19th Chopin Competition, 2025: Meet the Jury

_yulianna_avdeeva_konkurs_chopinowski_2010_pap_20101019_17b.jpg, default, Yulianna Avdeeva at the Chopin Competition in 2010, photo: PAP

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17 eminent artists from all over the world, including laureates of past editions, will be the jurors of the 19th Chopin Competition, 2025. The legendary pianist Garrick Ohlsson will chair the jury. Meet all the members and discover what they think about Chopin’s music and the Competition itself.

In 1927, 26 musicians from eight different countries came to Warsaw to take part in the first edition of the Chopin Competition. They were hosted by families and friends of the organisers. From today’s perspective, the number of participants seems very small – by comparison, 642 musicians signed up to take part in the 19th edition in 2025. 162 pianists then performed in Warsaw in the preliminary round, and almost 80 of them were selected to appear in the 1st round.

The first, now historical jury of the competition was made up of 14 members. Their main task was to select a pianist who was most faithful to Chopin’s notes and initiate a debate on how to play Chopin. In other words, the jury set out to fight trendy piano habits that had little to do with the source material. Today, the jury is comprised of 17 eminent specialists in performing Fryderyk Chopin’s music; most of them are successful past participants of the Competition.

The members of the jury are appointed and dismissed by the Director of the Competition, Artur Szklener, PhD, the Director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. The Chairman of the Competition Jury is appointed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (on the motion of the Director of the Competition). The jury makes decisions in an open voting, by a majority of votes. The jurors are obliged not to share their personal opinions about participants and not to disclose the results of the subsequent rounds until the Competition is concluded.

Garrick Ohlsson (Chairman of the Competition Jury)

Garrick Ohlsson, the competition winner, receives the prize from the jury chairman, Professor Kazimierz Sikorski, at the 8th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, October 7–21, 1970, Warsaw, photo: Mariusz Szyperko/PAP.

Garrick Ohlsson, born April 3, 1948 in Bronxville, New York, is a pianist and the winner of the 7th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. In 1970, Ohlsson became the first American to win the competition, and he remains the only US national to have achieved this success. Ohlsson is also the first non-Polish chairman of the competition jury in its almost hundred-year-old history.

In the book-length interview ‘The Pianist. Conversations with Garrick Ohlsson’ by Kamila Stępień-Kutera, Ohlsson said:

I think one of the successes of the Chopin Competition is that it’s monothematic. Somebody could say, well, but it’s only Chopin – however, to play Chopin well, just in general, you have to be extremely good technically. He is very, very difficult. He shows everything, you hear everything. That means you can’t just play loud and fast. You have to have a refinement of touch, balance, good control of sonority. You have to have a basically beautiful sonority, which you should have with most things, but with Chopin you need it so much that if you don’t have this, you’re lost. You must have a good sense of polyphony, a good sense of clarity, beautiful control of the pedal and some sense of singing. If you have all those qualities, you are probably quite a good musician and quite a good pianist.

John Allison

John Allison, born in 1965 in Cape Town, is a music critic, editor, and musicologist. In 1989, Allison moved to London, where he has written criticism for The Times (1994-2005), The Sunday Telegraph (2005-2014), and The Telegraph (2014-present). Since 2000, Allison has also been the editor-in-chief of the British monthly ‘Opera Magazine’. It is his first time on the Chopin Competition jury.

Yulianna Avdeeva

Yulianna Avdeeva, born July 3, 1985, in Moscow, is a pianist and the winner of the 16th edition of the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition (2010). Avdeeva became the first female pianist to win the main prize since 1965, when Martha Argerich achieved this feat.

As Avdeeva said in an interview for the Chopin Society in Atlanta:

It is difficult to describe his [Chopin’s] music. On the one hand, his music has clear structure; we all know that he was a great admirer of Bach and Mozart. That clear form is always fascinating. On the other hand, his compositions have this distinctive improvising quality. When you play his music, you get a feeling that the melody comes from your heart and out of your soul. [...] Every time I perform his music or work on his pieces while preparing for a concert, something different happens, because his music is so rich. This is so special; it is like wearing different glasses each time. You get to discover and appreciate all the little details and new colors.

Michel Béroff

Michel Béroff, born in 1950 in Épinal, France, is a pianist, conductor, and teacher. One of Béroff’s students, the Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, won the 17th Chopin Competition in 2015. In 2025, Béroff will sit on the jury of the Chopin Competition for the first time. As Béroff said at 31 years old, in a past interview for The New York Times:

If you play Chopin as he was played in the last century, then something is wrong. That is why I admire Pollini so much. He is a great pianist, he is a great musician, but he is a very good thinker, too. The way he plays is so much in our period, but so true stylistically. Everything is right. Some people get bored listening to Pollini. They think it's too perfect. Pollini has polished everything so well – but it's not cold.

Sa Chen

Sa Chen, born in 1979 in Chongqing, China, is a pianist and the laureate of the 4th prize at the 14th Chopin Competition in 2000. She also won the special award of the Fryderyk Chopin Society for best polonaise performance. Chen not only performs but also teaches and engages herself in charity work. She already sat on the jury of the Chopin Competition in 2021, during the 18th edition.

Chen said in a conversation with Bożena U. Zaremba:

I started playing Chopin at 10 years old, and his work has accompanied me throughout my life and my artistic development ever since. Later on, the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition made me feel even closer to his music and him as a person. It was as if Chopin became a close friend.

Akiko Ebi

Akiko Ebi, born in 1953 in Osaka, Japan, is a pianist and the winner of the 5th prize (awarded jointly to Ewa Pobłocka, who also sits on this year’s jury) at the 10th Chopin Competition in 1980. Ebi was already on the jury twice, in 2015 and 2021.

As she said in an interview by Kinga A. Wojciechowska:

The Chopin Competition is a vital step in a pianist’s path. It’s about artistic progress and celebrating this crucial moment. Clearly, it will push some careers forward immensely – this will happen for the winners of the first, second, or third prize, and for some personalities that will have a chance to shine during the competition. But the key here is to be yourself. If those young pianists truly love music, they should participate in the competition!

Nelson Goerner

Nelson Goerner, born in 1969 in San Pedro, Argentina, is a pianist and a finalist of the 13th edition of the Chopin Competition in 1995. He sat on the jury twice – in 2010 and 2015.

As Goerner admitted, interviewed by David Smith:

I have mixed feelings about competitions myself. Very often the procedures are solely by elimination, rather than by strong artist criteria. It is the obligation of each of the jurors to avoid this easy trap. To make it something that could be really special, the fact that you might discover a true personality, a real talent, is the aim we should keep in mind – leaving our egos, our interests, our tastes, far behind. And it’s not that you’re going to give them all the first prize, but it could be sometimes the second-best, or another participant, who gets lots of attention.

Krzysztof Jabłoński

Krzysztof Jabłoński is a Polish pianist and the winner of the 3rd prize at the 11th Chopin Competition in 1985. He was already a member of the jury twice, in 2005 and 2021.

Jabłoński told the interviewer Zofia Stopińska:

The Chopin Competition was the most important singular moment in my career, as it changed everything. I attribute my other awards to my hunger for winning the first prize… That’s why I wanted to go and take part in other crucial competitions, which gave me a chance to discover other composers’ work.

Kevin Kenner

Kevin Kenner, born in 1963 in Coronado, California, is a pianist and a teacher. He first visited Warsaw in 1980, as a 17-year-old participant in the 10th edition of the Chopin Competition. Kenner didn’t make it to the final round, but nonetheless received a distinction from the Minister of Culture and Art. A decade later, at the 12th Chopin Competition, he won the 2nd prize (the 1st prize was not awarded that year) and an honorable mention for the best polonaise performance. He already sat on the Chopin Competition jury twice, in 2010 and 2021.

As he said in an interview for the Chopin Society of Atlanta:

He [Chopin] was not a proponent of the principles of his Romantic contemporaries, which pushed for more individuality and extreme emotions. Chopin was so much more interested in the values of Classicism – the purity of sound and balancing of structure. He was also interested in the early Romantic Italian bel canto opera, which had so much to do not with power and forceful sounds that project through the entire theater, but rather with subtle, delicate phrasing and beautifully controlled singing. If one injects too much of their personality, this can destroy one of the core aesthetic values of Chopin’s music.

Momo Kodama

Momo Kodama, born in 1972 in Osaka, Japan, is a pianist who, at 19 years old, became the youngest laureate of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. In 2021, she became a professor at Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. She lives and works in Paris and Karlsruhe.

Robert McDonald

Robert McDonald, born in 1951, is an American pianist and teacher. His prominent students include the Icelandic musician Víkingur Ólafsson, the American Andrew Tyson, and the Korean Chaeyoung Park. He also taught pianists the Chopin Competition audience is familiar with, such as Kate Liu and Eric Lu, recipients of the 3rd and 4th award at the 17th Chopin Competition in 2015.

Piotr Paleczny

Piotr Paleczny is a Polish pianist who won the 3rd prize at the 8th Chopin Competition in 1970, a special prize for the best polonaise performance, and a special prize awarded by Witold Małcużyński, a member of the jury at the time. Paleczny is a veteran jury member – he has already performed this function eight times. Starting in 1985, he sat on the jury in all subsequent editions. As he commented in an interview by Ewa Linkowska:

As members of the jury, we have seen and discussed many cases where very gifted artists don’t make a big career, and those a little less remarkable manage to be very successful. Well, sign of the times – marketing is everything, even in art. You can’t do anything about it. Experts may have their opinions, but if the audience reads and hears a hundred times that musician X is absolutely eminent, they’ll eventually believe it. This is the power of the media. Things were very different back when I started. We didn’t have passports, you had to obtain a permit from the ministry and a special commission to be able to go perform at a competition abroad. Today, a young musician has plenty of opportunities to showcase their talent: innumerable events, auditions, competitions, and festivals.

Ewa Pobłocka

Ewa Pobłocka is a Polish pianist and the winner of the 5th prize at the 10th Chopin Competition in 1980. She was also awarded a special prize for best mazurka performance by the Polish Radio. She already sat on the jury three times – in 2005, 2015, and 2021.

The pianist told Bronisław Tumiłowicz in an interview:

Chopin is very difficult as his music demands a sound that is beautiful and vocal yet also very diverse, which is evident both in the grandest forms and miniatures. Playing Chopin requires the ability to use tempo rubato, great sensitivity, and lightness, which doesn’t mean you have to play Chopin very quietly. There are parts where you can flaunt your abilities dramatically and with momentum. A great Chopin performance is sensitive, fresh, natural, and absolutely perfectly technically.

Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń

Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, born in 1948 in Sofia, is a Polish pianist. In the 9th Chopin Competition (1975), she made it to the semi-finals. Piotr Wierzbicki wrote: ‘And there it was – Popowa-Zydroń, the only Polish female pianist who played intelligently, independently of the teachers’ bidding, did not go into the final round’. Popowa-Zydroń was the Chairwoman of the Jury at the 17th Chopin Competition, she also sat on the jury in 2005 and 2010.

As the pianist told the journalist Teresa Torańska:

I went to Grigory Sokolov’s concert in Duszniki-Zdrój. He gave an absolutely fantastic performance, stood up and bowed; it seemed like he wasn’t really back to reality yet. I felt silly. What a strange ritual, I thought, here we are, sitting in comfortable chairs, while the artist is bowing. For God’s sake, it’s us, the audience, that should stand up and bow to him, not the other way around!

John Rink

John Rink is a writer, author of books about Fryderyk Chopin and the history of performing practices of Chopin’s work, and one of the world’s leading authorities on Chopin’s manuscripts and editions. Rink is also a professor at Cambridge University. His output includes a monograph about Chopin’s piano concertos ‘Chopin: The Piano Concertos’ (1997), among other vital works. He sat on the Chopin Competition jury in 2015 and 2021.

Đặng Thái Sơn

Dang Thai Son during the final concert of the 10th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition at the Warsaw Philharmonic, October 19, 1980, photo: Jan Morek/PAP

Đặng Thái Sơn, born in 1958 in Hanoi, Vietnam, is a pianist, the winner of the 10th Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1980), and the first Asian pianist to win the first prize. He sat on the Chopin Competition jury four consecutive times, starting in 2005.

In an interview for the blog The Counterpoints, Đặng Thái Sơn told Elijah Ho:

If I think back, when I was maybe eight or nine years old and still living in the mountains, I can remember my first contact with Chopin’s music. I was with my mother, and I read his scores, silently in the dark, using only lit candles. My mother played some short melodies for me – nocturnes and mazurkas. I felt it was all so beautiful and I fell in love with this music. I learned his music day and night, and I could feel Chopin’s music in my blood from then on.

Wojciech Świtała

Wojciech Świtała is a Polish pianist who won the prize for the best polonaise performance at the 12th International Chopin Piano Competition in 1990. It’s his third time on the jury this year.

In an interview for the Polish Radio, Świtała said:

Chopin’s work is with me at all times. In the beginning, I performed Chopin on a contemporary piano, then I expanded my artistic explorations to a period instrument, and eventually, I started teaching. This gives me a wide perspective on his music.

Translated from Polish by Natalia Sajewicz

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