The Chinese pianist Yifan Wu has won first place with a €30,000 cash prize
Founded in 1949, Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition has recently completed its 65th edition at Italy’s Teatro Comunale Bolzano. This year, the competition was open to pianists born between 1994 and 2008.
First place and the Busoni Prize of €30,000 went to the Chinese pianist Yifan Wu, who won with his rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Wu was also awarded the €3,000 Audience Prize, the €1,000 Alice Tartarotti Prize, and the Keyboard Career Development Prize.
Second place with €10,000 went to the Georgian pianist Sandro Nebieridze, while the €5,000 third prize was awarded to Christos Fountos from Cyprus, who also won the Chamber Music Prize of €3,000.
The Chinese pianist Zhonghua Wei was awarded the €4,000 fourth prize, the Senior Jury Prize, and the prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work; the €3,000 fifth prize was awarded to Elia Cecino from Italy; and sixth place with €2,500 went to Zeyu Shen from China.
Additionally, the Chinese pianists Yangrui Cai, Yungyung Guo, and Jialin Yao, won the €3,000 prize for the best interpretation of a work by Busoni, the €5,000 Maurizio Pollini Prize, and the €3,000 Chopin Prize, respectively.
Finalists of the competition all performed with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento led by the American conductor George Pehlivanian. For more on each of the winners, click here.
Chaired by Sir David Pountney CBE, the jury for the final rounds comprised Pi-hsien Chen, HieYo n Choi, Josu de Solaun, Lucas Debargue, Saskia Giorgini, Peter Jablonski, Sergio Tiempo, and Mariangela Vacatello. The 2024 video selection jury included Anna Geniushene, Yejin Gil, and Peter Paul Kainrath.