The highly anticipated results of the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw were delivered on October 21. Out of 640 pianists aged 16 to 30 who applied, only eleven had been admitted to the Competition’s final round, where the contestants appeared with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Andrzej Boreyko.
First Prize and Gold Medal with a cash award of 60,000 € was given to American pianist, Eric Lu. The Canadian pianist, Kevin Chen, won the Second Prize and received 40,000 € while Zitong Wong from China placed Third, with a 35,000 € cash award.
There were two Fourth Prizes and these, along with 30,000 € for each contestant were jointly awarded to Tianyao Lyu (China) and Shiori Kuwahara (Japan). The Fifth Prize, also given to two pianists, went to Piotr Alexewicz (Poland) and Vincent Ong (Malaysia) with 25,000 € each.
American pianist William Yang was awarded the Sixth Prize and 20,000 €, with the remaining finalists—David Khrikuli (Georgia), Miyu Shindo (Japan), and Tianyou Li (China)—receiving 8,000 € each.
In the Special Prize category, Jehuda Prokopowicz (Poland) received recognition for his performance of Chopin’s Mazurkas, while Tianyao Lyu (China) was the Best Concerto performer and Zitong Wang carried the Best Sonata performance prize.
The Fryderyk Chopin Society Awards went to Tianyou Li (China) for the best Polonaise performance and Adam Kałduński (Poland) was awarded the Best Ballade Prize.
This year’s Chopin Competition Jury was chaired by Garrick Ohlsson (First Prize winner of the 1970 Chopin Competition) assisted by other internationally-recognized pianists, including John Allison, Yulianna Avdeeva, Nelson Goerner, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Kevin Kenner, Robert McDonald, Piotr Paleczny, Ewa Pobłocka, John Rink and Dang Thai Son.