About the Leeds
‘The Leeds’ has attracted the world’s finest young pianists and prize-winners include the Competition’s Patron Murray Perahia KBE, Radu Lupu, Mitsuko Uchida, András Schiff, Lars Vogt, Anna Tsybuleva, Federico Colli and Eric Lu.
Since the first edition held in 1963, The Leeds International Piano Competition has become one of the world’s foremost music competitions.
An International Trailblazer
Since its inception in 1963, the Leeds International Piano Competition has been a trailblazer among international music competitions and has shaped the world of classical piano.
With the BBC broadcasting the competition since 1966 on television and radio, its impact has reached far and wide. Historical footage of piano legends in their formative years can be found in The Leeds archive, which has attracted over 2.4 million views in the first half of 2023 alone.
More to the Leeds than a competition
The Leeds Piano Trail, brings the spirit of the competition to every corner of the city centre every three years. These pianos are available to play all year-round and are set to be experienced by over 1.8 million people in 2023 during Leeds’ Year of Culture. The Leeds Piano Trail was awarded a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2023.
The competition’s schools programme, in partnership with Artforms Leeds and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, plays a central role in engaging local children and young people with the piano, while also providing support for teachers and resources in music education for schools.
Heritage
The first Leeds International Piano Competition took place in 1963.
Co-founded by Fanny Waterman, a local piano teacher and Marion Thorpe, Countess of Harewood, over the past 60 years the competition has launched the careers of some of the greatest pianists of our time.
Learn More
Previous winners include Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Dmitri Alexeev, Alessio Bax, Sunwook Kim, Sofya Gulyak, Federico Colli, Anna Tsybuleva, Eric Lu, Alim Beisembayev and Jaeden Izik-Dzurko.
Equally illustrious are the names of finalists, including Mitsuko Uchida and Sir Andras Schiff, Kathryn Stott, Peter Donohoe, Louis Lortie, Lars Vogt, Leon MacCawley, Sa Chen, Denis Kozhukhin, Louis Schwizgebel. Their exceptional talent continues to inspire generations of pianists.
Dame Fanny Waterman (1920-2020) chaired the jury from 1981 until her retirement in 2015 at the age of 95. She was succeeded by pianist Paul Lewis (2018) and current Artistic Director, Adam Gatehouse, and the competition is honoured to have the support of Murray Perahia as Patron and Lang Lang as Global Ambassador.
The historic Leeds Town Hall has served as the iconic venue for the competition's finals, with exceptions in 1975 and 2024 due to renovations. In 2024, the finals will take place in St. George's Hall, Bradford, before returning to the majestic backdrop of the Town Hall in 2027, accompanied by the installation of a Blue Plaque commemorating Dame Fanny Waterman's life.
Esteemed UK orchestras, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Hallé, have played a crucial role in supporting the concerto finals. These performances have brought emerging talents together with renowned conductors such as Sir Charles Groves, Sir Simon Rattle, and Sir Mark Elder, often sparking enduring relationships.
Past Winners
Alim Beisembayev
1st
Kaito Kobayashi
2nd
Ariel Lanyi
3rd
Dmytro Choni
4th
Thomas Kelly
5th
Eric Lu
1st
Mario Häring
2nd
Xinyuan Wang
3rd
Anna Geniushene
=Finalist
Aljoša Jurinić
=Finalist
Anna Tsybuleva
1st
Heejae Kim
2nd
Vitaly Pisarenko
3rd
Drew Petersen
4th
Tomoki Kitamura
5th
Yun Wei
6th
Federico Colli
1st
Louis Schwizgebel
2nd
Jiayan Sun
3rd
Andrejs Osokins
4th
Andrew Tyson
5th
Jayson Gillham
6th
Sofya Gulyak
1st
Alexej Gorlatch
2nd
Alessandro Taverna
3rd
Rachel Cheung
4th
David Kadouch
5th
Jianing Kong
6th
Sunwook Kim
1st
Andrew Brownell
2nd
Denis Kozhukhin
3rd
Alice Wong
4th
Sung-hoon Kim
5th
Grace Fong
6th
Antti Siirala
1st
Evgenia Rubinova
2nd
Yuma Osaki
3rd
Igor Tchetuev
4th
Chiao-Ying Chang
5th
Sodi Braide
6th
Alessio Bax
1st
Davide Franceschetti
2nd
Severin von Eckardstein
3rd
Cristiano Burato
4th
Ashley Wass
5th
Tatiana Kolesova
6th
Ilya Itin
1st
Roberto Cominati
2nd
Aleksandar Madžar
3rd
Sa Chen
4th
Armen Babakhanian
5th
Ekaterina Apekisheva
6th
Ricardo Castro
1st
Leon McCawley
2nd
Mark Anderson
3rd
Filippo Gamba
4th
Maxim Philippov
5th
Margarita Shevchenko
6th
Artur Pizarro
1st
Lars Vogt
2nd
Éric Le Sage
3rd
Balázs Szokolay
4th
Haesun Paik
5th
Andrei Zheltonog
6th
Vladimir Ovchinnikov
1st
Ian Munro
2nd
Noriko Ogawa
3rd
Boris Berezovsky
4th
Hugh Tinney
5th
Marcantonio Barone
6th
Jon Kimura Parker
1st
Ju Hee Suh
2nd
Junko Otake
3rd
Louis Lortie
4th
Sara Davis Buechner
5th
Emma Tahmizian
6th
Ian Hobson
1st
Wolfgang Manz
2nd
Bernard d’Ascoli
3rd
Daniel Blumenthal
4th
Christopher O’Riley
5th
Peter Donohoe
6th
Michel Dalberto
1st
Diana Kacso
2nd
Lydia Artymiw
3rd
Ian Hobson
4th
Kathryn Stott
5th
Etsuko Terada
6th
Dmitri Alexeev
1st
Mitsuko Uchida
2nd
András Schiff
=3rd
Pascal Devoyon
=3rd
Michael Houstoun
=4th
Myung-whun Chung
=4th
Murray Perahia
1st
Craig Sheppard
2nd
Eugen Indjic
3rd
Radu Lupu
1st
Georges Pludermacher
2nd
Arthur Moreira Lima
3rd
Boris Petrushansky
4th
Anne Queffélec
5th
Rafael Orozco
1st
Viktoria Postnikova
=2nd
Semyon Kruchin
=2nd
Alexey Nasedkin
3rd
Jean-Rodolphe Kars
4th
Michael Roll
1st
Vladimir Krainev
2nd
Sebastien Risler
3rd
Armenta Adams
4th
Our Partners
Principal Partner
![]()
City Partners
![]()
![]()
Broadcast Partners
![bcsfa]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Artistic Partners
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Funding Partners
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
