About the Leeds

‘The Leeds’ has attracted the world’s finest young pianists and prize-winners include the Competition’s Patron Murray Perahia KBE, Radu Lupu, Mitsuko Uchida, András Schiff, Lars Vogt, Anna Tsybuleva, Federico Colli and Eric Lu.

Since the first edition held in 1963, The Leeds International Piano Competition has become one of the world’s foremost music competitions.

An International Trailblazer

Since its inception in 1963, the Leeds International Piano Competition has been a trailblazer among international music competitions and has shaped the world of classical piano.

With the BBC broadcasting the competition since 1966 on television and radio, its impact has reached far and wide. Historical footage of piano legends in their formative years can be found in The Leeds archive, which has attracted over 2.4 million views in the first half of 2023 alone.

More to the Leeds than a competition

The Leeds Piano Trail, brings the spirit of the competition to every corner of the city centre every three years. These pianos are available to play all year-round and are set to be experienced by over 1.8 million people in 2023 during Leeds’ Year of Culture. The Leeds Piano Trail was awarded a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2023.

The competition’s schools programme, in partnership with Artforms Leeds and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, plays a central role in engaging local children and young people with the piano, while also providing support for teachers and resources in music education for schools.

Heritage

The first Leeds International Piano Competition took place in 1963.

Co-founded by Fanny Waterman, a local piano teacher and Marion Thorpe, Countess of Harewood, over the past 60 years the competition has launched the careers of some of the greatest pianists of our time.

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Previous winners include Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Dmitri Alexeev, Alessio Bax, Sunwook Kim, Sofya Gulyak, Federico Colli, Anna Tsybuleva, Eric Lu and Alim Beisembayev.

Equally illustrious are the names of finalists, including Mitsuko Uchida and Sir Andras Schiff, Kathryn Stott, Peter Donohoe, Louis Lortie, Lars Vogt, Leon MacCawley, Sa Chen, Denis Kozhukhin, Louis Schwizgebel. Their exceptional talent continues to inspire generations of pianists.

Dame Fanny Waterman (1920-2020) chaired the jury from 1981 until her retirement in 2015 at the age of 95. She was succeeded by pianist Paul Lewis (2018) and current Artistic Director, Adam Gatehouse, and the competition is honoured to have the support of Murray Perahia as Patron and Lang Lang as Global Ambassador.

The historic Leeds Town Hall has served as the iconic venue for the competition's finals, with exceptions in 1975 and 2024 due to renovations. In 2024, the finals will take place in St. George's Hall, Bradford, before returning to the majestic backdrop of the Town Hall in 2027, accompanied by the installation of a Blue Plaque commemorating Dame Fanny Waterman's life.

Esteemed UK orchestras, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Hallé, have played a crucial role in supporting the concerto finals. These performances have brought emerging talents together with renowned conductors such as Sir Charles Groves, Sir Simon Rattle, and Sir Mark Elder, often sparking enduring relationships.

Past Winners

Alim Beisembayev 1st

Kaito Kobayashi 2nd

Ariel Lanyi 3rd

Dmytro Choni 4th

Thomas Kelly 5th

Eric Lu 1st

Mario Häring 2nd

Xinyuan Wang 3rd

Anna Geniushene =Finalist

Aljoša Jurinić =Finalist

Anna Tsybuleva 1st

Heejae Kim 2nd

Vitaly Pisarenko 3rd

Drew Petersen 4th

Tomoki Kitamura 5th

Yun Wei 6th

Federico Colli 1st

Louis Schwizgebel 2nd

Jiayan Sun 3rd

Andrejs Osokins 4th

Andrew Tyson 5th

Jayson Gillham 6th

Sofya Gulyak 1st

Alexej Gorlatch 2nd

Alessandro Taverna 3rd

Rachel Cheung 4th

David Kadouch 5th

Jianing Kong 6th

Sunwook Kim 1st

Andrew Brownell 2nd

Denis Kozhukhin 3rd

Alice Wong 4th

Sung-hoon Kim 5th

Grace Fong 6th

Antti Siirala 1st

Evgenia Rubinova 2nd

Yuma Osaki 3rd

Igor Tchetuev 4th

Chiao-Ying Chang 5th

Sodi Braide 6th

Alessio Bax 1st

Davide Franceschetti 2nd

Severin von Eckardstein 3rd

Cristiano Burato 4th

Ashley Wass 5th

Tatiana Kolesova 6th

Ilya Itin 1st

Roberto Cominati 2nd

Aleksandar Madžar 3rd

Sa Chen 4th

Armen Babakhanian 5th

Ekaterina Apekisheva 6th

Ricardo Castro 1st

Leon McCawley 2nd

Mark Anderson 3rd

Filippo Gamba 4th

Maxim Philippov 5th

Margarita Shevchenko 6th

Artur Pizarro 1st

Lars Vogt 2nd

Éric Le Sage 3rd

Balázs Szokolay 4th

Haesun Paik 5th

Andrei Zheltonog 6th

Vladimir Ovchinnikov 1st

Ian Munro 2nd

Noriko Ogawa 3rd

Boris Berezovsky 4th

Hugh Tinney 5th

Marcantonio Barone 6th

Jon Kimura Parker 1st

Ju Hee Suh 2nd

Junko Otake 3rd

Louis Lortie 4th

Sara Davis Buechner 5th

Emma Tahmizian 6th

Ian Hobson 1st

Wolfgang Manz 2nd

Bernard d’Ascoli 3rd

Daniel Blumenthal 4th

Christopher O’Riley 5th

Peter Donohoe 6th

Michel Dalberto 1st

Diana Kacso 2nd

Lydia Artymiw 3rd

Ian Hobson 4th

Kathryn Stott 5th

Etsuko Terada 6th

Dmitri Alexeev 1st

Mitsuko Uchida 2nd

András Schiff =3rd

Pascal Devoyon =3rd

Michael Houstoun =4th

Myung-whun Chung =4th

Murray Perahia 1st

Craig Sheppard 2nd

Eugen Indjic 3rd

Radu Lupu 1st

Georges Pludermacher 2nd

Arthur Moreira Lima 3rd

Boris Petrushansky 4th

Anne Queffélec 5th

Rafael Orozco 1st

Viktoria Postnikova =2nd

Semyon Kruchin =2nd

Alexey Nasedkin 3rd

Jean-Rodolphe Kars 4th

Michael Roll 1st

Vladimir Krainev 2nd

Sebastien Risler 3rd

Armenta Adams 4th

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City Partners

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Artistic Partners

Funding Partners