Poland in Libya

The jury composed of 17 international personalities of the piano world chaired by Professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń awarded the following prizes.

MAIN PRIZES:

• 1st Prize – Mr Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, Canada
• 2nd Prize ex aequo – Mr Alexander Gadjiev, Italy/Slovenia
• 2nd Prize ex aequo – Mr Kyohei Sorita, Japan
• 3rd Prize – Mr Martin Garcia Garcia, Spain
• 4th Prize ex aequo – Ms Aimi Kobayashi, Japan
• 4th Prize ex aequo – Mr Jakub Kuszlik, Poland
• 5th Prize – Ms Leonora Armellini, Italy
• 6th Prize – Mr J J Jun Li Bui, Canada

SPECIAL PRIZES:

• The Polish Radio Prize for the best performance of mazurkas – Mr Jakub Kuszlik, Poland
• The Warsaw Philharmonic Prize for the best performance of a concerto – Mr Martin Garcia Garcia, Spain
• The Krystian Zimerman Prize for the best performance of a sonata – Mr Alexander Gadjiev, Italy/Slovenia

The Jury didn't award a special prize of The Fryderyk Chopin Society for the best performance of a polonaise.

The remaining finalists of the 18th Chopin Competition receive a honorary distinction funded by the President of the Capital City of Warsaw.

COMPETITION AND PARTICIPANTS

The auditions of the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition began on 2 October 2021. Twelve best of the original number of 87 participants representing 17 countries qualified to the Finals to perform one of Fryderyk Chopin’s two piano concertos, accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Boreyko. Nine pianist selected the Concerto in E minor Op. 11, and the remaining three – the Concerto in F minor Op. 21

According to the Rules and Regulations of the Competition, only pianists born in 1990–2004 were eligible to participate. To do so, contestants were required to send their applications with a video recording of the 1st Stage programme by 1 December 2019. Having opened the call for applications, the Chopin Institute obtained a record number of over 500 entries from the most distant corners of the world. The recordings submitted were used to winnow the artists and admit 164 of them to the Preliminaries. Finally, 151 pianists presented programmes set in the rules and regulations competing for admission to the competition proper before the Jury and the Warsaw audience. Of their number, the Jury admitted 87 to the main competition.

Nine winners of major piano competitions worldwide secured themselves places in the October competition without the need to go through the Preliminaries. The most numerous group of participants were the Chinese, as the country was represented by no fewer than 22 artists. With 11 out of 16 pianists selected by the Preliminary Round Jury and five more qualified on the grounds of their achievements in other competitions, the second most numerous group were Poles. The Warsaw Philharmonic stage was also graced by 14 pianists from Japan, seven from South Korea, six from Italy, as well as representatives of Canada, Armenia, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Latvia, Russia, Spain, Thailand, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

LIVE STREAMS

Live streams from the 18th Chopin Competition reached the most distant corners of the world. Most music lovers followed the performances on the Chopin Institute’s YouTube channel, and the largest audiences gathered in Japan, South Korea, Poland, and the United States.

Auditions of the Chopin Competition were also streamed live on Chopin Competition mobile app (available on iOS and Android). You could also follow the contestants on the 18th Competition’s official website Chopin2020.pl and in SmartTV app for Samsung televisions. The high quality of transmission made it possible for hundreds of thousands of people to participate in this musical festivity wherever in the world they reside.

The Chopin Competition also found extensive resonance in the social media: content related to the event was published on Chopin Institute’s Facebook profile in six languages, and the Chinese Weibo attracted a record number of followers. Materials from the competition were also available on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

During the total of 15 days of auditions of the 18th Chopin Competition, the pianists presented nearly 2000 interpretations of Chopin’s works altogether. If you were to combine all that music into a single recital, it would last for nearly 100 hours without a single intermission. There is no other monographic competition of that rank anywhere in the world.

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The great excitement of the Competition is over, but for the winners of the 18th Chopin Competition the end of the contest marks the beginning of their concert challenges.

The winner of the 18th Chopin Competition, Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, will soon start a four-month concert tour that will take him to 16 prestigious concert venues in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He will perform in Japan, South Korea, Israel, Belgium, Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg and Canada. The artist will also play three concerts in Poland.

Concert tour dates of Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, the winner of the 18th Chopin Competition

• Oct 26 2021 Katowice (NOSPR), concert with the NOSPR Orchestra conducted by Victorien Vanoosten
• Oct 29 2021 Wrocław (NFM), concert with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic conducted by Andrew Litton
• Oct 30 2021 Poznań (University Hall), concert with the Orchestra of the Poznań Philharmonic conducted by Łukasz Borowicz
• Nov 8 2021 Tokyo (NHK Hall) concert with the NHK Orchestra conducted by Taadaki Otaki
• Nov 11 2021 Tokyo (Tokyo Opera City) recital
• Nov 14 2021 Tel Aviv (Tel Aviv Opera Hall) concert with Orchestra Jerusalem conducted by Avner Biron
• Nov 15 2021 Jerusalem (Jerusalem Theatre) concert with Orchestra Jerusalem conducted by Avner Biron
• Nov 27 2021 Seoul (Seoul Arts Center) concert with Seoul Philharmonic
• Dec 5 2021 Brussels (Bozar) recital
• Dec 9 2021 Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon) recital
• Dec 12 2021 Rio de Janeiro (Sala Cecilia Meireles) concert with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra
• Dec 14 2021 Sao Paulo (Sala de Concertos) recital
• Dec 16 2021 Brasilia (Teatro Poupex) recital
• Jan 19 Feb 3 2022 a concert tour in Japan
• Feb 21 2022 Vancouver (Orpheum) recital
• Feb 28 2022 Luxembourg (Chamber Hall of Philharmonie Luxemburg) recital

The other seven laureates of the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition will also set off on concert tours in Poland and across the world. The dates of the other prize-winner concerts will be published soon.

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We encourage you to read the chronicle of the Chopin Competition, which recalls the most important moments of one of the oldest piano competitions in the world. In the chronicle you will find information about the previous editions of the competition, starting from the first one in 1927. They present not only the musical struggles of pianists from all over the world, but also behind-the-scenes curiosities about the candidates and jurors - outstanding figures who contributed to the legend of the Competition. The chronicle, like the 18th number of the Chopin Courier  presenting the profiles of the winners of the 18th edition of the Competition are attached in PDF format in the downloadable materials at the bottom of the page.

• More information about this year's edition and the history of the competition you will find on its webpage https://chopin2020.pl/en/

• We also encourage you to watch the film about the history of the competition.

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PARTNERS AND SPONSORS

The organiser of the 18th Chopin Competition is the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, and the Competition is held under the National Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda. The main co-founder of the Competition is the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage, and Sport, and the Patron of the Event is PKN ORLEN. Main Partner of the Competition: Totalizator Sportowy lottery, owner of LOTTO brand Co-Organiser: Polish Radio 2, TVP, and the City of Warsaw Commercial Partners: PZU, Lexus, Kopernik, Emitel, Regent, Risk, Błonie, Miraculum, Phonak Technological Partner: YouTube Partner of the Chopin Institute: Yamaha Official Airline: LOT Partners: Warsaw Philharmonic, Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, National Centre for Culture Poland, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Media Partners of the Chopin Competition: Polish Radio, Polish Radio Chopin, Culture.pl.