The winner’s first reaction to declaring his victory was simply, “Oh my God! I don’t know what to say.” He then recovered by declaring that he had dreamed of this moment “like all the other participants present on this prestigious podium.”

Then young Liu, 24, added that having the chance to “play Chopin in Warsaw is one of the most beautiful things you can imagine.”

He continued, “I am really honored with this award of course, as well as the trust of the jury and the reception I have received in recent days.”

According to the biography available on the competition website, Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu is a graduate of the Montreal Conservatory of Music. He studied with Richard Raymond and had the opportunity to play with Orchester Symphonique de Montréal, Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic and Orchester des Amériques.

The great participation in the Chopin competition opens the doors of the world’s major concert halls to pianists and usually paves the way for excellent recording contracts with major publishing houses.

The competition, which takes place every five years, had to be postponed last year due to the pandemic.

The other finalists were Leonora Armellini from Italy. JJ Jun Li Bui from Canada; Alexander Gadzhiev from Italy and Slovenia. Martin Garcia Garcia of Spain; Eva Gevorgyan from Russia and Armenia; Jacob Koszlick and Kamel Patchulix from Poland; Aimee Kobayashi and Kyuhi Soreta from Japan; Hao Rao from China; And Lee Hyuk from South Korea.

Observers stressed that the competition has been particularly tough this year and that it has been very difficult to identify a clear candidate.

Alexander Laskovsky, a spokesperson for the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, which organizes the competition, commented that all the finalists were “exceptional artists”.

The second prize went to Alexander Gadzhiev and Kyohi Soreta, while the third prize went to Martin Garcia Garcia.

Quebec Charles Richard Hamlin placed second in the previous competition presented in 2015.