The Award Ceremony & Winners' Concert of the 1st Beijing International Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists was held at the Opera & Concert Hall of CCOM in the evening of October 30th, 2016. Through three rounds of intense competition lasting for half of month, Chinese competitor Chen Xuehong won the First Prize of Senior Group, Chinese competitors Tie Shunshun and Ye Fangzhou shared the First Prize of Junior Group. The Competition came to a successful conclusion.

The 1st Beijing International Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists is the formal collaboration between China and the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Poland. As a part of a long line of International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, it is a world-class international piano competition which followed strictly the rules of international music and art competition and invited world-renowned pianists and piano educators as the judges of the Competition. The Competition will be held each three years in Beijing and will be hosted permanently by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Both Chinese and Polish governments and institutes attached great importance to this Competition and listed into the protocol of cultural cooperation between China and Poland. The protocol was formally signed under the witness of the two Presidents of China and Poland during President of China Xi Jinping's state visit in Poland in June 2016.

There are over 100 competitors signed up for the competition. They came from China, the United States, Russia, Poland, Australia, South Korea, Lithuania, etc. Through several times of selections, total 60 competitors participated in the last three rounds in Beijing. The Jury of the Competition, represented by renowned Polish pianist and the Chair of Jury Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron, consists of 11 world-renowned pianists. The Competition venue is the newly-built Opera & Concert Hall of CCOM. The Organizing Committee guaranteed all selected competitors practicing with Steinway grand pianos. Steinway & Sons Company also sent professional piano tuners to work with the Competition which guaranteed the high quality of all the performance and practice pianos. In the course of the Competition, 8 judges delivered 8 masterclasses. The Central Conservatory of Music and the Oriental Music (Beijing) Co. Ltd. provided comprehensive services for the Competition. …… All of these supports laid the groundwork for this fantastic, far-reaching international competition.

For the first time, the International Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists included two Chinese contemporary compositions into the repertoires of the Competition which introduced more excellent Chinese compositions with contemporary "Chinese Style" to the audiences all over the world. They are Namucuo, Op.53 composed by Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang, and Jue Mode in G: Folk Toy composed by Chinese composer Wang Lisan.

The Award Ceremony & Winners' Concert started at 19:30. All judges and 11 winners took seats on the stage. The Chair of Competition Jury Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron and the Active Art Director of Competition and the judge Wu Ying announced the result of the Competition at first. Then, the honored guests awarded the prizes to the winners respectively.

In the following winners' concert, Chen Ruichao played Wang Lisan's Jue Mode in G: Folk Toy and Rio Kai Rui played Ye Xiaogang's Namucuo, Op.53. Conducted by Chen Lin, Ningbo Symphony Orchestra accompanied Tie Shunshun to play Fantasia on Polish Airs, Op.13. The Orchestra also accompanied Ye Fangzhou to play Krakowiak Grand Rondeau de Concert, Op.14 and accompanied Chen Xuehong to play the First Movement of Piano Concerto No.1 in e minor, Op.11. By the end of the concert, for audiences' warm applause, Chen Xuehong encored with Mazurkas, Op.24.

The Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee Wang Zhizhen, the Member of Polish Sejm Marek Suski, and guests and leaders from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and the Ministry of Education of China attended the Ceremony and the Concert.

In the Prize Awarding Ceremony, first of all, "Best Performance Award of Chinese Composition", "Best Performance Award of Polish Dance Music" and "Best Performance Award of Mazurkas" were awarded to the winners.

Winners of "Best Performance Award of Chinese Composition": Chen Ruichao from China (Junior Group); Rio Kai Rui from Australia (Senior Group), Xing Biguo from China (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guests: Secretary of the Party Committee of CCOM Guo Shulan, Vice President of CCOM and Chair of Chinese Musicians Association Ye Xiaogang who is also the composer of Namucuo, Op.53.

