The International Chopin Piano Competition (Polish: Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina), often called the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition in Warsaw, Poland, held first in 1927 and every five years since 1955. The competition is one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions. It is also one of the few competitions devoted entirely to the works of a single composer, in this case, Frédéric Chopin. It is organized by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.
| International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition | |
|---|---|
| Current: XIX International Chopin Piano Competition | |
The National Philharmonic during the 2005 competition | |
| Venue | National Philharmonic, Warsaw, Poland |
| Presented by | Fryderyk Chopin Institute |
| First award | 1927 |
| Final award | 2025 |
| Website | konkursy |
Described as the "Olympics of the piano world" by The New York Times, the Chopin Competition is considered one of the most prestigious competitions in classical music, known for launching pianists' international careers. Past winners have included Maurizio Pollini (1960), Martha Argerich (1965), Krystian Zimerman (1975), Yundi Li (2000), Rafał Blechacz (2005), and Seong-Jin Cho (2015). The most recent winner is American pianist Eric Lu, who won the XIX competition in 2025. Yundi Li is the youngest winner and youngest juror in the competition's history.
History
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: "Young people at that time, not long after the end of the Great War, were taking a keen interest in sports. They were dyed-in-the-wool realists in their outlook on life. I would often hear that Chopin was excessively romantic, that he enervated the soul and weakened the psyche. Some went so far as to discourage the inclusion of Chopin as required repertoire in music schools. All that showed a fundamental lack of understanding, which I found very painful ... As I watched young people's enthusiasm for sporting achievement, I finally hit upon a solution: a competition! Here was a format to bring tangible advantages to young performers of Chopin in the form of monetary prizes and an international performing career."
Gathering funds for the competition proved to be a difficult task. As Żurawlew remembered 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". In this difficult situation, help arrived from Henryk Rewkiewicz—a businessman, music lover, and board member of The Warsaw Music Society, who personally guaranteed to cover the entire deficit expected to arise from the first Competition.
Many years later Jerzy Żurawlew wrote, "I was greatly helped by my friend Henryk Rewkiewicz, director of the Match Monopoly, who offered 15,000 złoty—a substantial sum at the time—for the Competition". Ultimately, things picked up with the election of Polish president Ignacy Mościcki, who became the Chopin Competition's patron.
Subsequent editions were organized in 1932 and 1937; the postwar 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. The prewar editions of the competition as well as three editions after World War II (1955, 1960, 1965) were held in winter, close to Chopin's birthdate, 22 February. But because jurors and competitors often fell ill in this period, the organizers moved the competition to October, the month in which Chopin died.
The 1980 edition was marked by controversy over the elimination of Ivo Pogorelić, who was seen as one of the favourites, in the third round. This prompted juror Martha Argerich to resign in protest, calling Pogorelić a "genius". Her action was supported by two other jurors, who called it "unthinkable that such an artist should not make it to the finals". Other judges spoke out about their disapproval of what they considered Pogorelić's eccentricities. After Stanislav Bunin won in 1985, the jury withheld first prize in both 1990 and 1995. First prize was not awarded again until Yundi Li won in 2000.
Traditionally, on 17 October—the day of Chopin's death—a solemn mass is celebrated at the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, during which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem is performed in accordance with Chopin's wishes. In 2018, the Chopin Institute organized the inaugural I International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments. The XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition, originally scheduled for 2020, was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jury
The jury has been chaired by:
- Witold Maliszewski (1927)
- Adam Wieniawski (1932 and 1937)
- Zbigniew Drzewiecki (1949, 1955, 1960, 1965)
- Kazimierz Sikorski (1970 and 1975)
- Kazimierz Kord (1980)
- Jan Ekier (1985, 1990, 1995)
- Andrzej Jasiński (2000, 2005, 2010)
- Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń (2015, 2021)
- Garrick Ohlsson (2025)
Prize winners
The laureates of the Chopin International Piano Competition:
| 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 | Tania Achot-Haroutounian 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 | Tatyana Fedkina Soviet Union |
| X (1980) | Dang Thai Son Vietnam | Tatyana Shebanova Soviet Union | Arutyun Papazyan Soviet Union |
| XI (1985) | Stanislav Bunin Soviet Union | Marc Laforet France | Krzysztof Jabłoński Poland |
| XII (1990) | Not awarded | Kevin Kenner United States | Yukio Yokoyama Japan |
| XIII (1995) | Not awarded | Philippe Giusiano France | Gabriela Montero Venezuela |
| 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) | Bruce Liu Canada | Kyohei Sorita Japan | Martín García García Spain |
| Alexander Gadjiev Italy Slovenia (tie) | |||
| XIX (2025) | Eric Lu United States | Kevin Chen Canada | Zitong Wang China |
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
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Union | 5 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
| 2 | Poland | 4 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 3 | United States | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Canada | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Russia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | Argentina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Italy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 8 | China | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| South Korea | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| 10 | Vietnam | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Japan | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | France | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | Austria | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Brazil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Hungary | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Slovenia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 19 | Iran | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Spain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Venezuela | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (21 entries) | 18 | 23 | 20 | 61 | |
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 Kai Ichinose, who ultimately wins the Chopin Competition. Creator Makoto Isshiki was inspired to write the series when she watched a documentary showing Stanislav Bunin winning the XI International Chopin Piano Competition. The 2023 documentary film Pianoforte, directed by Jakub Piątek, depicts the competition through exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
See also
- List of classical music competitions
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. OCLC 670048637.
- 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. OCLC 1153285192.
- Ossowski, Jerzy; Brodska, Halina (2010). The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in photographs. Warsaw: Fryderyk Chopin Institute. ISBN 978-83-61142-36-2. OCLC 802743657.
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