Round 3: Postcards to the Future

Walk into a cathedral turned into a percussion world. Step inside the Paterskerk, one of Eindhoven’s most beautiful spaces, and you enter what feels like a living artwork. Ten percussionists perform around you, spread through the church, and there’s no stage to sit in front of. You move freely between them, at your own pace, through a whole landscape of sound.

The common thread is a single piece: Seismisms by Yannis Kyriakides. It’s the challenge we set every competitor, one composition handed to ten artists, and each one turns it into something entirely their own. Ten readings of the same work, filling the same space, all at once.
Walk, pause, listen, and feel how the architecture and the percussion fold into one another. Then, as the round closes, the three finalists are revealed.

TROMP International Percussion Competition
The TROMP International Percussion Competition 2026 takes place from 19 to 27 September 2026 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. This biennial event is regarded worldwide as the leading competition for solo percussion and offers a platform to some of the most talented young percussionists from around the globe. For the 2026 edition, TROMP has redesigned the format to place greater emphasis on the artists’ individual creative identity. The Main Competition (TIPC 2026) brings together ten selected top-level performers who travel to Eindhoven to present their own unique artistic programs, ranging from classical to electronic and contemporary music.

Round 1 consists of ten 35-minute recitals, where audiences are free to move between three immersive spaces.

Round 2 is a classical recital evening, where all ten artists perform the same jury-selected repertoire, each offering a distinct personal interpretation.

Round 3 transforms the Paterskerk into a continuous soundscape, with musicians positioned throughout the space as the audience moves freely between them. The central work is Seismisms by Yannis Kyriakides.

The Final features three finalists collaborating with an artistic team to create a personal 35-minute recital, including a world premiere by Malika Kishino and specially commissioned material by Genevieve Murphy.