The programme includes works by Bach, Schumann and Beethoven performed by five past laureates of the event - Dang Thai Son (1980 winner), Kevin Kenner (1990 winner), Philippe Giusiano (1995 winner), Yulianna Avdeeva (2010 winner), and Seong-Jin Cho (2015 winner).
Seong-Jin Cho will appear as the soloist in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, with the Warsaw Philharmonic conducted by its music director Andrzej Boreyko.
First stage auditions begin on Sunday at 10 a.m. with a performance by Chinese pianist Xuanyi Mao. The participants whose surnames start with the letter M open the event as a result of a draw that decided on the order of performance.
Mao is one of 22 Chinese entrants, who constitute the largest national contingent, followed the Poland (16 pianists), Japan (14), South Korea (7), and Italy (6). Armenia, Chinese Taipei, Canada, Cuba, Latvia, Russia, Spain, Thailand, the United States, Britain and Vietnam are also represented.
A 17-strong international jury brings together such outstanding pianists as Dmitri Alexeev, Dang Thai Son, Nelson Goerner, Adam Harasiewicz, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Kevin Kenner, Arthur Moreira-Lima, Piotr Paleczny, and Dina Joffe, as well as British musicologist and Chopin scholar John Rink. It is chaired by Polish pianist Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń.
(mk)