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The results of the second grand edition of the “Classic Piano” International Piano Competition have been summed up in Dubai. The international competition for young pianists was held within the framework of the 10th InClassica International Music Festival organized by the European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC) in partnership with the SAMIT Event Group.

Russian classical pianist Miroslav Kultyshev has won the competition. Victor Maslov (Russia/UK) and Soo Jin Cha (South Korea/Austria) are the second and third prize winners, respectively.

The event bought together over 70 extraordinary young performers from over 20 countries, who were the finalists of the "14 Ways to Dubai" competition held in Germany, Russia, Austria, the US, China, Japan, Great Britain, Israel, South Korea, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Armenia in 2019.

The 2nd “Classic Piano” International Piano Competition opened at the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Music Hall on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai on August 15. In the first two rounds, the musicians gave solo concerts, performing a range of baroque and romantic repertoire, as well as works by contemporary Maltese composers.

In the third and fourth rounds, the participants performed with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of its Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Sergey Smbatyan. In the semi-final, the musicians performed concertos by Mozart and works by the event’s Composer-In-Residence, Alexey Shor.

In the final round, the musicians performed several pieces of classical music of the 19th-20th centuries.

The prize fund amounted to more than €300,000.

"One of our biggest music events, Classica Piano, has come to a close. This event lasted a total of three years, taking into account the preliminary stages in different countries. I was happy to see all the participants and I am very grateful to our highly professional jury, which consisted exclusively of masters of classical music and piano. We congratulate the winner and look forward to seeing him as a soloist during our tour,” EUFSC President Konstantin Ishkhanov said, summing up the results of the competition.

The head of the jury was composer, People's Artist of Russia Alexander Tchaikovsky.

In his words, all the participants of the competition were highly qualified professionals and it was not an easy task to make a choice in each stage.

"The final saw really heated debates, as each of the participants demonstrated virtuosity, artistry and had deep understanding of the musical material. I would like to congratulate the participants who made it to the finals, wish them good luck on the path of black and white keys, as well as thank the members of the jury. I was happy to lead a team of such extraordinary musicians," Tchaikovsky said.

The winner of the “Classic Piano” Competition was awarded a voucher of 100,000 euros. In addition, at the end of 2021 he will have a tour of 20 concerts in the following countries with a total honorarium of €100,000 (€5,000 per concert): Austria (Vienna, Salzburg), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Russia (Moscow, Saint Petersburg), Switzerland, Turkey, USA, UK.

The full list of the winners is as follows:

1ST PRIZE - Miroslav Kultyshev (Russia) – €200,000

2ND PRIZE - Victor Maslov (Russia/UK) – €50,000

3RD PRIZE - Soo Jin Cha (South Korea/Austria) – €25,000

4TH PRIZE - Jacky Zhang (UK) – €7,000

5TH PRIZE - Minsung Lee (South Korea/Germany) – €6,000

6TH PRIZE - Jaeyoung Lee (Republic of Korea/Austria) – €5,000

7TH PRIZE - Yuki Amako (Japan) – €4,000

8TH PRIZE - Kojiro Okada (France) – €3,000

The Special Prize for the Best Performance of the Maltese Composers' Piece was awarded to Yuki Amako (Japan) and Artem Kuznetsov (Russia/USA), with €1,500 awarded to each of them.

After receiving the top prize, Miroslav Kultyshev admitted that the competition was a really difficult test.

“I feel happiness and at the same time emptiness, because it was really a three-week ordeal. I was glad to be on the stage again, which is especially valuable amid the pandemic restrictions, I was happy to interact with my colleagues, other contestants and immensely grateful to the European Foundation for Support of Culture for organizing the event and supporting classical art. ‘There is music above us,’ Osip Mandelstam said, and we all serve music,” Kultyshev said.

The jury of the “Classic Piano” International Piano Competition included such acclaimed composers, pedagogues and stars of classical art as Alexander Sokolov, Mikhail Khokhlov, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Giuliano Mazzoccante, Sergei Edelmann, Hae-Young Kim and others.

Photos by Alexei Molchanovsky