15th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition

The impulse to establish the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competitions in Warsaw came from Aleksander Michalowski (1851-1938). This great Polish pianist is sometimes called Chopin's 'artistic grandson' - through Karol Mikuli and Marcelina Czartoryska. Michalowski's idea was brought to fruition by his outstanding student, Jerzy Zurawlew (1887-1980), whose efforts led to the organization of the 1st Chopin Competition in 1927.
Interest in the International Chopin Piano Competition has not diminished over the intervening eight decades. On the contrary, each year it attracts a growing number of entrants, conscious of the fact that a prizewinner's title won in Warsaw is for a budding pianist a spring-board to a major international career.
Suffice it to recall the names of successive past winners of the Competition: Lev Oborin, Alexandr Uninsky, Jakov Zak, Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Bella Davidovich, Adam Harasiewicz, Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Garrick Ohlsson, Krystian Zimerman, Dang Thai Son, Stanislav Bunin and Yundi Li. But what brings to Warsaw such large numbers of young pianists in the first place? It is the magical power inherent in Chopin's music. As Franz Liszt said: 'Chopin was not only an outstanding virtuoso, not only an artist of great renown, he was much more than it - he was Chopin!'.
The International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition is affiliated to the Geneva-based World Federation of International Music Competitions, of which it is a founding member. Before 1939 the Chopin Competitions was owned and organized by the Warsaw Music Society and the Fryderyk Chopin Higher School of Music (in which Aleksander Michalowski and Jerzy Zurawlew were faculty members) and, after the war, by the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw.
The 15th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition was held in Warsaw on 2 - 24 October 2005.
Stanislaw Dybowski