The Santa Cecília International Piano Competition will open its 2026 edition with a recital by Bogdan Dugalić, winner of the 2025 competition.

The concert will also mark the launch of the Serbian pianist’s latest album, released by KNS Classical as part of the recording prize awarded to the winner of the Santa Cecília Competition. This partnership enables the Competition’s laureates to develop a professional recording project, contributing to their international artistic projection.

Born in 2003, Bogdan Dugalić is regarded as one of the most promising pianists of his generation. Winner of the Santa Cecília International Piano Competition in 2025, he recently won First Prize at the Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 2026, where he also received the Audience Award and the IGNM Special Award.

Throughout his career, he has performed in some of the world’s leading concert halls, including the Berliner Philharmonie, the Mariinsky Concert Hall, the Helsinki Music Centre, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and Casa da Música, collaborating with renowned orchestras and conductors.

The programme features works by Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven, together with Three Homages – III. Homage to Fado in a Minor Key by Victor Macedo Pinto, reflecting the Competition’s commitment to promoting Portuguese music and preserving the legacy of the composer whose name is associated with one of its special prizes.

Presented in partnership with Fundação Eng. António de Almeida, which once again hosts this event, the concert celebrates the launch of a young artist’s recording career and marks the beginning of a new edition of the Santa Cecília International Piano Competition.