With more than 50 years of history, the Santa Cecília International Piano Competition (CISC) is one of the largest and oldest piano competitions. Managed by the Curso de Música Silva Monteiro, since 2012 has been internationalised and brought together thousands of participants, including Portuguese and others candidates from a dozen different nationalities. CISC inscribes Porto as a meeting point and a musical talent lever of promising pianistic careers.

CISC also holds the Piano Marathon and, from the 2024 edition, the Piano Itinerant bringing together professional audiences with all interested listeners, making this competition a celebration of music in the city.

At the same time, and outside the competitive period, CISC develops a set of Masterclasses between the city and abroad and the Festival, who invites former candidates from previous editions of the competition to perform again, nourishing and prolonging the relationship between the musicians and audiences.