Chopin 2025: Asians demonstrate the highest quality of playing - Adam Rozlach
Asian artists not only dominate the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition in numbers but also demonstrate the highest quality of their playing, music commentator Adam Rozlach has told PAP.
On Thursday night, the international jury, chaired by Garrick Ohlsson, selected 11 pianists for the finals.
"The third-stage auditions provided us with many wonderful experiences and unforgettable interpretations. This means that the semifinalists were perfectly prepared to play one of the sonatas and one mazurka opus," Rozlach, music commentator for Polish Radio 1 and TVP Kultura, told PAP on Friday.
"We will find out who will win the additional prizes for the best performance of mazurkas, polonaises, sonatas, and concertos during the laureates' concert," Rozlach noted.
The jury selected only one Pole for the final. The remaining ten were three pianists from China, two from Japan, two representatives of the United States, and one representative each of Malaysia, Georgia, and Canada.
"Thus, the proportion was maintained, and even exceeded, because pianists of Far Eastern origin constituted the largest group of participants in this year's Chopin Competition," Rozlach said. "Artists from Asia dominate not only numerically but also demonstrate the highest quality of their playing." He added that one of them will probably win the entire competition.
"Only one Polish representative was among the finalists – Piotr Alexewicz, which is also consistent with my observations," Rozlach said. "There's also the highly regarded Georgian David Khrikuli, the Japanese Shiori Kuwahara, the Chinese Tianyou Li, and the excellent Canadian Kevin Chen. There's the American William Yang, the superb Chinese Zitong Wang, and the incredibly interesting Malaysian pianist Vincent Ong, whose playing is highly admired here. There's also Eric Lu from the United States, winner of the 17th Chopin Competition, and the outstanding Japanese pianist Miyu Shindo, a semifinalist in the 2021 competition. Above all, there's the fascinating personality – known here as 'The Princess' – 16-year-old Tianyao Lyu from China, who studies at the Poznan Academy of Music under the supervision of Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron.
Rozlach pointed out that from the final selection, he misses the two brothers Hyo and Hyuk Lee, Koreans who have been living in Warsaw for three years; Yang (Jack) Gao from China; Tomoharu Ushida from Japan; and Yifan Wu, a Chinese pianist who is just under 17 years old.
On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, the finalists will perform one of the piano concertos: in E minor, Op. 11, or F minor, Op. 21, and, obligatorily, the Polonaise-Fantasia in A flat major, Op. 61. They will be accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Boreyko.
The 19th edition of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, organised by Poland's Fryderyk Chopin Institute, runs from October 2 to October 23.
The Polish Press Agency is a media partner of the competition. (PAP)
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