Eric Lu and Andrzej Boreyko
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Sala Moniuszki Teatru Wielkiego – Opery Narodowej w Warszawie / Moniuszko Audytorium of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera
1st Prize – Eric Lu (USA)
2nd Prize – Kevin Chen (Canada)
3rd Prize – Zitong Wang (China)
4th Prize – (ex-aequo) – Tianyao Lyu (China), Shiori Kuwahara (Japan)
5th Prize – (ex-aequo) – Piotr Alexewicz (Poland), Vincent Ong (Malaysia)
6th Prize – William Yang (USA)
Polish Radio Award for the best performance of Mazurkas – Yehuda Prokopowicz (Poland)
Warsaw Philharmonic Award for the best performance of a Concerto – Tianyao Lyu (China)
Krystian Zimerman Award for the best performance of a Sonata –Zitong Wang (China)
Fryderyk Chopin Society Award for the best performance of a Polonaise – Tianyou Li (China)
Bella Davidovich Award for the best performance of a Ballade – Adam Kałduński (Poland)
Last night, more likely into this morning (the result-advice arrived as an email at 3.30 a.m.), the Jury and its Chairman Garrick Ohlsson chose Eric Lu as the latest Winner of the Chopin Competition, the 19th Edition. Some understandable disquiet has since been voiced about Lu taking top honours – not because it was undeserved, but with his already having won Leeds in 2018, and with a diary full of engagements, plus a Warner recording contract, should he have been eligible to take part? Something for the Competition organisers to discuss. Meanwhile, this concert of speeches, prize-giving, and music, rounded three weeks of competitive music-making, Jury-members’ discussions and decisions, with photos taken of the competing pianists and the Jury (excepting Mr Ohlsson whose own concert schedule required him to leave Warsaw beforehand, although he had a few words to impart on film), together with the reflections of the competitors – the stress, the Competition’s capacity to give a leg-up in terms of greater exposure, and the experience of having been in a competitive environment. Naturally enough, viewers’ comments were of divided opinion as to who should have won the various categories and how the Competition is run in general.
Interval.
Performances in this Gala as soundbite responses, all Chopin:
Adam Kałduński, Nocturne, Opus 48/1, too slow and phrasally awkward.
Yehuda Prokopowicz, two Mazurkas from Opus 17, smudgy and indulged.
William Yang, Nocturne, Op.62/1, dragged out.
Vincent Ong, a different Opus 48 Nocturne, too spacious.
Shiori Kuwahara, Scherzo in C-sharp minor, majestic, thoughtful, with no lack of fire in the coda. Impressive.
Tianyao Lyu, Barcarolle, Op.60, untidy, unsettled.
Zitong Wang, Variations in B-flat, Opus 12. Electrifying!
Kevin Chen, several Preludes from the Twenty-Four of Opus 28. Personable.
Another interval.
Eric Lu, Piano Concerto No.2, Opus 21, with Warsaw Philharmonic and Andrzej Boreyko. Lu played this in the Finals. With sympathetic conducting from Boreyko (all the Finalists were fortunate to have him as partner), and experienced playing from the orchestra, Lu gave a relaxed and considerate reading of the F-minor Concerto, maybe somewhat tensionless in relation to the night before. Some criticism from viewers, a few nasty comments, too, rebuffed by others, and I must say that while it was very assured from Lu, there was a lack of that magic something that might have been expected from a just-crowned first-prize-winner. As an encore, a Chopin Waltz, quite wistful, of greater distinction than the Concerto.