The Sixth Canadian Chopin Piano Competition was held from January 9 to 13, 2025 at Toronto’s Telus Centre for Performing Arts. The location, with performances at the Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall and Mazzoleni Concert Hall, was auspicious, in that eight of the nine winners were students or alumni from The Glenn Gould School, The Taylor Academy and the RCM Certificate Program.
“Congratulations to our students and alumni for their impressive achievements at last night’s competition. The calibre of performance was incredibly high and we are so proud of all who will be representing Canada at the upcoming Chopin competition in Poland. My congratulations as well to the Canadian Chopin Society who put on a spectacular competition at The Royal Conservatory,” said Alexander Brose, Michael and Sonja Koerner President & CEO, The Royal Conservatory of Music in a statement.
The Canadian Chopin Piano competition is held every five years to coincide with the International F. Chopin Piano Competition, which is held in Warsaw, Poland.
Young Canadian pianists can compete in one of three divisions, Junior, Intermediate or Senior, and perform works by the iconic composer in front of a jury made up of internationally renowned pianists.
For the top three winners in the Senior division, there’s an extra perk: they’ll get funding for travel expenses to Poland to participate in the Preliminary Round of the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. They may also be accepted directly into the Preliminary Round, bypassing screening by the selection committee.
Three RCM Certificate Program students prevailed in the Junior Division, including 1st Prize to Aidan Zhou (Richmond Hill, ON), 2nd Prize to Ethan Wang (Calgary, AB), and 3rd prize to Charlotte Florence Deng (Delta, BC).
Taylor Academy students Kenneth Chen and Xian Bao took First and Second Prize, respectively, in the Intermediate division, with Charlotte Giraudeau, ARCT ’22, snagging 3rd Prize.
Eric Guo, who earned a Bachelor’s degree from the Glenn Gould School, where he is currently in the Artist Diploma Program (‘26), took 3rd Prize in the Senior Division, with Athena Deng, ARCT ’22, taking 2nd Prize.
Vancouver pianist Ryan Wang, recently named the BBC Young Musician of 2024, took 1st Prize in the Senior Division.
The 19th annual Chopin International Piano Competition takes place in Warsaw, Poland from October 2 to 23, 2025. Can we expect to see another young Canadian take the podium again….?
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