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What made Maurizio Pollini a piano god? Even his late recordings are a revelation

In 1960, an 18-year-old Italian pianist, the youngest contestant, won the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years in Warsaw. Although Pollini did record Chopin’s First Piano Concerto upon accepting his prize, he otherwise kept the sharks at bay for close to a decade. Daniele was a talented piano student, Pollini said, adding that his son didn’t need …

Piano

Chelsea Guo As for singing, Guo says that she didn't take it seriously and only sang for fun at choirs during her childhood. When she studied in the Juilliard School's Pre-College program, Guo was trained with a double major in piano and classical voice. Here is a rare talent," said BBC Music Magazine upon the 2021 release of Guo's debut …

Young pianist Sun Yutong performs German composer Johannes Brahms' last pieces for solo piano at the Beijing Concert Hall on Aug 19. To celebrate the 190th anniversary of German composer Johannes Brahms' birth, young pianist Sun Yutong was ambitious in leading his audience through pieces from the composer's later years. "I hope, through these piano miniatures, I can bring my …

Sun and his fiancee Guo Xu pose with their teacher Chang Hua at the primary and middle schools affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and Li Hang, executive editor-in-chief of the magazine Piano Artistry. Previously, Sun took second prize at the 2018 Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition, and in 2012, he became the champion of the …

Sundance 2023 review: Everyone’s a winner in the stirring ‘Pianoforte’

Alex is getting his body worked over by his coach. “You’ll be playing for him.” At several points during Pianoforte, Jakub Piątek’s mesmerizing account of the 2021 edition of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, I felt I could be watching a sports documentary. When Russian pianist Eva receives seven specific and different instructions in seven seconds from her coach, it …

Chinese Canadian pianist Bruce Xiaoyu Liu performs at the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, which was held in Warsaw in October. Already busy on a marathon, sold-out tour, Bruce Xiaoyu Liu has yet to process the enormity of his latest piano competition victory, Chen Nan reports. The 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, which was held in Warsaw from …

Bruce Xiaoyu Liu at the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. Asked about his study with Dang, Liu says in a way they are "like very good friends or family members". Liu enjoys listening to music played by older generation pianists "because piano-playing tastes have changed so much between now and 50 years ago", he says. Liu's father, a lover …

A peeling portrait of Frederic Chopin purchased at a flea market in Poland hung modestly in a private house for almost three decades, before an expert dated the painting to the 19th century, when the Polish piano composer lived. Nicolaus Copernicus University professor Dariusz Markowski, the art expert who examined and restored the portrait last year, says it has significant …