Pianists from seven countries will compete for the top honours, among them three from China—Tianyou Li, Tianyao Lyu and Zitong Wang; two from Japan—Shiori Kuwahara and Miyu Shindo; and two from the United States—Eric Lu and William Yang.
Also advancing to the finals are Canada’s Kevin Chen, Georgia’s David Khrikuli and Malaysia’s Vincent Ong.
Alexewicz, 25, is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Wrocław, southwestern Poland. He developed his skills at the Hochschule der Künste in Zurich, Switzerland. His recent achievements include top prizes at the Texas Piano Concerto Competition and the Schenk Competition in Switzerland in 2024, and second prize at the 2025 Hilton Head Piano Competition in the United States.
He was also a semifinalist at this year’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
Alexewicz has performed at many prestigious venues, including the Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Cortot in Paris, Sala São Paulo, the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, the Warsaw Philharmonic, and Symphony Hall in Osaka.
He has recorded two albums for Poland’s Fryderyk Chopin Institute—one featuring works by Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and Beethoven, and another containing Chopin compositions for piano and orchestra with Sinfonia Varsovia under Howard Shelley.
As a child, Alexewicz sang for six years with the boys’ choir of the National Forum of Music in Wrocław and once dreamed of becoming a conductor.
Asked about his non-musical passions, he said: “I passionately love flying. We musicians fly a lot, and being on a plane gives me great joy.”
Piotr Alexewicz. Photo: Wojciech Grzędziński/NIFC
In the final stage, starting on Saturday, each pianist will perform Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy, Op. 61, and one of the two piano concertos—either in E minor, Op. 11, or in F minor, Op. 21— accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Andrzej Boreyko.
The prizewinners will be announced on October 20. The competition offers more than EUR 240,000 in total prize money, including EUR 60,000 for first place.
Laureates will also embark on international concert tours, performing at some of the world’s most prestigious venues.
The jury is chaired by American pianist Garrick Ohlsson, winner of the 1970 competition and the first foreigner to hold the post in the event’s nearly 100-year history.
Other jurors include former Warsaw winners Dang Thai Son (1980) and Yulianna Avdeeva (2010), along with pianists Nelson Goerner, Kevin Kenner, Robert McDonald, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Piotr Paleczny and Ewa Pobłocka, as well as Chopin scholar John Rink and British music critic John Allison.
(mk/gs)
Source: TVP Kultura, IAR, PAP, nifc.pl
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Monika Pilch.