The organizers of the 17th Chopin International Piano Competition have announced that the final list of candidates includes eighty pianists from twenty countries. Poland, with 15 pianists, is followed by China (14), Japan (12) and South Korea (9). Russia, the United States, Italy, Canada and Great Britain are next on the list. The participants in the competition have been selected among 160 applicants who took part in the qualifying round held in Warsaw in the spring.
The 17-strong international jury, chaired by Poland’s Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, includes four winners of previous Chopin Competitions: Adam Harasiewicz (1955), Martha Argerich (1965), Garrick Ohlsson (1970) and Yundi (2000), as well as such prominent pianists as Philippe Entremont, Nelson Goerner, Piotr Paleczny and Janusz Olejniczak.
The competition will have its inaugural gala on 1 October.
