Thirty young pianists from seven countries will participate in the seven-day fifth edition of the Albert Roussel International Competition in Sofia, starting from February 6. The foreign participants come from Argentina, the Republic of Korea, Macedonia, Mexico, France and Japan. The participants will play French Baroque music, Romantic and contemporary music. The compulsory programme consists of one piece by Albert Roussel and one by a Bulgarian composer. The gala concert is scheduled for February 13. Pavlos Ialourakis, winner of the Albert Roussel Prize in 2000, will give a concert at the opening on February 6 with the Symphony Orchestra of the Musical Academy, under the baton of Angel Stankov. The fifth international competition is organized by the Albert Roussel Foundation with support from the Institut Francais in Sofia, the Pancho Vladigerov Musical Academy, the Alfred Cortot higher musical school, and the Paris-based Albert Roussel Committee. The competition under the auspices of the French ambassador and the Bulgarian and the French Culture Ministry was instituted in 1994 on the initiative of Jenny Zaharieva and Germaine Mounier, who heads the international jury.