The 10th National Chopin Piano Competition begins this Saturday at the Miami-Dade Auditorium in the City of Miami. The competition’s preliminaries, quarter and semi-finals take place through February 27th, are open to the public, and free. How have I never heard of this wonderful event before?
I give full credit for my new-found awareness to Mike Hamersly with his article, “Chopin Competition: The ‘Super Bowl Of Piano’ Comes To Miami Beginning Saturday”, written for WLRN Miami South Florida:
The U.S. competition, which began in 1975 and happens every five years, is mirrored after the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, which began in 1927. The stakes are high even beyond the prize money: The top two American winners are automatically accepted to compete in Warsaw in October.
Mike Hamersly
The Chopin Foundation’s mission is twofold: to assist young, talented American pianists in their career development and in so doing, open doors to international careers; and to make classical music, especially the music of Frederic Chopin, accessible to everyone. The city of Miami is — and has been — the perfect place to support this mission.
Chopin Foundation of the United States
There will be 26 contestants, ages 16 to 30 years old, from across the country competing in the preliminaries on Saturday and Sunday.
- Alexander Agate
- Nadia Azzi
- William Davidson
- Stanley DeLage
- Avery Gagliano
- Misha Galant
- Umi Garrett
- Chelsea Guo
- Fantee Jones
- Timothy Jones
- Sherry Kim
- Katie Liu
- Anastasiya Magamedova
- Dominic Muzzi
- Mary Ogawa
- Evren Ozel
- Christopher Richardson
- Victor Shlyakhtenko
- Talon Smith
- Daniel Szefer
- Eric Tran
- Athena Tsianos
- Parker Van Ostrand
- Chanel Wang
- Victor Xie
- Min Joo Yi
The Stakes Will Be High
The stakes will be high: in addition to a total of $179,000 in cash awards, the top two winners of the National Chopin Piano Competition will automatically be accepted to compete in the 2020 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland in October. The International Chopin Competition is incredibly sought after — this year, a record number of over 500 applications were submitted.
Chopin Foundation of the United States
“We’re only one of two international Chopin competitions that has that privilege — the other one is the Poland National Competition — so the U.S. competition is really, really, highly respected.”
Barbara E. Muze, Executive Director, Chopin Foundation of the United States
In addition to the National Chopin Piano Competition, the foundation offers an annual Chopin for All free concert series in Miami and Broward – featuring “performances by young, emerging musicians who have distinguished themselves at national or international competitions”; the Scholarship Program for Young American Pianists; and the Chopin Salon Concerts “performed by some of today’s finest artists”.
For More Information
- Dates: February 22 through March 1, 2020
- Location: Miami-Dade County Auditorium, 2901 West Flagler Street, Miami
- Full Schedule: 10th National Chopin Piano Competition
- Chopin Foundation of the United States: chopin.org
