ShareRussian pianists will only be allowed to enter the prestigious Chopin competition under a neutral flag and if they don’t support Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, the Polish organizers said on Tuesday. Held each five years since 1927, the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition draws pianists from across the globe to Warsaw. Winning the event opens the door to playing at prestigious venues around the world. The forthcoming event in October 2025 will be the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine.
Host country Poland staunchly supports Kyiv’s efforts to fend off the invasion. If Russian pianists “are admitted to the competition... they will perform under a neutral flag, just as athletes did at the Paris Olympics”” the Chopin Institute spokesman Aleksander Laskowski told AFP. “They will also have to sign a statement in which they categorically condemn the violation of international law,” Laskowski added.
Qualification for next year’s contest opens on Wednesday and pianists have until December 15 to submit a video of their performance. The jury is expected to announce the contestants in March 2025, when “we will find out whether... there are Russian citizens who have been admitted to the competition”” Laskowski said. Tickets for the 2025 competition sold out within 30 minutes of their release online on Tuesday, the organizers said.
“The finals sold out in two minutes,” Laskowski said, adding that the Chopin Institute saw people queueing for several hours for the batch of tickets only available at the box office. Previous winners of the Chopin Competition include some of the greatest names in classical music, including Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman. The last event, held in 2021 after being deferred because of the COVID pandemic, ended with Canadian pianist Bruce Xiaoyu Liu clinching the top prize. — AFP
