International Chopin Piano Competition


The International Chopin Piano Competition, often referred to as the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland. It was initiated in 1927 and has been held every five years since 1955. It is one of the few competitions devoted entirely to the works of a single composer, in this case, Frédéric Chopin.
The first competition was founded by the Polish pianist and pedagogue Jerzy Żurawlew. Subsequent editions were organized in 1932 and 1937; the post-war fourth and fifth editions were held in 1949 and 1955. In 1957 the competition became one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva.
Traditional special awards include the Polish Radio prize for the best Mazurka performance, the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw prize for the best Polonaise, and the National Philharmonic prize for the best performance of a Piano Concerto. The competition is organized by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute of Warsaw.
The 18th International Chopin Piano Competition that was scheduled on 2 October 2020 to 23 October 2020 was postponed to the same date in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was decided by Poland's Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Piotr Gliński, together with Artur Szklener, Director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw after additional consultations with Poland's Ministry of Health.

Jury

Past members of the jury have included such names as Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Stefan Askenase, Wilhelm Backhaus, Paul Badura-Skoda, Nadia Boulanger, Flora Guerra,
Dang Thai Son, Bella Davidovich, Philippe Entremont, Fou Ts'ong, Nelson Freire, Vera Gornostayeva, Arthur Hedley, Mieczysław Horszowski, Vladimir Krainev, Marguerite Long, Lazare Lévy, Nikita Magaloff, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Heinrich Neuhaus, Vlado Perlemuter, Maurice Ravel, Arthur Rubinstein, Emil von Sauer, Magda Tagliaferro, and many distinguished Polish pianists, teachers, conductors, as well as composers.

Chairman

Arthur Rubinstein and Jan Ekier have also acted as honorary chairmen.

Prize winners

Year1st2nd3rd4th5th6th
I: 1927 Lev Oborin Stanisław Szpinalski Róża Etkin Grigory Ginzburg
II: 1932 Alexandre Uninsky Imre Ungár Bolesław Kon Abram Lufer Lajos Kentner Leonid Sagalov
III: 1937 Yakov Zak Rosa Tamarkina Witold Małcużyński Lance Dossor Agi Jambor Edith Axenfeld
1942No competition due to occupation of Poland by Germany in WWIINo competition due to occupation of Poland by Germany in WWIINo competition due to occupation of Poland by Germany in WWIINo competition due to occupation of Poland by Germany in WWIINo competition due to occupation of Poland by Germany in WWIINo competition due to occupation of Poland by Germany in WWII
IV: 1949 Bella Davidovich
Halina Czerny-Stefańska '		 Barbara Hesse-Bukowska Waldemar Maciszewski Georgy Muravlov Władysław Kędra Ryszard Bakst
V: 1955 Adam Harasiewicz Vladimir Ashkenazy Fou Ts'ong Bernard Ringeissen Naum Shtarkman Dmitry Paperno
VI: 1960 Maurizio Pollini Irina Zaritskaya Tania Achot-Haroutounian Li Min-Chan Zinaida Ignatyeva Valeri Kastelsky
VII: 1965 Martha Argerich Arthur Moreira Lima Marta Sosińska Hiroko Nakamura Edward Auer Elżbieta Głąbówna
VIII: 1970 Garrick Ohlsson Mitsuko Uchida Piotr Paleczny Eugen Indjic Natalya Gavrilova Janusz Olejniczak
IX: 1975 Krystian Zimerman Dina Joffe Tatyana Fedkina Pavel Gililov Dean Kramer Diana Kacso
X: 1980 Dang Thai Son Tatyana Shebanova Arutyun PapazyanNot awarded Akiko Ebi
Ewa Pobłocka '		 Eric Berchot
Irina Pietrova ' -->
XI: 1985 Stanislav Bunin Marc Laforet Krzysztof Jabłoński Michie Koyama Jean-Marc Luisada Tatyana Pikayzen
XII: 1990Not awarded Kevin Kenner Yukio Yokoyama Corrado Rollero
Margarita Shevchenko '		 Anna Malikova
Takako Takahashi '		 Caroline Sageman
XIII: 1995Not Awarded Philippe Giusiano
Alexei Sultanov '		 Gabriela Montero Rem Urasin Rika Miyatani Magdalena Lisak
XIV: 2000 Yundi Li Ingrid Fliter Alexander Kobrin Sa Chen Alberto Nosè Mika Sato
XV: 2005 Rafał BlechaczNot awarded Dong-Hyek Lim
Dong-Min Lim '		 Shohei Sekimoto
Takashi Yamamoto		Not awarded Ka Ling Colleen Lee
XVI: 2010 Yulianna Avdeeva Lukas Geniušas
Ingolf Wunder '		 Daniil Trifonov Evgeni Bozhanov François Dumontnot awarded
XVII: 2015 Seong-Jin Cho Charles Richard-Hamelin Kate Liu Eric Lu Tony Yike Yang Dmitry Shishkin
XVIII: 2020

Chopin Piano Competition for Amateurs

Since 2009, the Chopin Piano Competition is held for amateur pianists as well. The amateur edition of the competition is organized by the Chopin Society of Warsaw. It is aimed at music lovers from all over the world, for whom playing the piano is a passion rather than a way of earning a living. Despite being much younger than other prominent competitions for amateur pianists, it has already attracted a significant number of top-level participants.