Laureates of international competitions in the 19th Chopin Competition

Of the 84 pianists who will be performing recitals in the first stage of the Chopin Competition starting on Friday, October 3, 66 were already introduced to the audience during the preliminary rounds (held in Warsaw in late April and early May). The remaining nineteen are coming to compete in the Chopin Competition thanks to prizes won in other piano competitions. The rules of the Chopin Competition list 16 international competitions whose winners earn the right to compete in Warsaw, bypassing the spring qualifying round.

The nineteen include: Piotr Alexewicz, Jonas Aumiller, Kevin Chen, Mateusz Dubiel, Alberto Ferro, Adam Kałduński, Kaito Kobayashi, Mateusz Krzyżowski, Shiori Kuwahara, Hyuk Lee, Pedro López Salas, Eric Lu, Philipp Lynov, Piotr Pawlak, Anthony Ratinov, Tomoharu Ushida, Andrzej Wierciński, Krzysztof Wierciński, and William Yang.

Among the competitions that guarantee participation in the Chopin Competition are extremely prestigious tournaments such as the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (the category for pianists was established in 1938!), the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (established in 1962), the Leeds International Piano Competition (with a 62-year tradition) and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition (first organized in 1949).

The Chopin Competition, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2027, is the crowning achievement for young pianists who decide to enter it after winning prizes at other renowned international competitions.