The International German Piano Award is a yearly international music competition for classical piano music since 2011. The International Piano Forum is the initiator and organizer of the competition. The prize money amounts to a total of 20,000 euros and aims to support outstanding Pianists. A first international jury elects and nominates pianists under notary procedure. A second jury then votes for the Laureate of the International German Piano Award. The following support of the nominated provides concerts at concert halls and contacts to conductors as well as orchestras. The International Piano Forum supports furthermore the production of CDs, websites and an artist portfolio. In the last years, the Grand Finale took place at the Alte Oper in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Patrons

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев, ; os, Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери, Gergity Abisaly fyrt Valeri; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company d ...

Peter Ramsauer Peter Ramsauer (born 10 February 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) who served as the Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development in the Second Merkel cabinet. Early life and education ...

Petra Roth Petra Roth (born 9 May 1944 in Bremen) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was the Mayor of Frankfurt from 1995 to 2012. In addition she twice served as president of the Deutscher Städtetag, resuming her previous ...

Lars Vogt Lars Vogt (8 September 1970 – 5 September 2022) was a German classical pianist, conductor and academic teacher. Noted by ''The New York Times'' for his interpretations of Brahms, Vogt performed as a soloist with major orchestras, including the ...

Laureates

* 2011:

Amir Tebenikhin Amir Tebenikhin (born 1977) is a Kazakhstani pianist. He won the 1999 Vianna da Motta Competition - the last winner for 11 years when Akopova won the competition. He subsequently made his recording debut for Naxos Records and performed at the ...

* 2012: Lukas Geniusas * 2013: Dmitri Levkovich - The Audience-Award went to Thomas Wypior * 2014: Misha Namirovsky - The Audience-Award went to Albertina Eunju * 2015:

Yekwon Sunwoo Yekwon Sunwoo ( ko, 선우예권; born February 10, 1989, in Anyang) is a South Korean classical pianist. In 2017, at 28 years old, Sunwoo was the first Korean to win the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He won th ...

- The Audience-Award went to Andrejs Osokins * 2016: Wataru Isasue * 2017:

Eric Lu Eric Lu (born December 15, 1997) is an American classical pianist. Hailed by ''The Guardian'' as a pianist with "the magic touch of...Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu", he won the gold medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018 at age ...

- The FAZ-Audience-Award went to Eric Lu * 2018: Hans H. Suh - The FAZ-Audience-Award went to Tomoki Sakata * 2019: JeungBeum Sohn - The FAZ-Audience-Award went to Luka Okros * 2021: Dmitry Ablogin

Audience Awards

*2013: Thomas Wypior *2014: Albertina Eunju Song *2015: Andrejs Osokins *2017: Eric Lu *2018:

Tomoki Sakata Tomoki Sakata (born 1993 in Nagoya) is a Japanese pianist. Life and career Sakata began playing the piano at the age of five. He got lessons from Dmitri Bashkirov, Tamas Vasary and Paul Badura-Skoda. He studied at the Tokyo University of the Art ...

*2019: Luka Okros

Nominated pianists 2011–2017

2011 *

Nareh Arghamanyan Nareh Arghamanyan ( hy, Նարե Արղամանյան; born in Vanadzor, Armenia, 1989) is an Armenian pianist. She is best known for winning the 2008 Montreal International Musical Competition. Biography Arghamanyan began her piano studies at t ...

, * Joseph Moog, *

Christopher Park Stonewall National Monument is a U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the Christopher Park, and nearby streets includin ...

, *

, * Hélène Tysman, * Anna Winnitskaja, 2012 * Ah Ruem Ahn, * Lukas Geniusas, * Andrey Gugnin, * Toghrul Huseynli, * Ho Jeong Lee, *

Igor Levit Igor Levit (russian: link=no, Игорь Левит; born 10 March 1987) is a Russian-German pianist who focuses on the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt. He is also a professor at the Musikhochschule Hannover. He lives in Berlin. Biography B ...

, * Dudana Mazmanishvili, * Igor Tchetuev, 2013 * Gábor Farkas, * Viviana Lasaracina, * Dmitri Levkovich, * Alexey Pudinov, * Edoardo Turbil, * Thomas Wypior, 2014 *

Valentina Babor Valentina Babor (born 8 July 1989) is a German classical pianist. She began performing before audiences and winning youth competitions as a child. At 12, she was accepted by Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Mozarteum, where she became part of the uni ...

, * David Gray, * Lindsay Garritson, * Misha Namirovsky, * Jie Yuan, * Albertina Eunju Song, 2015 * François Dumont, * Ching-Yun Hu, *

Alexander Lubyantsev Alexander Mikhailovich Lubyantsev (Russian: Александр Михайлович Лубянцев, ''Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lubiantsev'', also transliterated ''Lubiantcev'', born 27 December 1986) is a Russian pianist and composer. He is a lau ...

, * Maria Mazo, *

Andrejs Osokins Andrejs Osokinsis a Latvian pianist. He is laureate of several piano competitions, including the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, the Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris, the Leeds International Pi ...

, * Yekwon Sunwoo, * Georgy Tchaidze, * Andrew Tyson, * Irene Veneziano, * Alexander Yakovlev, 2017 * Moye Chen, * Zhenni Li, *

, * Fabio Martino, * Jiayan Sun, * Alexander Yakovlev 2018 *Alexei Melnikov *Tomoki Sakata *Hans H. Suh *Antonina Suhanova *Alexey Sychev *Amadeus Wiesensee 2019 *Sergey Belyavskiy *Lika Bibileishvili *Sahun Hong *Rodolfo Leone (Could not participate due to an illness) *Luka Okros *JeungBeum Sohn

Members of the jury since 2011

* Ogtay Abasguliyev, Azerbaidschan * Conrad van Alphen, Netherlands *

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 ...

