The Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition came into being in 1973, at the initiative of Jan Jacob Bistritzky, a close friend of Arthur Rubinstein, who was honored to give his name to the Competition.
Conceived in the spirit of this legendary pianist, the Competition is committed to attaining standards of the highest order and is a valid international forum for presenting talented, aspiring young pianists and fostering their artistic careers.
The Competition first took place in 1974 and is held every three years.
Rubinstein himself attended the first two competitions, when the winners were Emanuel Ax and Gerhard Oppitz, renowned pianists today.
In 2003 pianist Idith Zvi succeeded Mr. Bistritzky as Artistic Director, a role she fulfilled until her retirement in 2020. Since July 2020, the Artistic Director of the Competition is pianist Ariel Cohen.
The past 40+ years of its history have continuously produced pianists who went on to international acclaim: Gerhard Oppitz, Angela Cheng, Alexander Korsantia, Kirill Gerstein, Alexander Gavrylyuk; Igor Levit, Khatia Buniatishvili, Boris Giltburg, Daniil Trifonov and others.