Winners of "Best Performance Award of Polish Dance Music": Tie Shunshun from China (Junior Group); Krzysztof Ksiazek from Poland (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guests: renowned young pianist Li Yundi.

Winner of "Best Performance Award of Mazurkas": Chen Xuehong from China.
Prize-giving Guest: the Judge of the Competition Piotr Paleczny.

Then, following the order from the Sixth Place to the First Place, the Prizes were awarded to the Winners.

The Sixth Prize: Wang Qizhen from China (Junior Group), Li Zhe from China (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guest: the Judge of the Competition Johannes Kropfitsch.

The Fifth Prize: Hannah Shin from South Korea (Junior Group), Xing Biguo from China (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guest: the Judge of the Competition Dag Achatz.

The Fourth Prize: Chen Ruichao from China (Junior Group), Rio Kai Rui from Australia (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guest: the Judge of the Competition Dina Yoffe, the Judge of the Competition Cyprien Katsaris.

The Third Prize: Chen Wanchuan from China (Junior Group), Lukasz Byrdy from Poland (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guest: Ms. Li Yan, on behalf of The Beijing 21th Century China-Poland & The Oriental Music (Beijing) Co. Ltd.; the Judge of the Competition Dan Zhaoyi.

The Second Prize: vacancy (Junior Group), Piotr Pawlak from Poland (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guest: the Judge of the Competition Andrzej Jasinski.

The First Prize: Ye Fangzhou from China, Tie Shunshun from China (Junior Group), Chen Xuehong from China (Senior Group).
Prize-giving Guest: the Member of Polish Sejm Marek Suski, the Chair of Organizing Committee and the President of CCOM Yu Feng.
 

After the prize awarding ceremony, Mr. Suski, on behalf of the Speaker of Polish Sejm, read out the congratulatory letter from Mr. Piotr Glinski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

Mr. Glinski first praised the excellent works that the organizers of the Competition have done. He pointed out that the most enduring and dynamic cultural links could be achieved through direct cooperation between international arts communities supported by the states. In music field, the tradition of cooperation between Poland and China had been lasted several generations. Our close cooperation had brought us many great achievements. In his letter, Mr. Glinski affirmed that Chopin's music had important significance on cultural communication as the world cultural heritage classic. He also emphasized that the Beijing International Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists would have profound influence on all young pianists who participated in the competition. At the end of the letter, Mr. Glinski hoped to promote the cultural cooperation and development between Poland and China through this important cultural event.

Three First Prize winners Ye Fangzhou, Tie Shunshun and Chen Xuehong also achieved a special award-the Academy Award of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland. The University will invite them to visit Poland in 2017 and experience the beauty of Chopin's music in the hometown of Chopin. Ms. Monika Karpinska, Cultural Counsellor of Polish Embassy in Beijing, awarded the certificates to three winners.

In addition, the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw set up "Rector Award of Fryderyk Chopin University of Music" for the Competition, in order to reward the First Prize winner of Senior Group. The Rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music Klaudiusz Baran awarded the certificate to Chen Xuehong. The Fryderyk Chopin Institute, one of the co-organizer of the Competition, also prepared exquisitely special prizes for each of the competition winners.

At the end of the prize awarding ceremony, the President of CCOM Yu Feng delivered closing speech to the 1st Beijing International Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists.

First of all, President Yu highly praised all participating competitors! He stated that the competitors as contemporary youth interpreted their understanding on Chopin's music. He expressed his warmest congratulations to the young pianists who have made outstanding achievements in this Competition and pointed out the profound significance of strengthening exchanges between young artists through such a world-class music competition.

President Yu also highly praised all judges' work and announced that all judges were invited to be the guest professors of Central Conservatory of Music. CCOM would invite them aperiodically to conduct masterclasses and lectures. He believed that these outstanding piano educators would bring advanced pedagogy to our school.

In the last moment of Competition's closing ceremony, President Yu enthusiastically issued an invitation to all talented young pianists around the world to gather at the next competition three years later!