The Leeds is one of the world’s foremost music competitions. Since the first Competition in 1963, it has attracted the world’s finest young pianists, drawn by the opportunities offered by the outstanding prize package, the challenge of demanding repertoire, a stellar jury – and a warm welcome from the City of Leeds.

A new vision for 2018 sees The Leeds spread its wings. Internationally, First Rounds were held in Berlin, New York and Singapore.

As part of our programme of expanding activities, we presented the first of what is to be an annual Leeds Piano Festival in May 2018 in Leeds and London. It featured distinguished past winners and alumni of the competition Lars Vogt, Alessio Bax and Sunwook Kim, as well as appearances by the brilliant Young Scholars of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.

Adam Gatehouse

United Kingdom

Adam Gatehouse is co-Artistic Director of the Leeds International Piano Competition and jury member for all rounds.

Adam was born in London and studied conducting at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where his teachers included Sir Adrian Boult and Andre Previn.From 1974 to 1991 he enjoyed an international career as conductor, working as Music Director with Ballet Rambert, Dutch National Ballet and the Dutch National Youth Orchestra, and guest conducting at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada and the USA. From 1991 to 2013, Adam was a producer and later Editor Live Music with BBC Radio 3, where he has worked with many of the leading artists of the time such as Mitsuko Uchida, Itzak Perlman, Ian Bostridge, Felicity Lott and Pierre Boulez. In 1998 he launched  the BBC Wigmore Hall Lunchtime Concert series, Radio 3’s flagship Chamber Music Series. He also started the LSO St. Luke’s Lunchtime Concert series in collaboration with the LSO. In 1999 he created and for 14 years was Editor of BBC Radio 3’s prestigious New Generation Artists scheme, which helped launch the careers of over 100 international artists and ensembles, including Paul Lewis, Stephen Osborne, the Belcea Quartet, Alison Balsom, Alice Coote, Janine Jansen and more recently Benjamin Grosvenor and Igor Levit.

Noriko Ogawa

Japan

Noriko has achieved considerable renown throughout the world since appearing as a finalist at the 1987 Leeds International Piano Competition.

Noriko’s “ravishingly poetic playing” (Telegraph) sets her apart from her contemporaries and acclaim for her complete Debussy series with BIS Records, confirms her as a fine Debussy specialist. Noriko appears with all the major European, Japanese and US orchestras including recent and forthcoming performances with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra and the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of Richard Dubugnon’s Piano Concerto.

2015 Competition

1st prize – Anna Tsybuleva
2nd prize – Heejae Kim
3rd prize – Vitaly Pisarenko
4th prize – Drew Peterson
5th prize – Tornoki Kitamura
6th prize – Yun Wei

2009 Competition

1st prize – Sofya Gulyak
2nd prize – Alexej Gorlach
3rd prize – Alessandro Taverna
4th prize – David Kadouch
5th prize – Wai-Ching Rachel Cheung
6th prize – Jianing Kong

2003 Competition

1st prize – Antti Siirala
2nd prize – Evgenia Rubinova
3rd prize – Yuma Osaki
4th prize – Igor Tchetuev
5th prize – Chiao Ying-Chang
6th prize – Sodi Braide

1996 Competition

1st prize – Ilya Itin
2nd prize – Roberto Cominati
3rd prize – Aleksandar Madzar
4th prize – Sa Chen
5th prize – Armen Babakhanian
6th prize – Ekaterina Apekisheva

1990 Competition

1st prize – Artur Pizzaro
2nd prize – Lars Vogt
3rd prize – Eric le Sage
4th prize – Balazs Szokolay
5th prize – Haesun Paik
6th prize – Andrei Zheltonog

1984 Competition

1st prize – Jon Kimura Parker
2nd prize – Jo Hee Suh
3rd prize – Junko Otake
4th prize – Louis Lortie
5th prize – David Buechner
6th prize – Emma Tahmizian

1978 Competition

1st prize – Michel Dalberto
2nd prize – Diana Kacso
3rd prize – Lydia Artymiw
4th prize – Ian Hobson
5th prize – Kathryn Stott
6th prize – Etsuko Terada

1972 Competition

1st prize – Murray Perahia
2nd prize – Craig Sheppard
3rd prize – Eugen Indjic

1966 Competition

1st prize – Rafael Orozco
2nd prize – Viktoria Postnikova
2nd prize – Semyon Kruchin
3rd prize – Aleksei Nasedkin
4th prize – Jean-Rodolphe Kars

Learning and engagement is becoming a core fabric of the organisation, utilising the world-class music making of the main competition as a starting point to attract new generations of both audiences and participants.
We have recently announced a major new partnership with the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. The Leeds and the Lang Lang Foundation have a shared passion for educating, inspiring and motivating the next generation of pianists and classical music lovers and both organisations aim to support talented young pianists in their professional development.

If you would like to work with The Leeds, or find out more about our plans, please contact Jenny Rogers (Learning and Engagement Director).

On Monday 21 May, our ‘Piano Fantasia’ brought the wonder and excitement of the piano to life for 1,200 primary school children at Leeds Town Hall!

Working in collaboration with pianist and entertainer Will Pickvance, and three inspiring Scholars from the Lang Lang Music Foundation, we created a show which explored the tremendous history and variety of the piano – delving inside the piano, following its keyboard ancestry, meeting some of its most infamous composers, and experiencing some of its most iconic pieces along the way:

The show combined live performances from Will and the three Lang Lang Scholars, with beautiful animations and audience interaction – all held together by the story of a young boy who asks Father Christmas for a spaceship, but receives a piano instead!

“Absolutely brilliant. Such a well planned and well written show. Well done” (Year 4 Teacher)

Over two performances we welcomed 1,200 primary school children from Leeds and West Yorkshire, enhancing their experience with a free worksheet for all pupils and introductory music workshops in the lead-up to the performances.

The ‘Piano Fantasia’ will be back at Leeds Town Hall in March 2019. Please contact Jenny Rogers (Learning and Engagement Director) to register your interest in being involved next year.

Our mission is The Piano.  We want to be the global leader in giving opportunities to the world’s most gifted young pianists and an exemplar in promoting the joys of playing the piano.

The idea of staging a piano competition in Leeds was that of local piano teacher and former concert pianist, Fanny Waterman. In bringing that idea to fruition Fanny Waterman was assisted by her husband Dr Geoffrey de Keyser and by Marion Thorpe, then Countess of Harewood. The first Competition was won by Michael Roll before a jury chaired by Sir Arthur Bliss. In 1966 and 1969 the chair of the jury was William Glock, who was followed by Lord Boyle of Handsworth for the next three competitions. In 1981 Dame Fanny Waterman, as she was to become in 2005, chaired the jury for the first time, continuing to do so until her retirement in 2015.

Leeds Town Hall has hosted all but one of the Competition’s finals (the exception being in 1975, when it was closed for extensive renovation). It provides a magisterial backdrop to the conclusion of the Competition, and it plays host to many notable Competition alumni every year.

Paul Lewis CBE

Paul Lewis is internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two Edison awards, three Gramophone awards, the Diapason D’or de l’Annee, the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the South Bank Show Classical Music award.

In the more than 40 years he has been performing on the concert stage, American pianist Murray Perahia has become one of the most sought-after and cherished pianists of our time, performing in all of the major international music centers and with every leading orchestra. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, with whom he has toured as conductor and pianist throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and South East Asia.