Seong-Jin Cho of South Korea won 17th global Frederic Chopin Piano

It is held every five years.

Quebec pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin has captured second place at the prestigious 17th global Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland.

The winning of this competition opens the way for Seong-Jin to performances in a few of the world’s best-known concert halls.

“It became my dream to participate in the competition and I cannot believe this moment”, said Seong-Jin Cho after the results were announced.

Along with the first prize that gave him 30,000 euros (US$34,065) and a gold medal, he won the Fryderyk Chopin Society Prize for best performance of a polonaise that earned him 3,000 euros, according to the organizer.

Ten pianists from eight countries reached the finals and each performed one of the Chopin piano concertos (nine chose the First and only one, Charles Richard-Hamelin, chose the Second). ‘”I didn’t remember how I played so I checked on YouTube”.

He won the worldwide Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in 2008) as well as competitions in Hamamatsu, Japan, third prize in the 2011 Pyotr Tchaikovsky Competition and the Arthur Rubinstein competition in Tel Aviv. Sixteen-year-old Yike (Tony) Yang finished in fifth place, taking home 10,000 euros in prize money.

Pianist Cho Seong-jin, 21, became the first Korean ever to win the prestigious worldwide Chopin Piano Competition.

Past winners include Maurizio Pollini in 1960, Garrick Ohlsson in 1970, and Krystian Zimerman in 1975.

During three weeks of the competition, the pianists played only Chopin’s works before a 17-member global jury.