PRIZES
IX YOUTH SAX SOLO 2026
CATEGORY A
FIRST PRIZE
60€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER.
50€ in SAXTIENDA.COM shopping vouchers provided by ADOLPHESAX.COM & SAXTIENDA.COM.
SECOND PRIZE
50€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER. THIRD PRIZE
40€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
CATEGORY B
FIRST PRIZE
80€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
50€ in SAXTIENDA.COM shopping vouchers provided by ADOLPHESAX.COM & SAXTIENDA.COM.
SECOND PRIZE
70€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
THIRD PRIZE
60€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
CATEGORY C
FIRST PRIZE
200€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
100€ in SAXTIENDA.COM shopping vouchers provided by ADOLPHESAX.COM & SAXTIENDA.COM.
SECOND PRIZE
160€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
THIRD PRIZE
125€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
CATEGORY D
FIRST PRIZE
SELMER PARIS Alto Saxophone Signature, offered by SELMER PARIS
250€ in SAXTIENDA.COM shopping vouchers provided by ADOLPHESAX.COM & SAXTIENDA.COM
1 year subscription to ADLIBITUMCLASS.COM
Paid saxophone and piano recital within the framework of the ANDORRA SAX FEST’27, with all travel and accommodation expenses for the week covered by the organization
SECOND PRIZE
300€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
1 year subscription to ADLIBITUMCLASS.COM
THIRD PRIZE
200€ in SELMER & VANDOREN shopping vouchers provided by EUROMUSICA & MAFER
1 year subscription to ADLIBITUMCLASS.COM
PARTICIPANTS
IX YOUTH SAX SOLO 2026
COMING SOON