, Austria *

Maurizio Baglini Maurizio Baglini (born 1975 in Pisa), is an Italian pianist. Prizewinner in major international piano competitions such as Concorso Busoni in Bolzano, International Chopin Piano Competition, Fryderyk Chopin Competition, he subsequently was award ...

, Italy *

Eleonore Büning Elisabeth Eleonore Büning (née Bauer; born 2 January 1952) is a German music journalist and writer, known for her opera reviews in the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. Early life and education Elisabeth Eleonore Bauer was born in Frankfurt a ...

, Germany * Alexander Buhr, Germany * Hung-Kuan Chen, USA * Paul Dan, Germany * Gaetan Le Divelec, Great Britain *

Josep Caballé Domenech Josep Caballé Domenech (born 1973) is a Spanish musician and conductor. Caballé Domenech has recently been appointed Principal Conductor of the Moritzburg Festival Germany) and he is also in his eighth season as Music Director of the Colorado S ...

, Spain *

Thomas Duis Thomas Duis (born 1958, in Frankfurt) is a German pianist. Duis studied with Kurt Gerecke in Wiesbaden, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling in Hannover and Fanny Waterman in Leeds. He was the top-ranking pianist at the 1986 Artur Rubinstein Competition in Te ...

, Germany * Gudni Emilsson, Island * Enrico Fischer, Germany *

Norma Fisher Norma Fisher (born 1940) is an English concert pianist and professor of piano living in London. Illness shortened her performing career in the 1990s and she turned instead to teaching. Biography Norma Fisher was born in London of Russian-Polish ...

, Great Britain * Renchang Fu, People's Republic of China * Lukas Geniusas, Russia *

Petras Geniusas Petras ( el, Πετράς) is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan civilization, Minoan town on northeastern Crete. Geography Petras is just east of the modern Cretan town, Siteia. The site is situated on top of a small plateau and ove ...

, Lithuania * Bernd Goetzke, Germany * Giorgi Jordania, Georgia * Milton Rubén Laufer, USA * Dmitri Levkovich, Ukraine *

David Lively David Lively (born 27 June 1953) is a French classical pianist of US origin. Biography Born in Ironton, Ohio, Lively began his career at the age of 14 playing Khachatourian's Piano Concerto with the St. Louis Symphony. In 1972 he won fourth ...

, USA-France * Alexei Ljubimow, Russia * Wolfgang Manz, Germany * Jura Margulis, Russia *

Siegfried Mauser Siegfried Mauser (born 3 November 1954) is a German pianist, academic and music manager. In 2016, 2017, and 2018, German courts convicted him as a multiple sex offender.Ralf Wiegand/Susi Wimmer, ''Professor Unrat.'' In: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'', n ...

, Germany *

Rudolf Meister Rudolf Meister (1 August 1897 – 11 September 1958) was a German general (General der Flieger) in the Luftwaffe during World War II who commanded the 4th Air Corps. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Me ...

, Germany * Pablo Mielgo, Spain * Dariusz Mikulski, Poland * Ekaterina Murina, Russia *

Michael Ponti Michael Ponti (29 October 1937 – 17 October 2022) was a German-American classical pianist. He was the first to record the complete piano works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. He made more than 80 recordings, around 50 of rarely play ...

, USA *

Jorge Luis Prats Jorge Luis Prats Soca (born 3 July 1956) is a Cuban pianist living in Spain. Prats Soca was born in Camagüey. He studied piano since 1963 under Barbara Díaz Alea. In 1970, he was accepted into National Art School, from which he graduated in 1976 ...

, Kuba * Wojciech Rajski, Poland * Frederic Anthony Rzewski, Belgium *

Georg Friedrich Schenck Georg Friedrich Schenck (born 1953) is a German musician. Schenk was born in Aachen, Germany. Graduating from Hanover Music College (student of Bernhard Ebert), he took masterclasses with Claudio Arrau, and then was a student of the American pia ...

, Germany * Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy, Germany *

Reinhard Seehafer Reinhard Seehafer (born September 6, 1958) is a German Conducting, conductor, pianist, composer of contemporary classical music and the founder and artistic director of the Festival Altmark Festspiele in Saxony Anhalt. Biography At the age of 5 y ...

, Germany *

Lior Shambadal Lior Shambadal (Hebrew: ליאור שמבדל) (born 1950 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli composer and conductor. Study Lior Shambadal studied Viola, Trombone and conducting in his native city of Tel Aviv. He studied theory and composition with ...

, Israel * Yekwon Sunwoo, South Korea * Alexander Tchaikovsky, Russia *

, Kazakhstan * Pieter Van Winkel, Netherlands * Catherine Vickers, Germany * Boian Videnoff, Bulgaria *

Sebastian Weigle Sebastian Weigle (born 1961, in East Berlin) is a German conductor and horn player. He is currently ''Generalmusikdirektor'' of the Oper Frankfurt and principal conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Biography Weigle is a nephew of ...

, Germany * Gregor Willmes, Germany * Andrea Zietzschmann, Germany

References

{{Reflist 2011 establishments in Germany Piano competitions