Canadians in prestigious competition for world’s top young pianists

Canadian pianist Eric Guo plays music by Frederic Chopin on the last piano owned by the Romantic-era composer, an 1848 Pleyel, during an interview with The Associated Press at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, March 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Five Canadians are among dozens of talented young pianists competing this month in the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition.

Kevin Chen, Athena Deng, Eric Guo, Ryan Wang and Victoria Wong are up against musicians from Asia, North America and Europe in the competition held every five years in the titular composer’s home country of Poland.

Chen, 20, made his debut with the Abbotsford, B.C., Youth Orchestra, and has since performed in Edmonton, Calgary, Taipei, Poland, the U.K. and Hungary, among other destinations, according to his competition biography. He won competitions in Tel Aviv in 2023, and in Geneva in 2022.

Deng, 22, won first prize in the Canadian Music Competition and second in the Canadian Chopin Competition, among other accolades. She’s performed with orchestras in cities including Vancouver, Washington, D.C., and Volgograd, Russia.

Guo, 23, studied in Toronto and won two prizes at a previous Chopin competition in Warsaw, during which competitors played instruments consistent with the composer’s time period. Guo played a piano from the 1840s. He’s performed in Europe, Japan and the U.S., as well as in Canada.

Wang, 18, studied in Canada, the U.K., France and the U.S., and has performed in Windsor Castle and on The Ellen Show, among other places.

Wong, 28, studied in the U.S., and has won prizes in competitions in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. She’s performed in Canada, Hong Kong, Italy and China.

Videos of performances by Deng, Guo, Wang and Wong were posted on the Chopin Competition website ahead of the contest.

No videos were available of Chen as of Thursday morning.

The competition first held in 1927 is so popular that fans around the world started buying tickets a year ago, AFP reported, quoting a spokesperson as saying tickets for the finals sold out in two minutes.

Auditions for the 19th competition last three weeks, organizers say, with a winner expected to be announced on Oct. 20.

That winner will receive a prize of 60,000 euros, or about C$98,200 at today’s exchange rate.

Canadian Bruce Xiaoyu Liu won the most recent competition.

With files from AFP