At a high-profile awards ceremony in the Polish capital on Thursday, the winners of the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition received special prizes and many congratulations and thanks for their performances.
The winner, Canada’s Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, received the top prize from the hands of Poland’s President Andrzej Duda at Warsaw's National Opera, while Poland's Culture, National Heritage and Sports Minister Piotr Gliński said that this year’s International Chopin Piano Competition “was probably the most pianistically accomplished ever."
During the 15 days of the competition auditions, the pianists delivered nearly 2,000 interpretations of Chopin's work.
Monika Pilch spoke to Krzysztof Stefański, editor of Ruch Muzyczny, a Polish music magazine, and John Allison, editor of Opera and music critic at The Daily Telegraph, to find out about their impressions of this year's competition and the influence it may have on the future careers of the participants.
Click on the audio player above to listen.