Dr. Hermann Büttner Piano Competition 2026

Registration deadline Wednesday, 20 May 2026

Participants Students enrolled in bachelor's, master's, soloist examination and school music programmes at the Karlsruhe University of Music, as well as pre-school students, are eligible to participate. Applicants who have already participated twice in previous Dr Hermann Büttner Piano Competitions or who have won first prize in the solo category (except as preschoolers) are excluded from participation.

Procedure and repertoire 
The competition will be held in two rounds.

First round Saturday, 20 June, 10:00 a.m. • Velte Hall 
Duration: approx. 20 minutes
Programme:
•         A sonata by Paul Hindemith
•         Work(s) from the Romantic and/or Impressionist periods

Second round Sunday, 21 June, 10:00 a.m. • Velte Hall
Duration: approx. 30 minutes
Programme:
•          Work of free choice 
•          One contemporary work must be included

Jury deliberations and announcement of the competition results and prize money amounts after the end of the second round.

Prize winners' concert
Friday, 26 June 2026, Velte Hall
Participation by prize winners is mandatory.

Applications must be submitted by email and consist of
• Information about the current course of study and the teacher
• The exact programme (detailed information about the works and movements, length of the individual works/movements).

E silke.blume@hfm-karlsruhe.de

Prize money 
Prizes and sponsorship awards totalling €15,000 will be awarded. 

The jury will decide on the allocation of the prize money. The awarding of the prize money is conditional upon the recipient continuing their studies at the Karlsruhe University of Music for the duration of the following semester.

Jury
The jury, chaired by Dr Hermann Büttner, consists exclusively of experts who are not members of the Karlsruhe University of Music.

The Dr. Hermann Büttner Piano Competition has been held annually at the Karlsruhe University of Music since 1998. Predominantly piano solo was on the program. In some years, other genres were also performed, such as a compulsory program with piano and two strings, piano and oboe, piano with voice, piano duo or piano concertos. In 2012, a competition (piano solo) was held only for preschoolers in two age groups. Chamber music also came to the fore: in recent years there have been competitions for piano and cello, for trio with piano and for piano quartet. This year, for the first time, a competition for piano and violin will be held. Scholarships, main prizes and special prizes awarded to the winners are intended to further the education of students at the Karlsruhe University of Music.

Originally, the Karlsruhe lawyer Dr. Hermann Büttner organized this competition on his own initiative. In order to sustain this valuable support, Dr. Hermann Büttner and his wife Edith Adler-Büttner established the Adler Büttner Foundation in 2016. Its goal is to promote musical education, including professional preparation for all students and preschoolers at the Karlsruhe University of Music. This is to be done through competitions and advanced training events, but also through special support of selected projects of the university. The foundation focuses on, but does not exclusively pursue, the subject of piano. It has now been running the piano competition since 2017.