On October 2, the long-awaited International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition began in Warsaw. Over the next month, 84 pianists from 20 different countries, young and established alike, will compete for their spot in the final round. Among these pianists are familiar names such as Eric Lu, who received fourth place in the 2015 Chopin Competition, and young prodigies such as sixteen-year-old Tianyao Lyu. Although the competition is only past stage one at the time of the writing of this article, the enthusiasm and talent of these young pianists are already abundantly clear.
As if heralding a new year and new era, the preliminary round of the Chopin Competition received a record-breaking 642 applications from around the world. Ultimately, 162 participants representing 28 different countries were selected to participate in the preliminary round, producing 66 first-stage qualifiers along with 19 direct admissions from the winners of select piano competitions.
During the first stage of the competition, each musician presented their own interpretations of technically demanding and difficult pieces. We heard flawless and precise executions from pianists like Kevin Chen, Zihan Jin, and Anthony Ratinov, as well as personal interpretations that made Chopin’s pieces their own, such as those from Ruben Micieli, Yan Yan Bao, and Dianna Cooper. Among the participants were also returning musicians, finalists from the 2021 edition, and fan favourites like Shirori Kuwahara, David Khrikuli, and Tomoharu Uchida. However, the two most anticipated pianists were undoubtedly the 2015 finalist Eric Lu and the prodigy and rising star Tianyao Lyu.
Back in 2015, at the 17th Chopin Competition, seventeen-year-old Eric Lu shocked the world by placing fourth in the final round. He further solidified his reputation by winning the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018 and graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music. After ten years, however, he returned to the stage of the Chopin Competition, backed by more mature and sentimental interpretations that came at the cost of technical clarity. Opinions are divided, but critics have warned that his return is unnecessary and that it might pose a risk to his career if he unfortunately falls short of the top three in the final round.
The competition also featured the brilliant performance of sixteen-year-old Tianyao Lyu, a young yet immensely talented musician from China. One of the youngest participants in the competition, her playing exhibits a calmness typical of musicians twice her age. Her technical clarity and world-class technique persuaded members of the jury without compromising her emotionally affecting interpretations, a balance only world-class musicians can achieve. Though young, she is not inexperienced, having won first prize in both the 19th International Ettlingen Competition in 2024 and the 31st International Chopin Competition for Children and Youth. She will continue to compete alongside seventeen-year-old Jacky Zhang and many other young yet talented teenage pianists in the following rounds of the competition.
I also interviewed a few Concord Academy students for their opinions on this year’s competition. Chaeyun Han ’27, a talented student pianist who started following the competition since Seong Jin Cho’s win in 2015, stated that although he supports all participants, he prefers pianists who combine both technique and musicality over pianists who sacrifice one for the other. In addition, he also expressed respect for young Tianyao Lyu’s commencement to the second stage of the competition.
Alfred Bull ’28, another pianist and a new member of the audience, expressed his preference for personal interpretations over cold technical clarity, but also added that solid technique is essential in expressing one’s musicality. His favourites among the current contestants are Shiori Kuwahara and Piotr Pawlak for their originality and their balance between technical clarity and musicality.
On the other hand, Angel Qin ’29, a harpist who started watching the competition from its last edition, provided a more personal approach. She prefers technical clarity over originality and musicality, citing her own struggles with technique and the difficulty of balancing the two. However, she recognises that both are crucial for pianists in the competition, and that originality and musicality are what set the talented musicians apart from each other. She also expressed support for Tianyao Lyu, whose clear phrasing and deep interpretations left a lasting impression, and hopes that she will succeed in the competition.
At the time of the writing of this article, the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition is still underway in its second stage, and the results are still to be determined, but I wish the best of luck to all of the contestants in the upcoming stages of the competition.