International Chopin Piano Competition

International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition
Current: XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition
The National Philharmonic during the 2005 competition
Venue	National Philharmonic, Warsaw
Presented by	Fryderyk Chopin Institute
First awarded	1927; 94 years ago (1927)
Website	konkursy.nifc.pl/en

The International Chopin Piano Competition (Polish: Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina), 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,^[1] in this case, Frédéric Chopin. The competition is currently organized by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.^[2]

The Chopin Competition is one of the most prestigious competitions in classical music, often launching the careers of its winners overnight through major concert dates and lucrative recording contracts. Past winners have included Maurizio Pollini (1960), Martha Argerich (1965) and Krystian Zimerman (1975). The most recent winner has been Seong-Jin Cho of South Korea in 2015.^[3]

The 18th International Chopin Piano Competition, scheduled for 2–23 October 2020, was postponed to the same dates in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

History[]

3rd Chopin Competition (1937). Among members of the jury (sitting on the left) Heinrich Neuhaus, Emil von Sauer, Guido Agosti, and Wilhelm Backhaus

The competition was initiated by Polish pianist and pedagogue Jerzy Żurawlew, who began seeking funds for a piano competition in 1925, influenced by Aleksander Michałowski. Żurawlew recalled later: "I met with utter incomprehension, indifference and even aversion. The opinion among musicians was unanimous: Chopin is so great that he can defend himself. At the Ministry, it was announced that there were no funds for it [...] and that the whole idea was unfeasible". Only the election of new Polish president Ignacy Mościcki, who became patron of the competition, made the competition possible.^[5]

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.

In 2018, the Chopin Institute organized the inaugural I International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments.

Jury[]

The jury has been chaired by:

• Witold Maliszewski (1927)^[6]
•  [pl] (1932 and 1937)^[7]
• Zbigniew Drzewiecki (1949, 1955, 1960, 1965)^[8]
• Kazimierz Sikorski (1970 and 1975)^[9]
• Kazimierz Kord (1980)^[10]
• Jan Ekier (1985, 1990, 1995)^[11]
• Andrzej Jasiński (2000, 2005, 2010)^[12]
• Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń (2015, 2021)^[13]

Prize winners[]

The laureates of the Chopin International Piano Competition:^[14][15]

Top 3 prize winners since 1927

Edition	1st	2nd	3rd
I (1927)	Lev Oborin  Soviet Union	Stanisław Szpinalski  Poland	Róża Etkin  Poland
II (1932)	Alexander Uninsky (c)  Soviet Union	Imre Ungár (c)  Hungary	Bolesław Kon  Poland
III (1937)	Yakov Zak  Soviet Union	Rosa Tamarkina  Soviet Union	Witold Małcużyński  Poland
IV (1949)	Bella Davidovich  Soviet Union	Barbara Hesse-Bukowska  Poland	Waldemar Maciszewski  Poland
	Halina Czerny-Stefańska  Poland (tie)
V (1955)	Adam Harasiewicz  Poland	Vladimir Ashkenazy  Soviet Union	Fou Ts'ong  China
VI (1960)	Maurizio Pollini  Italy	Irina Zaritskaya  Soviet Union	Iran
VII (1965)	Martha Argerich  Argentina	Arthur Moreira Lima  Brazil	Marta Sosińska  Poland
VIII (1970)	Garrick Ohlsson  United States	Mitsuko Uchida  Japan	Piotr Paleczny  Poland
IX (1975)	Krystian Zimerman  Poland	Dina Joffe  Soviet Union	Soviet Union
X (1980)	Dang Thai Son  Vietnam	Tatyana Shebanova  Soviet Union	Arutyun Papazyan  Soviet Union
XI (1985)	Stanislav Bunin  Soviet Union	France	Poland
XII (1990)	Not awarded	Kevin Kenner  United States	Japan
XIII (1995)	Not awarded	Philippe Giusiano  France	Gabriela Montero  United States
		Alexei Sultanov  Uzbekistan (tie)
XIV (2000)	Yundi Li  China	Ingrid Fliter  Argentina	Alexander Kobrin  Russia
XV (2005)	Rafał Blechacz  Poland	Not awarded	Dong-Hyek Lim  South Korea
			Dong-Min Lim  South Korea (tie)
XVI (2010)	Yulianna Avdeeva  Russia	Lukas Geniušas  Russia  Lithuania	Daniil Trifonov  Russia
		Ingolf Wunder  Austria (tie)
XVII (2015)	Seong-Jin Cho  South Korea	Charles Richard-Hamelin  Canada	Kate Liu  United States
XVIII (2021)	To be determined

Traditional special awards at the competition include the Polish Radio prize for the best mazurka performance (since 1927), the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw prize for the best polonaise (since 1960), and the National Philharmonic prize for the best performance of a piano concerto (since 1980).

Medal table[]

Chopin Competition Medal Table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	5	6	2	13
2	Poland	4	2	7	13
3	Russia	1	1	2	4
	United States	1	1	2	4
5	Argentina	1	1	0	2
6	South Korea	1	0	2	3
7	China	1	0	1	2
8	Italy	1	0	0	1
	Vietnam	1	0	0	1
10	France	0	2	0	2
11	Japan	0	1	1	2
12	Austria	0	1	0	1
	Brazil	0	1	0	1
	Canada	0	1	0	1
	Hungary	0	1	0	1
	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
	Uzbekistan	0	1	0	1
18	Iran	0	0	1	1
Totals (18 nations)		16	20	18	54

Note: Medals were only awarded after 1975. In this table, winner of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prize prior to 1975 are included as having won Gold, Silver, and Bronze respectively.

In popular culture[]

The Chopin Competition is a major plot device in the Japanese manga series Forest of Piano, serialized from 1998 to 2015 and adapted as an anime from 2018 to 2019. It follows the story of pianist Kai Ichinose, who ultimately wins the Chopin Competition.^[16] Creator Makoto Isshiki was inspired to write the series when she watched a documentary showing Stanislav Bunin winning the XI International Chopin Piano Competition.^[17]

See also[]

• List of classical music competitions

References[]

Further reading[]

• Ekiert, Janusz (2010). The Endless Search for Chopin: The History of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1st ed.). Warsaw: Muza. ISBN 978-83-7495-812-7.
• Arendt, Ada; Bogucki, Marcin; Majewski, Paweł; Sobczak, Kornelia (2020). Chopinowskie igrzysko. Historia Międzynarodowego Konkursu Pianistycznego im. Fryderyka Chopina 1927–2015 [The Chopin Games. The History of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition 1927–2015] (in Polish) (1st ed.). Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. ISBN 978-83-235-4127-1.
• Ossowski, Jerzy; Brodska, Halina (2010). The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in photographs. Warsaw: Fryderyk Chopin Institute. ISBN 978-83-61142-36-2.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to International Chopin Piano Competition.

• Official website
• History of the Competition in the Polish Culture Portal
• Official International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition for Amateurs website
• Piano Competitions & Music Competitions at Bakitone International
• Google Arts & Culture