Six years after Charles Richard-Hamelin, 2e prize in 2015, Montreal-trained pianist Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu makes history by winning the 2021 Chopin Competition. He succeeds pianists such as Lev Oborine, Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimerman, Yundi Li and Dang Thai His, his teacher.
This 2021 Chopin Competition, an event that takes place every five years, was the 2020 edition postponed. Exceptionally, 12 participants were admitted to the final, which consisted of playing one of Chopin’s two concertos with the Warsaw Philharmonic. Like ten other candidates, Xiaoyu Liu had chosen the 1er Concerto.
Of a high technical level recognized by the president of the jury, the 2021 Competition had released from the preliminary rounds several candidates with a certain “plus” in their way of phrasing the music and touching the keyboard. Along with the Japanese Kyohei Sorita and the Slovenian Alexander Gadjiev, Xiaoyu Liu was among them. Sorita and Gadjiev finished second ex aequo after a marathon deliberation which ended after 2 a.m., Warsaw time, and which awarded eight prizes.
This final was also distinguished by the presence of three competitors of 17 years old, a very young age to participate in the Chopin Competition. Among them, Torontonian JJ Jun Li Bui stood out by finishing sixth.
Receiving the only standing ovation of the whole final, Xiaoyu Liu dazzled, not only by his technical assurance and his finesse of touch, but especially by his way of propelling the musical discourse, dimension largely absent from his competitors, Chopin having become a field of generalized swoon. Liu set the last move ablaze, succeeding in everything, as in the third round with the Variations op. 2.
In the afternoon, the unexpected Polish Jakub Kuszlik had made a strong impression. This candidate, who also gives a very earthly meaning to Chopin, finished fourth and wins the prize for the best mazurkas. The prize for the best sonata goes to the Slovenian Gadjiev, and that for the best concerto, to the Spaniard Martín García García, ranked third.
Xiaoyu Liu’s first words were thanks to his family and the organizers. He also stressed that the meeting with other musicians, after the pandemic stop, had a special flavor. He now aspires to sleep and take a karting lap!
The ravenous
Wonny Song, director of the Orford Arts Center, was one of Xiaoyu Liu’s first teachers, when he was between 8 and 13 years old, before he studied with Richard Raymond at the Montreal Conservatory and then with Dang Thai. Its at the University of Montreal. “I have never seen a child like this. He was so “focused”. Every time I spoke about a record the following week he had listened to it and had an opinion. “
Beethoven was the first love of this young musician whom Wonny Song calls “voracious”. “At 10-11 years old, he wanted to have his sights set on the performances. Instead of collecting hockey cards, he collected records. “
“He was already playing Chopin beautifully. He had a touch. He had a lot of independence, and it was up to him to think about how to approach a play. I treated him like a brother, a colleague, never like a child. “
After being 15 years old, in 2013, won the OSM Competition (ahead of Charles Richard-Hamelin), and at 17, the Prix d’Europe, Xiaoyu Liu could have gotten carried away and chained the competitions. For five years, he had been discreet and prepared his shot. The pianist revealed to us by the Chopin Competition is a complete, mature artist, ready for a very successful career.
“He is the master who made his success,” considers Wonny Song. “He’s never swayed, he’s been very patient, and he makes music for the right reasons. “