Held every four years, the first competition, in 1958, included two disciplines: piano and violin. Beginning with the second competition, in 1962, a cello category was added, and the vocal division was introduced during the third competition in 1966. In 1990, a fifth discipline was announced for the IX International Tchaikovsky Competition: a contest for violin makers, which traditionally comes before the main competition. In 2019, two new categories were added to the competition, woodwinds and brass.
Tianxu An incident On 25 June 2019, at the final round of the piano category, Chinese competitor Tianxu An was supposed to play Tchaikovsky's
Piano Concerto No. 1 followed by Rachmaninoff's
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. However, the scores on the orchestra's and conductor's stands were placed in reverse order and the Rachmaninoff piece was announced first, different from what the pianist requested. Since An didn't understand Russian, he was unaware of the situation. With the piano entry in the Rachmaninoff almost immediate, the performance "began with a failure". Following the incident, jury chair
Denis Matsuev invited him to perform the program again, but An declined. The competition made an official apology and the orchestra administration suspended the responsible staff after the event. An was eventually awarded a "special prize" for his confidence and courage.
World Federation of International Music Competitions In 1971, the International Tchaikovsky Competition joined the
World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC), which had been founded in 1957. On 19 April 2022, in line with
widespread sanctions in response to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, the WFIMC decided with an overwhelming majority of member votes to exclude the International Tchaikovsky Competition from its membership with immediate effect. == Prize winners ==