South Korea, Japan, Russia, Poland and China have sent the largest teams to the Paderewski International Piano Competition, which is held every three years.
The participants have been selected from among 185 pianists who took part in preliminary auditions in various countries.
The international jury, chaired by eminent Polish pianist Piotr Paleczny, includes Lilian Barretto (Brasil), Manana Doijashvili (Georgia), Janina Fialkowska (Canada), Vladimir Ovchinnikov (Russia), Ying Wu (China), Yukio Yokoyama (Japan), and Polish pianists Zbigniew Raubo and Waldemar Wojtal.
The prizewinners will be announced on November 23.
Launched in 1961, the Paderewski Competition in Bydgoszcz is now in its 11th edition.
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) was one of the most outstanding figures in modern Polish history. The legendary pianist and composer was also a prominent statesman and one of the architects of the country’s independence, which it regained in 1918.
(mk/gs)