Canadian pianist Bruce Liu wins prestigious Chopin competition in Poland

The International Chopin Competition has been won by Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu of Canada. The prestigious contest, held every five years in Warsaw, is one of Poland’s top cultural events, renowned for launching global careers.

The 18th edition of the competition to find the best young pianist performing the works of renowned Polish composer Frédéric Chopin was originally due to be held at the same time last year, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 24-year-old from Montreal was selected from 12 finalists, two more than the 10 envisaged in the competition rules. The gold medallist takes home a prize of €40,000, to be awarded by President Andrzej Duda.

“Being able to play Chopin in Warsaw is one of the best things you can imagine, of course, so I’m truly honoured for this award, of course, and for this jury’s trust and for all the warmth I have received in recent days,” Liu said.

The jury, who announced the results after 2 a.m. local time following long deliberations, awarded the silver medal jointly to Alexander Gadjiev, representing Italy and Slovenia, and Kyohei Sorita of Japan. Bronze went to Martín García García of Spain.

Jakub Kuszlik, one of two Poles in the final, received the joint fourth prize along with Aimi Kobayashi of Japan and was also awarded the Polish Radio prize for the best performance of mazurkas.

A record number of more than 500 young pianists, nearly half of them from Asia, applied for this year’s competition. Following a preliminary round in July, 87 participants competed in the first stage, which began on 3 October. That field was narrowed down in two further stages before this week’s final.

Participants play a different programme of pieces from Chopin’s repertoire in each round of the competition, and must perform their selection from memory and in any order.

In the final, they were joined by the National Philharmonic Orchestra as each played one of two of the Polish composer’s pieces – Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 11 or Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 21.

Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who will present one of the prizes at tonight’s gala, was in no doubt that Liu should win the competition. “A pianist who cancels out time. An absolute genius,” he wrote after watching his performance.

The International Chopin Piano Competition, one of the few such events devoted to the works of a single composer, is among classical music’s most prestigious contests. Previous winners, including Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Poland’s Krystian Zimerman, have often gone on to have illustrious careers.

Poland is the joint-most successful country in the history of the competition, which was first held in 1927. The most recent of the four Polish winners was Rafał Blechacz in 2005, who became the only pianist to receive first prize as well as the prizes for polonaise, mazurka, sonata, and concerto performances.

One of the judges, John O’Conor, described the then 20-year-old Blechacz as “one of the greatest artists I have had a chance to hear in my entire life”.

The competition is run by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, which was created by the Polish parliament in 2001 and is overseen by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage to research and promote the composer’s works.

Frédéric Chopin was born (as Fryderyk) in Żelazowa Wola near Warsaw in 1810 and was a musical prodigy who composed many of his works, including both the concertos performed in the final, before he left Poland at the age of 20.

After settling in Paris, he continued to compose and perform, mostly in the city’s salons. Most of his compositions are for solo piano, including mazurkas and polonaises, and among his influences were Polish folk music. His association of music with nationalism has helped to make him a leading symbol of the Romantic era.

Having suffered from poor health for most of his life, he died aged just 39. His heart was taken back to Poland, and the urn containing it is now immured in a pillar at the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw.

Main image credit: Maciek Jazwiecki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.