International Chopin Piano Competition

International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition
Current: XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition
The National Philharmonic during the 2005 competition
VenueNational Philharmonic, Warsaw
Presented byFryderyk Chopin Institute
First awarded1927; 97 years ago (1927)
Last awarded2021
Websitekonkursy.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. 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,[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), Krystian Zimerman (1975), Yundi Li (2000), Rafał Blechacz (2005) and Seong-Jin Cho (2015). The most recent winner has been Bruce Liu of Canada in 2021. Yundi Li is the most well known for being the youngest first prize winner[3] and the youngest juror in the competition's history.[4]

  1. ^ "The Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition". Culture.pl. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  2. ^ Website Archived 3 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine of the International Chopin Competition, accessed 7 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Winner of Chopin Competition 2000: Yundi Li - first time in California". Polish Music Center. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Chinese Pianist Li Yundi to Join Jury Panel of International Chopin Piano Competition". yibada. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2023.