Bruce Liu, 24, took home 1st Prize at the 18th edition of the competition held in Warsaw with a performance of Chopin's Concerto in E minor Op 11
As part of his win, Liu will receive €40,000. 2nd Prize was awarded to two pianists – Alexander Gadjiev (Italy/Slovenia) and Kyohei Sorita (Japan) – while 3rd Prize went to Martin Garcia (Spain).
Liu, who was born in France, graduated from the Montreal Conservatory of Music in the piano class of Richard Raymond. He is currently studying with Đặng Thái Sơn at the Université de Montréal.
The pianist has already been involved in numerous competition finals including The Sendai International Music Competition, The Montreal International Music Competition and the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv.
Twelve of the best pianists qualified to the Chopin Finals to perform one of Fryderyk Chopin’s two piano concertos, accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Boreyko. Nine pianist selected the Concerto in E minor Op. 11, and the remaining three – the Concerto in F minor Op. 21.
This week's Grand Final was streamed live on the Chopin Institute's YouTube Channel. You can re-watch Bruce Liu's winning performance below.
Main Prizes:
- 1st Prize – Mr Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, Canada
- 2nd Prize ex aequo – Mr Alexander Gadjiev, Italy/Slovenia
- 2nd Prize ex aequo – Mr Kyohei Sorita, Japan
- 3rd Prize – Mr Martin Garcia Garcia, Spain
- 4th Prize ex aequo – Ms Aimi Kobayashi, Japan
- 4th Prize ex aequo – Mr Jakub Kuszlik, Poland
- 5th Prize – Ms Leonora Armellini, Italy
- 6th Prize – Mr J J Jun Li Bui, Canada
Special Prizes:
- The Polish Radio Prize for the best performance of mazurkas – Mr Jakub Kuszlik, Poland
- The Warsaw Philharmonic Prize for the best performance of a concerto – Mr Martin Garcia Garcia, Spain
- The Krystian Zimerman Prize for the best performance of a sonata – Mr Alexander Gadjiev, Italy/Slovenia
