French pianist wins Warsaw amateur competition
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
22.09.2018 09:00
Thomas Prat of France has won first prize at the 4th International Chopin Competition for Amateur Pianists in Warsaw.
Photo: Free-Photos/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons
Poland’s Marcin Kaźmierczak took second prize, and France’s Robin Stephenson was third.
Three other Frenchmen and a Japanese walked away with honourable mentions.
Meanwhile, Sean Sutherland from the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won a special prize for best performance of a Chopin waltz.
Another special prize went to Carl Matthew Di Casoli of the United States for best interpretation of a piece by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a celebrated Polish composer-turned-statesman who was one of the architects of his country’s independence, which it regained 100 years ago.
Almost 40 amateur pianists from over a dozen countries took part in the competition, which is open to musicians for whom playing the piano is a passion rather than a way of earning a living.
(mk/gs)