The morning after the late announcement of his victory at the Queen Elisabeth Competition Cello 2026, Italian cellist Ettore Pagano was already wide awake and gave a long series of interviews to the media. Casually dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans, he looked just as confident as on stage during the final, but now he was more relaxed. The competition was over and the next phase of his career was about to begin.
Reflections from the Queen Elisabeth Competition Winner on Success and Self-Criticism
He said he was surprised by the victory, given the high level of competition, but preparation for this competition had started long ago. "I printed the rules in a book two years ago and read them a thousand times, just to make sure I knew every rule by heart," Pagano told Klassiek Centraal.
Winning this competition was his childhood dream, he said, but it's not the starting point. To be mentally prepared, you need experience with other competitions and performances. "You have to, especially for this competition, be very experienced and mentally stable and not stressed," he said. "Of course there's always stress, but you have to approach that stress in a positive way."
He shared part of his strategy to win: "It's a long competition. You have to perform well for an entire month. So it's very important to stay at the same level consistently." "Some participants shine at the beginning, but lose their energy later," he said, and continued: "It's a competition that rewards both endurance and musicality."
Even after his success, Pagano was critical of his own performance. "Everyone says now that I deserved it, but I'm always too critical of myself. In the second round, both performances, in the first round, in the pre-selection video, in every performance I do, I'm always critical of myself—maybe too much." He concluded cheerfully: "That's just how I am and that's how I try to get the best out of myself."
Friends for Life
During the shared isolation period at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, Pagano became very close friends with the eleven other finalists. With just one week to learn the required piece for the final, Fang Man's 'Four Odes to the Flower Message,' they shared ideas about fingering, dynamics, and interpretation. "We were really friends, so it was a wonderful environment," he shared.
His own approach to the required piece was shaped by the decision to emphasize the most virtuosic sections. Finalists were allowed to play the four parts, which correspond to the four seasons, in any order. Pagano chose to begin with Winter, and then play Summer, Autumn, and Spring: "I wanted to start with a cadenza, end with a cadenza, and get my tension out at the beginning with this loud and expressive cadenza."
The Required Piece and Pagano's 'Why'
He studied the score carefully and thought about the composers who had influenced Fang Man. "You can certainly learn a lot from Bach and Messiaen, those are the inspiration sources, but the concept is also the same as Vivaldi's Four Seasons. And in a way, I'm Italian, so it speaks to my heart a bit, doesn't it?" He found it helpful to listen to the composer's explanation of the meaning of her piece, whose movement titles connect the seasons to flowers associated with them in Chinese tradition.
Italian Prokofiev
His choice for the second work in the final, Sergei Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante, Op. 125, was both strategic and a reflection of his own interest in the repertoire. "I love Prokofiev," he tells us. "He has a lot of Italian style in him, more than other Russian composers, but he also has, you know... You can learn a lot from Romeo and Juliet, for example, that's in some ways very Italian."
"The way he shapes certain phrases is very elegant, full of pride, sometimes very dark, also very humorous, very sarcastic, full of different emotions and characters. It's like you constantly have to change masks on stage."
Wide Horizons
Pagano is buzzing with excitement about the upcoming concerts that will take him to distant corners of the world. "I'm really looking forward to performing for audiences I've never played for before, across different continents, in different cities, in different countries, in places I've never been to," he said.
He's thinking big about expanding his horizons in the long run and sees himself becoming a conductor in thirty years or so. "You have to be a great maestro to conduct and you need to have a great personality," he said. "You also have to study for years. It's like you're starting all over again from scratch, maybe not completely, but almost."
Now that his own career is taking flight, he has some advice for young people just starting out. He emphasized the importance of having fun, but also making room for boredom by putting your phone and video games aside for a bit. "You need to get bored so that your creativity comes back to life and you start playing and having fun again. You come up with great ideas and you start appreciating something that isn't popular these days."
Government support for the arts and rediscovering creativity
He stressed the importance of institutional support for the arts. "I really think my country—Italy is a very important country for music—doesn't invest enough in culture and music. We have a lot of talent, but the talents that come out of Italy stand alone. It's not the policy or the education system that produces them."
"So I really hope that this victory can change something in my country and inspire many children not to waste their time on phones and video games, but to do something creative—not just playing cello or music, but also visual arts, sports, whatever. It's important to do something creative."
