78th Festival

The Festival will took place from 12 to 27 September 2025.

37 musical events were offered during this 78^th edition of the Festival, which welcomed nearly 24,000 festival-goers.

Final rounds from 22 to 27 September 2025

The Besançon Competition is open to all candidates under the age of 35 who wish to become professional conductors, whatever their background, training or experience. It is the only conducting competition in the world that does not select on the basis of a portfolio (paper or video) but through live auditions.

Candidates registered between 16 and 23 January 2025, subject to a limit of 300 places available for the preliminaries. During this first stage, which will take place behind closed doors in the spring of 2025, the candidates were asked to conduct symphonic works played by two pianists (on two pianos), in front of two members of the jury.

Following the preliminary rounds, twenty candidates were admitted to the final rounds with orchestra in September and in public, which took place during the 78^th Besançon International Music Festival.