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Great Players abound at the 2024 Geza Anda

Competitions

High-Profile Jury chooses Ilya Shmukler as First Prize Winner in Zurich

Among the countless piano competitions, the Concours Géza Anda is a unique and extraordinary institution in the international field– and not only for its high-ranking juries. What is special about the Concours Géza Anda is above all that the the award ceremony after the final and the transfer of considerable prize monies are not the end. The Géza Anda Foundation has committed itself to mentoring and managing the winners of all awards for at least three years. The 16th Concours Géza Anda was carried out between 30th May und 8th June 2024 in Zurich and Winterthur. Its Mozart Semi-Final was performed together with Musikkollegium Winterthur and conducted by Mikhail Pletnev; the Final was played with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi.

Ilya Shmukler, 1st prize winner, and Rico Gulda, Chair of the Jury

First Prize in this year´s edition (CHF 40.000) was won by Kansas-City based pianist Ilya Shmukler (29). Shmukler performed his first recital at age 12, and made his orchestral debut at 14. He has since made solo appearances in Europe and North America, and has performed with the Mariinsky Theatre, Fort Worth Symphony, Kansas City Chamber, Sendai Philharmonic, Bayer Symphoniker, Tambov Symphonic, and New Music Orchestras, among others. Ilya is a laureate of many international piano competitions. In 2021, he won the Carnegie Weill Recital Hall Debut Audition and made his New York debut at the venerable venue on December 13, 2022.

Ilya Shmukler, 1st prize winner

Second Prize at the Geza Anda was shared by Daumants Liepins (29) of Arvika, Latvia, and Dmitry Yudin (23) of New York.

Daumants Liepins is one of the piano world’s most exciting new talents. In 2019 he took First Prize along with the Public and Orchestra prizes at the prestigious Maria Canals International Piano competition in Barcelona. He then topped Pianist magazine’s list of ‘Pianists to Look Out For in 2020’. Already firmly established as a core artist in his home country Latvia, he opened the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra’s 2020/21 season with Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto. Concerto appearances beyond his home shores meanwhile have included with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Georgian National Symphony Orchestra. He currently studies at the Ingesund School of Music at Karlstad University, Sweden, with Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist.

Daumants Liepins, 2nd prize winner (ex aequo)

Dmitry Yudin began his musical studies in Moscow at the Gnessins School of Music under the tutelage of Lydia Grigoryeva. He is a prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions, including the 15th International Scriabin Piano Competition, the International Classical Music Festival and Competition for Young Pianists, Astana Piano Passion, and Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition. Dmitry has performed across Russia and abroad both as solo recitalist and in concertos, with orchestras including the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra.

Dmitry Yudin, 2nd prize winner (ex aequo)

Prizes:
1st Prize: Ilya Shmukler (29), Missouri

2nd Prize (ex aequo): Daumants Liepins (29), Arvika / Dmitry Yudin (23), New York

Jury:
Rico Gulda (Chair), Martha Argerich, Ricardo Castro, Zlata Chochieva, Lucas Debargue, Konstanze Eickhorst, Toshio Hosokawa, Robert Levin, Dénes Várjon

Artists:
Semifinals: Musikkollegium Winterthur/ Mikhail Pletnev (Conductor)

Final: Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich / Paavo Järvi (Conductor)

 

©︎ WFIMC 2024

Award Ceremony at Tonhalle Zurich

Prize winners and Tobias Richter, President of the Géza Anda-Foundation