The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competitions

The Chopin Competition is the most important musical event in Poland and one of the most important musical events in the world. 

Apart from its huge role in popularising Chopin's music, it discovers the greatest pianistic talents, providing young musicians with the most effective start in their international career. It is a source of multicultural polarisation, which the world observes in various interpretations of the music of the brilliant composer.

To take part in the competition one needs to be a profesional pianist not younger than 16 years old and not older than 31 years old who successfully passed through the preliminary round or won one of the other prestigious piano competitions listed by the organizers. 

“[After World War I] the cult of Chopin seemed to wane a bit […] I often met with the opinion that Chopin is too romantic, makes the soul sentimental and disarms the listeners mentally. Some even claimed that for these very reasons Chopin should not be included on the lists of works for music school students.

All these symptoms of a total lack of understanding of Chopin’s music were very painful to me… I decided to counteract them. As I observed the young people and their love of sport achievements, I found a solution: a competition! Later developments confirmed that I was right…” 
Jerzy Żurawlew (1886-1980), initiator and many-times member of the Competition jury (c. 1927)

The 1st International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition took place at the beginning of 1927 (although it had originally been planned to commence on 15 October 1926 – the day of the unveiling of Wacław Szymanowski’s Chopin monument in the Royal Łazienki Park). Its initiator was the pianist and teacher Jerzy Żurawlew, who in 1925 – under the influence of Aleksander Michałowski, an outstanding interpreter of Chopin’s works – began to look for funding for a piano tournament.

As Żurawlew recalled: “I met with utter incomprehension, indifference and even aversion. The opinion among musicians was unanimous: ‘Chopin is so great that he can defend himself”. At the Ministry, it was announced that there were no funds for such an event […] and that the whole idea was unfeasible.”  Things only picked up with the election of a new Polish president, Ignacy Mościcki, who became patron of the Chopin Competition.

The Competition proved a great success: reviewers emphasised the high standard of the participants and the huge emotions that accompanied the rivalry. The organisers were not spared criticism, however: pianists from abroad were not ensured practice rooms and had to make do with instruments in private apartments, which became the subject of jokes.

“The level of performances proved to be so high that the jury had a real dilemma […] The immense skill and competence achieved in our times by pianists who are still almost children […] provokes a reflection: What next? Technically those young people are better than the best pianists of the old generation – and yet, what will happen to this terrifying hyper-production of pianists?” 
Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz

“The initial conviction that only Poles should sit on the Competition jury, later underwent a radical revision, when it turned out that representatives of other nationalities understand and perform Chopin with a degree of insight and sentiment that our own pianists could not afford at that time...

Another argument in favour of an international jury was the interest and renown that the tournament began to enjoy outside Poland, which foreshadowed the colossal development of the Chopin Competition in the future. After some deliberations, the Polish jury decided to invite […] the most eminent representatives of the music world from abroad.” Jerzy Żurawlew

“The problem [of the Chopin style] clearly fundamentally comes down to a proper sense of the Polishness of that music. This is why it should frankly be said that Poles, or more generally – Slavs – have the greatest possibilities in this area. The representatives of other nations seem to grope their way in the dark. Spiritual and mental effort is directed toward bringing out that human dimension in Chopin’s music which we could call universal.

What is emphasised, therefore, are the feelings of grief, dreaming, nostalgia, rebellion, love, etc. But this is only a half measure. Though Chopin’s music does comprise all this, we must add one modifier: it is a Polish grief, a Polish dream, and a Polish nostalgia…” 
Jerzy Artemski

“In all the history of the Chopin Competition, this has never happened before! None of the Soviet pianists – who had played a key role in all the previous competitions – even reached the finals. What is more, apart from two representatives of Poland, the other four finalists represented non-European countries: Argentina, Brazil, Japan, and the USA. A more unusual complement of Chopin interpreters could hardly be imagined.

How is it possible that his music – with such prominently national content, so distinctly national, or in any case European in its forms and dance rhythms – finds its best interpreters in nearly exotic countries?” 
Lucjan Kydryński

The biggest surprise of the 12th Chopin Competition (1990) was the lack of a winner. Probably no one had foreseen such a turn of events prior to the inauguration. Second Prize was awarded to Kevin Kenner, who was participating in the Competition for the second time (distinction in 1980). 

Kenner was also rewarded for the best performance of a polonaise (joint with Wojciech Świtała). For the first time in history, however, no one was given the prize for the best performance of mazurkas. The pianists were clearly not even helped in forging convincing interpretations by the unprecedented choice of as many as seven pianos.

“[…] the 1st prize has not been granted. This is the worst that could happen. It will be hard to convince anyone that it was quite impossible to select the best out of the more than 130 candidates and give the 1st prize to that person. […] The jurors, with their eyes fixed on an abstract ideal of Chopin performance that they idolise and that has been burdened with their lifelong habits – have caused this ideal to become ossified.

They have failed to notice that a new era is making itself felt at the turn of this century. It is high time that the old habits are shaken off and the new shape of piano art is given welcome. Every generation has remained faithful to Chopin’s text, but good results have only been achieved when the interpretation followed the spirit of the age.” 
Witold Rudziński

During the 14th Chopin Competition, which fell at the turn of the millennium, many talented pianists from the Far East appeared on the concert platform of the Warsaw Philharmonic. One could hardly say that the chronological watershed brought the anticipated artistic breakthrough to the Competition. Once again, there was no pianist who succeeded in interpreting the Polish idiom contained in the mazurkas or who captivated listeners with the brillant style of the concerto which he or she performed. 

The prize for the best performance of a polonaise went to two Chinese pianists: the winner of Fourth Prize, Sa Chen, and the overall winner, Yundi Li. The jury was inclined to withhold the First Prize yet again, but there were fears about possible accusations that the Competition’s standing had been lowered.

Once more, a second-time entrant gained success. The Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter, winner of Second Prize, had not even qualified for the third round five years earlier. The audience’s affections were won by the Romanian pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa. 

2010 was the jubilee year of the bicentenary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin. In connection with the grand anniversary celebrations, Chopin began appearing everywhere and in every possible form: from the most authentic (Chopin on period instruments) to those adhering to popular culture (Chopin in tracksuit top with earphones).

In 2010, the Competition was organised for the first time by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. The four-stage format was reinstated, and the Sonata in C minor, Op. 4 appeared on the list of works for the third round (giving three solo sonatas to choose from). Among the pianos, an Italian Fazioli was available for the first time. The jurors’ votes were no longer secret, which constituted a major novelty.

The claim in the title has repeatedly proved true for the Chopin Competition, whose popularity, growing from one edition to another, has encouraged ever greater numbers of pianists to participate. The 18th Chopin Competition proved record-breaking already at the stage of registering the applications, as its organiser, the Chopin Institute, has recorded over 500 of them.

This time, further breakthroughs in the history of this musical tournament have come in the first three days of the Preliminary already: live streams from the auditions have attracted audiences from all over the world. Chopin lovers have played the recitals of the Preliminary phase on Chopin Institute’s YouTube channel no fewer than 336,000 times.

Most of the viewers – over 30% of the total – are in Japan, and every tenth follower comes from South Korea. Other nationalities eagerly watching the young contending pianists are Poles and Americans. Interestingly, a large share (nearly 25%) of the audience are aged from 18 to 24, and 21% are aged 25–34.