| Leeds International Piano Competition | |
|---|---|
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| Awarded for | Exceptional piano performance |
| Location | Great Hall of the University of Leeds Leeds Town Hall (St George's Hall, Bradford in 2024) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | Leeds International Piano Competition |
| Formerly called | Leeds International Pianoforte Competition |
| First award | 1963; 62 years ago (1963) |
| Final award | 2024 |
| Website | www |
TheLeeds International Piano Competition, informally known asThe Leeds and formerly theLeeds International Pianoforte Competition,[1][2] is an international piano competition which takes place every three years inLeeds,West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1961 byMarion, Countess of Harewood,Dame Fanny Waterman and Roslyn Lyons, with the first competition being held in 1963. Waterman was the chair and artistic director up to the 2015 competition whenPaul Lewis andAdam Gatehouse became Co-Artistic Directors.
The first round of the competition takes place internationally and in 2021 went 'virtual' when 63 pianists were recorded in 17 international locations and the Jury deliberated online, in order to circumvent the various impacts of Covid. The 21st Edition in 2024 held the First Round in six international locations, after receiving a record 366 applications. The Second Round and Semi-finals take place in theGreat Hall of theUniversity of Leeds. The Concerto Finals of the 2024 Competition exceptionally took place atSt George's Hall,Bradford whileLeeds Town Hall underwent major refurbishment.[3]
Since 2018, the Competition has reach a global audience through its broadcasting, achieving over 10.2 million views in 2024 through multiple channels and platforms, includingBBC Four,BBC Radio 3,medici.tv, Amadeus.tv (China),Classic FM andMezzo.tv.
The competition was first held in September 1963 when the young British pianist,Michael Roll, became the First Prizewinner. It joined theWorld Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) in 1965.[2] After the 1996 competition, there was a four-year break before the 2000 competition, to align with the turn of the millennium. Competitors were formerly housed atTetley Hall, a residence hall at the University of Leeds, which closed in 2006 and are still housed in University residences throughout the competition. TheUniversity of Leeds is the Principal Partner of the competition and has supported it since its inception. TheBBC has broadcast all Competitions since 1966 on television and radio. In 2018 the Competition was streamed live online for the first time withmedici.tv.
The list of eminent past Competition winners includesRadu Lupu andMurray Perahia. The roll call of other Competition finalists is equally illustrious as that of the winners and includesMitsuko Uchida and SirAndras Schiff (1975),Peter Donohoe (1981),Louis Lortie (1984),Lars Vogt (1990),Denis Kozhukhin (2006) andLouis Schwizgebel (2012) whenFederico Colli won the Gold Medal.Sofya Gulyak was the first female first prize winner, awarded in 2009.[4]
Dame Fanny Waterman was the competition's Chair and Artistic Director until her retirement after the 2015 event and she remained Honorary Life President until her death in 2020. She was replaced as artistic director byPaul Lewis (Jury Chair for 2018) andAdam Gatehouse. Gatehouse is now the competition's sole Artistic Director and was joined byImogen Cooper as Chair of the Jury in 2021.
The 2018 competition marked a major refresh to the competition structure:
The prize benefits were redesigned to support the career development of the prizewinners and include mentoring byPaul Lewis and other notable pianists, as well as artist management withAskonas Holt, a recording deal withWarner Classics and a series of international engagements.
A festival programme of masterclasses, talks, educational events and other activities also took place during the competition, including an appearance byAlfred Brendel, free piano lessons in the world's Smallest Concert Hall (a converted shipping container) and the creation ofThe Leeds Piano Trail across Leeds city centre (pianos for the public to use), supported by The Leeds BID.[6][5]
The concerto finals have been supported by a number of major UK orchestras over the years including theRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic, theCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and theHallé.Sir Mark Elder has conducted the Hallé Orchestra at all the finals since 2003, with the exception of 2018 when the conductor wasEdward Gardner. Other conductors with long associations with the Competition have includedSir Charles Groves andSir Simon Rattle. TheTerence Judd Hallé Orchestra Prize, selected and awarded by the orchestra to one of the six finalists, was awarded in 2012-2018. A new partnership with theRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was announced in 2019 for the 20th Edition in 2021, and the orchestra awards the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Prize for the best performance of a contemporary work. Following this award in 2021 to Gold Medallist Alim Beisembayev, the RLPO commissioned a piano concerto from the distinguished composer,Eleanor Alberga.
AuthorJilly Cooper visited the competition during research for her novelAppassionata; it features a similar event, also in Yorkshire, called the Appleton Piano Competition.[10]
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