The competition only happens every five years! It's been going on since October 3, now. The finals start in two days! This is basically the most prestigious piano competition that exists today. Martha Argerich (a former winner of the competition) is one of the judges! Participants must be between 17 and 30 years old. By the time one gets to the finals, they will have learnt nineteen pieces (all by Chopin) from a selection of about... 40? Ten people qualified for the finals, and there were 80 at the start. For the final, they have to play one of the two concertos, with an orchestra instead of a second piano reduction, I think.
There's a
live broadcast going on (resumes on Monday); it's definitely worth a listen. The Chopin concertos are super-awesome. I'm currently learning one of them, Op. 11 in e.
As an aside, Yundi Li (李云迪), who I'm going to hear play the Tchaikovsky concerto in the Spring in SF, won this competition at 18. He was the first person to win the first prize in 15 years.
Nobody won the first prize for the past 15 years??
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