The Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition is a

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets. Exampl ...

for young pianists that takes place in

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

, Italy. It was founded in 1949 by Cesare Nordio in memory of the pianist and composer

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

History

The first

International Piano Competition was organized by Cesare Nordio in 1949 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the death of the pianist and composer.

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (; 5 January 1920 – 12 June 1995) was an Italian classical pianist. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. According to ''The New York Times'', he was perhaps the most reclusive, e ...

was a supporter of the competition and was a member of the inaugural jury.

Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel KBE (born 5 January 1931) is an Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is known particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.Stephen Plaistow"Brendel, Alfred" ''G ...

won the 4th prize in this competition. For a few years a piano composition competition took place together with the piano competition. In 1956, the young

Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini (born 5 January 1942) is an Italian pianist. He is known for performances of compositions by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, among others. He has also championed and performed works by contemporary composers such as Pierre Boulez ...

took part in the competition, performing the Fantasia Contrappuntistica by

Kenneth Leighton Kenneth Leighton (2 October 1929 – 24 August 1988) was a British composer and pianist. His compositions include church and choral music, pieces for piano, organ, cello, oboe and other instruments, chamber music, concertos, ...

, which won the prize for composition; in 1957

Martha Argerich Martha Argerich (; Eastern Catalan: �ɾʒəˈɾik born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and education Argerich was born in Buenos Ai ...

won the first prize. Other prize winners include

Bruno Canino Bruno Canino (born 30 December 1935) is an Italian classical pianist, harpsichordist and composer. Early life Bruno Canino was born in Naples, Italy in 1935, where he studied piano with Vincenzo Vitale. He continued his musical education in ...

Agustin Anievas Agustin Anievas (born June 11, 1934, New York City) is an American pianist, specializing in the works of Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Anievas made his world professional debut in 1944, the first child to give a piano r ...

Joaquín Achúcarro Joaquín Achúcarro (born November 1, 1932) is a Basque Spanish classical pianist. Biography and career Achúcarro was born in Bilbao, Spain, and grew up in the difficult years of the Spanish post-war period. He began piano lessons at the Bilba ...

Jerome Rose JEROME ROSE, hailed as "the Last Romantic of our own age" is an American pianist and educator, (born 12 August 1938 in Los Angeles). JEROME ROSE is one of America's most distinguished pianists, has been heard in major concert halls across five co ...

Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Olof Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Com ...

Alberto Nosè Alberto Nosè (born 1979) is an Italian pianist. Biography Born in Villafranca di Verona, Italy, in 1979, Alberto Nosé studied at the Verona Conservatory F. E. Dall’Abaco. He continued his studies with Franco Scala, Boris Petrushansky and Leo ...

and Wu Muye. Members of the jury have included:

Nikita Magaloff Nikita Magaloff (russian: Никита Магалов; 26 December 1992) was a Georgian-Russian pianist. He was born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian noble family named Maghalashvili. Magaloff and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland. Hi ...

Igor Markevitch Igor Borisovich Markevitch (russian: Игорь Борисович Маркевич, ''Igor Borisovich Markevich'', uk, Ігор Борисович Маркевич, ''Ihor Borysovych Markevych''; 27 July 1912 – 7 March 1983) was a Russian- ...

Carlo Maria Giulini Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor. From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserva ...

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In ...

Paul Badura-Skoda Paul Badura-Skoda (6 October 1927 – 25 September 2019) was an Austrian pianist. Career A student of Edwin Fischer, Badura-Skoda first rose to prominence by winning first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he perform ...

, Rafael Orozco,

Joaquín Soriano Joaquín Soriano (born in León, 1941) is a Spanish pianist. Trained in Valencia, he was a disciple of Vlado Perlemuter at the Conservatoire National de Paris. He won the 1965 Viotti Competition in Vercelli and the XI Premio de Jaén (1966); an i ...

Gerhard Oppitz Gerhard Oppitz (born 5 February 1953, Frauenau) is a German classical pianist. He studied with Paul Buck, Hugo Steurer and Wilhelm Kempff. In 1981 he was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München Abdel Rahman El Bacha Abdel Rahman El Bacha ( ar, عبد الرحمن الباشا, born October 23, 1958) is a Lebanese pianist and composer. His repertory includes over fifty concertos and is largely based on the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, ...

Michele Campanella Michele Campanella (born 5 June 1947) is an Italian pianist who specialises in the music of Franz Liszt, and is also a conductor. Campanella was born in Naples in 1947. He won the Alfredo Casella Prize at age 19, after studying with Vincenzo ...

Leif Ove Andsnes Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, Leif Ove Andsnes has signed to Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journey ...

Adam Harasiewicz Adam Harasiewicz (born 1 July 1932) is a Polish people, Polish classical music, classical concert pianist. Harasiewicz was born in Chodziez, Poland. After studying violin for two months, at the age of 10 he began piano study, and at age 15 he obta ...

Hiroko Nakamura was a Japanese pianist. Born Hiroko Fukuda in Yamanashi, she grew up in Tokyo. She began to study piano at the age of 3 at Toho Gakuen School of Music under Aiko Iguchi. In 1959, whilst a student at Chutobu Junior High School, she won first ...

Andrzej Jasiński Andrzej Jasiński (born 23 October 1936 in Częstochowa) is a Polish pianist. In 1959 he graduated with honors from the University of Music in Katowice in the piano class of Władysława Markiewiczówna. The following year he won the Maria Cana ...

Lilya Zilberstein Lilya Efimovna Zilberstein (russian: Лилия Ефимовна Зильберштейн; born 19 April 1965) is a Russian-born German pianist. Biography Born in Moscow and educated at the Gnessin State Musical College (1971–88), she rose to pro ...

Tadeusz Żmudziński Tadeusz Żmudziński (9 July 1924, in Chorzów – 17 October 1992, in Katowice) was a Polish pianist and educator. In 1946, Żmudziński graduated with highest honours from the University of Music in Katowice, where he studied under Prof. Władys ...

Valery Afanassiev Valery Afanassiev (russian: Валерий Павлович Афанасьев, ''Valerij Pavlovič Afanasiev''; born 8 September 1947) is a Russian pianist, writer and conductor. Life Valery Afanassiev was born in Moscow. He studied piano at ...

and

Eliso Virsaladze Eliso Virsaladze ( ka, ელისო ვირსალაძე; born September 14, 1942) is a Georgia (country), Georgian pianist. Biography She was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR. Her father Constantine Virsaladze was a prominent doctor an ...

History

Winners

References

External links