South Korean Seong-Jin Cho wins Chopin Piano Competition

South Korean pianist Seong-jin Cho won Poland’s prestigious Chopin competition on Tuesday, a prize that opens the doors to a few of the world’s top concert halls.

Fryderyk Chopin Institute announced Cho Seong Jin as the victor for the competition in its 17th round held on October 2015 in Warsaw.

The competition dedicated to the works of Poland’s greatest composers started in 1927 and has been held every five years since.

Second prize went to Charles Richard-Hamelin (who also won the Krystian Zimerman Prize for the best performance of a sonata) from Canada and the Bronze was awarded to Kate Liu from the United States (who also took the Polish Radio Prize for the best performance of mazurkas).

“It became my dream to participate in the competition and I can not believe this moment”, he told a news conference, speaking in English.

“In the first round I was out of control”, he said. It has been a launching pad for many internationally renowned Pianists. “These days, I only play Chopin”.

He said all stages of the competition were “really tough for me” except the final concerto with an orchestra, when he was “not so nervous”.

He also won a €3,000 prize for the best performance of a Chopin polonaise.

The contestants spent three weeks playing works by Polish composer Frederic Chopin in a series of concerts.

The competition was presided over by a 16-person jury which included Dmitri Alexeev, Martha Argerich, Philippe Entremont, Nelson Goerner, Garrick Ohlsson and chaired by Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron.