Semi-final Dazzlement & Rumoured Disagreement: The FLIS Podcast Hosts Listen to the Third Round of the Chopin Competition

nifc20251014_www_fot.wojciechgrzedzinski_dsc04857.jpg, default, David Khrikuli and the audience during the 3rd Stage of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition 2025. Photo by Wojciech Grzędziński / NIFC

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Musicologist Iza Smelczyńska and music critic Filip Lech look back on the most beautiful moments of the third round, talk about the biggest snubs of the 19th Chopin Competition and try to foresee the final verdicts of the jury.

Iza Smelczyńska: We’re writing this text on Friday, October 17th, a day without auditions. It’s definitely not a day off for the participants, though – they’re busy practicing Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, op. 61 or one of the two piano concertos. I wonder how the jurors spend this day. The auditions marathon round the clock is demanding both mentally and physically for them, too. Garrick Ohlsson, the chairman of the jury, stood up from his seat in between performances and did some simple exercises to get at least a little movement in.

If you were on the jury, how would you spend this one day off? Resting in silence? Or perhaps doing something for a change: reaching your step goal in an app, deadlifting, Tibetan gongs?

FL: I think I’d miss being surrounded by plants, so I’d visit the University of Warsaw Botanic Garden and enjoy the silence in the hothouse, amongst blooming lithopses. Then I’d go to right-bank Warsaw to see something new and have lunch at the Rusałka milk bar. Recently, Rosalía went there, and I imagine that if I were a juror, I’d be fond of her music. I think I’d prefer to stay away from Chopin for the day.

I’m afraid the jury doesn’t have the luxury to do whatever they please on the day off and need to catch up on their professional obligations

IS: I’d start with a visit at an osteopath to make up for all those hours spent sitting. Then I’d hop into a sweatsuit and take a solid nap. I’d also go for a walk by the Vistula bank for some air and to enjoy the beautiful Warsaw autumn. If I could do something really luxurious, I’d lie in a hammock near a body of water and dissociate – it’s my favourite form of unwinding.

FL: What was your reaction to the verdict of the jury? Not all of your favourites made it to the final round.

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Garrick Ohlsson, Chairman of the Jury of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Photo by Krzysztof Szlęzak / NIFC

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IS: That’s true, but the favourites amongst my favourites did. The Competition is the outcome of many combining factors: luck, arithmetic, physical condition of the participants, hours slept, the audience's coughing frequency, the jury’s personal tastes, and perhaps even planetary transits. I’d probably give you a different answer if my biggest favourites (I’ll shortly reveal their names) weren’t promoted to the next round.

FL: I feel the same way, but I was surprised that neither of ‘our Koreans’ – the Lee brothers – made it to the final round. I was also hoping to see Piotr Ryszard Pawlak and Yehuda Prokopowicz in the finale.

IS: They weren’t my favourites, but I was sure that one of them would be promoted. Unexpectedly, this didn’t happen. Prokopowicz surprised his fans by publishing on the Competition’s Facebook group: ‘In 5 years, the polonaise will shine’.

FL: Pawlak did notably worse in the third round. I generally feel like the first two days of the third round were tough, almost all participants seemed to have been having a worse day, perhaps except for Tianyao Lyu and Davit Khrikuli. Except for the mandatory mazurka and sonata, Pawlak prepared Rondo à la Krakowiak in F major, op. 14, which he started his performance with. It’s a great idea for a beginning – the composition demands an understanding of Chopin’s music and technical verve. Unfortunately, since the very start Pawlak made many mistakes, and continued to make them in the Mazurka op. 17 and the Piano Sonata in B minor op. 58. Listening to this performance wasn’t easy; I felt infected with his stress, and each mistake generated another one. It was all the more sad that his interpretations were really deliberate, especially the sonata – he employed very interesting contrasts and tempo changes.

Regardless, the audience loved both Pawlak as a person and his interpretations of Chopin, so all in all, he has succeeded. It’s his third and also last competition, by the next edition he’ll be too old to participate – but the audience loved him and won’t forget him.

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Piotr Ryszard Pawlak with the audience after the concert during the 3rd Stage of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition 2025 in Warsaw. Photo by Krzysztof Szlęzak / NIFC

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IS: Speaking of age, the final eleven contestants span a solid range – from the 17-year-old Tianyao Lyu to the 30-year-old Shiori Kuwahara. Fun fact: the Japanese pianist celebrated her birthday a day after her performance in the second round, and the Chinese musician will turn 17 on the day of the first prize-winners concert. But this age gap is more than just a curiosity – the teenager and the 30-year-old present two completely different outlooks on Chopin, stemming from their musical and life experience. But the jury nonetheless evaluates them with the same set of criteria.

In the third round, I was dazzled by Zitong Wang. Until now, I saw her ‘merely’ as a very good contestant, but in the third round, she swept me off my feet. She seems very authentic, very real. In each round, she presented a varied and deliberate programme, choosing pieces that allow her to emphasize her strengths. It’s a testament to her deep understanding of music and artistic self-awareness. I won’t be surprised if she turns out to be the dark horse of the Competition.

FL: Agreed. Wang’s performance was astonishing, all elements beautifully came together. The rhythm in the mazurka, the lack of rush in the Piano Sonata in B-flat minor op. 35, the combination of the sonata and the Waltz in E-flat major op. 18, which she played delicately yet gloomily.

William Yang, a marvelously confident pianist, is another dark horse of the competition. He started out with the Scherzo in E major op. 54, a piece that is simply perfect for making a mistake, but instead, Yang played it flawlessly, presenting all the minute details. His playing isn’t very theatrical, but his interpretations are by no means schoolish.

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Zitong Wang, 3rd Stage of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition 2025 in Warsaw. Photo by Wojciech Grzędziński / NIFC

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IS: I wonder if your competition critique is more impressive, related to what you’re experiencing in the moment, or if you’re more analytical?

FL: Well, the competition is certainly a situation where my listening practice is extraordinary. It’s intense and varied – you’re constantly listening to different performers who very often represent many styles of piano-playing, and the instruments as such are changing. But listening to the Competition is also monotone – the repertoire is limited. As a member of the audience, you build a relationship with the contestants, then you wait to hear them again – or quite the opposite, feel no enthusiasm before their performance as their previous interpretations disappointed you. It’s particularly beautiful to see someone you were at first sceptical about suddenly shine onstage.

I approach the competition auditions differently than other concerts I write about as a critic. I have my own favourite interpretations of Chopin’s pieces and I regularly go back to them – they’re mostly old recordings, some of them really old, pre-WW2. But once the next edition of the Competition starts, I try to forget about my personal preferences and be open to what the participants are presenting. I’m definitely no juror – I’m not qualified, plus technical perfection isn’t my top priority.

IS: In my case, it depends on the situation. When David Khrikuli played, I was listening to him as if I was on a recital or a concert rather than a competition audition – yes, he’s my favourite. I mostly try to be objective, but it may change during the performance – if there’s something about it that engrosses me, my objectivism vanishes and I let myself get carried away with emotions. If I’m not enchanted, I try to stay objective and distanced. But it’s definitely not the cold distance of a juror (although, admittedly, I don’t know the temperature of the jury’s distance!), I’m more of a careful observer. I’d like to be able to pin down this fleeting moment when one turns into the other, but I can’t. Maybe that’s the mystery and the impulse that keeps my enthusiasm for music alive.

In this round, I was impatiently waiting for Tianyao Lyu’s performance. I’ve noticed how precise her mazurka rhythms are in the very beginning. The meticulous rhythms were also apparent in the Piano Sonata in B-flat minor op. 35. Lyu also presented huge dynamic contrasts – her piano was perhaps the quietest one to be heard in this round. In hindsight and after watching reruns of the performance, I wonder if her interpretation wasn’t a bit too schoolish – but during the live transmission, I was completely engrossed. I was infected by her emotions!

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David Khrikuli before the concert of the 3rd Stage of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition 2025. Photo by Wojciech Grzędziński / NIFC

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IS: ‘Chopin overdose’ – this is my subtitle for the third round. I won’t even get into the coughing audience… Pawlak himself spoke about being tired right after he went off stage: ‘It’s definitely getting harder and harder. You’re getting increasingly tired and the programmes are getting harder. When I went off stage, I was spent. If there was a bed nearby, I would’ve lain down and fallen asleep’.

It’s rumoured that because of disagreement amongst the jury, no first prize will be awarded, and two second prizes will be given instead. The rules of the competition allow for this solution. In the final round, we’ll hear 11 contestants instead of the standard 10, as two pianists gained an identical number of points. Perhaps the verdict will also be less traditional this year.

FL: After the final auditions, each jury member hands in their lists – a ranking from 1 to 11, excluding their own students. Their verdict takes into account the entirety of the Competition each time. Then, Garrick Ohlsson, the Chairman of the Jury, puts the rankings together and proposes a verdict. If two-thirds of the jury agree with him, the decision becomes official.

IS: If the Chairman’s jury isn’t backed by two-thirds of the votes, then a more detailed voting process begins – in writing, the jurors vote on each spot, starting with the potential winner. Jurors can’t cast a vote when their own students are discussed. If this method also doesn’t result in two-thirds of the votes, then there’s one more solution: an open vote on not granting a certain prize. In the history of the Competition, it has happened several times, but in the three latest editions, all prizes were awarded.

FL: In the 16th Competition in 2010, when this year’s juror Yulianna Avdeeva won, the fourth prize wasn’t awarded – but I don’t think many remember this… Five years earlier, at the 15th Competition, won by Rafał Blechacz, the second and the fifth prizes weren’t awarded, and two third prizes were given. In the 14th Competition, the prize for the best mazurka interpretation and the best piano concerto interpretation wasn’t awarded, which came as a huge surprise – obviously, each listener had their own favourite. I could go on and on, the jury decided not to grant a certain prize quite often.

IS: Do you think all prizes will be awarded this year?

FL: I don’t know.

IS: Neither do I.

Translated from Polish by Natalia Sajewicz

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chopin competition

Chopin Competition