RNCM Chopin Prize 07/03/2024
Our annual Chopin Prize sees finalists from our School of Keyboard Studies showcase their skills in honour of the virtuoso pianist and composer.
Chopin famously played just one concert in Manchester at the prestigious Manchester Gentleman’s Concert Hall in August 1848 to one of his largest audiences. Reviewed by the Manchester Guardian, he was warmly received and made a strong impression on the Manchester music scene. A statue of Chopin by artist Ludwika Nitschowa can be found on the RNCM concourse. It was erected in 1973 in honour of the 125th anniversary of Chopin’s appearance in Manchester.
First Half, Students from Chetham’s School of Music
Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in C minor op 48 no 1 / Etude in C sharp minor op 10 no 4
Julian piano
Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in A flat op. 32 no. 2
Kaixin piano
Frédéric Chopin Ballade no. 2 in F major/minor
Yurij piano
Frédéric Chopin Scherzo no. 2 in B flat minor op. 31
Marc piano
Frédéric Chopin Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brilliante
Patrick piano
interval
Second Half, Students from the RNCM
Frédéric Chopin Sonata No.3 in B Minor Op 5
Xizong Chen piano
Frédéric Chopin Mazurka in Ab major Op 59 No 2 / Andante Spianato et grande polonaise brillante Op.22
Yuxuan Zhao piano
Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in C Minor Op 48 No 1 / Scherzo No 2 in B Flat Minor Op 31
Liana Storey piano
Ian Jones adjudicator
Xizong Chen
Xizong Chen is a pianist from China and has shown a keen interest in music from a very early age but did not begin his formal training until he was eleven years of age. He has suffered from visual impairment since his childhood and now has poor eyesight.
Xizong got his master degree with distinction, and he is furthering his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of professor Frank Wibaut, and professor Graham Scott, head of keyboard study at the RNCM. In addition, he has had lessons with many international renowned pianists including Stephen Hough, Jean Efflam Bavouzet, Richard Goode, and so on. During his studies, Xizong has given many concerts and recitals within the RNCM and externally. He has just offered a place of artist diploma at the Royal College of Music from September 2024.
Xizong has performed with the Changchun Philharmonic Orchestra and Manchester Camerata Orchestra.
In 2023,He went through to the final round of the Chopin Prize and won the Beethoven competition at the RNCM, and won an award from the Craxton Memorial Trust.
Links to website and YouTube channel:
Yuxuan Zhao
Yuxuan Zhao is 21 years old and from China.
Born in 2002, he is currently studying for his undergraduate degree at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester.
Before coming to Manchester, Yuxuan studied as a Junior at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, winning many competitions such 2ndprize in the Korean Young Chang International Competition, 2nd prize in the Beijing International Musical Festival and Academy Competition, and 1st prize in the LUYI piano Competition.5
Yuxuan was awarded a full scholarship and Living Grant by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) to study at the RNCM with Professor Graham Scott.
Already in his first year of studies, Yuxuan won first prize in the UK Appelbe Piano Prize and the Mark Ray Recital Prize 2022. He also won the 3rd prize at the Birmingham International Piano Competition. In 2023, he won the 2nd prize in Sheepdrove Trust Piano Competition. In 2024, he won the prize in Yamaha Music Foundation Europe Scholarship.
Yuxuan has played throughout the UK including cities such as London, Newcastle, Manchester and Chester. He has also performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 with the Stockport Orchestra in Stockport Town Hall, and he has been played Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 with Burnley Orchestra and Shrewsbury Orchestra. In June 2023, Yuxuan played Mozart’s 9th piano concerto with orchestra in North Ireland.
Liana Storey
Liana Storey was born in Kansas City, USA in 2002 and began playing the piano at the age of four. She studied with Marina Sultanova at the International Center for Music at Park University, Missouri, where she was given regular opportunities to perform from a young age.
After moving from Kansas to Glasgow in 2010 she studied at the Junior department of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where her teachers included Marika Slater, James Willshire, and Graeme McNaught.
Liana has won prizes in the Moray piano competition in Elgin, the Young Pianist of the North International Piano Competition, and in the Junior Intercollegiate Beethoven Piano Competition. In the last five years she has given performances of Beethoven’s first Piano Concerto, Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor (K491), and Saint-Saens’ 2nd Piano Concerto with various orchestras.
She has attended several piano courses worldwide, where she has performed in masterclasses to several well-respected pianists such as Stanislav Ioudenitch, William Grant Nabore, Boris Berman, Artur Pizarro, James Giles, Jun Kanno, and Ilja Scheps.
In 2020, she moved to Manchester to study with Dina Parakhina at the Royal Northern College of Music. She is now in her 4th year, studying with Graham Scott.
During her time at the RNCM, Liana has taken part in many projects such as Michael Torke’s ‘Flint’ for two pianos, saxophone quartet, cello and bass; Leonard Bernstein’s Mass; and John Psathas’ ‘Voices at the End’ for 6 pianos.
Ian Jones
Ian Jones FRCM is Deputy Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music, London, and fellowship of the RCM was conferred on him by His Majesty King Charles III in 2014.
He is one of the UK’s most sought-after piano teachers and is frequently invited to give masterclasses in renowned institutions worldwide, including recent residencies at Universität des Künste in Berlin, Shanghai Conservatory and several USA universities such as Northwestern, Michigan, Rutgers, UCLA and San Francisco Conservatory. He is Artistic Director of the WPTA International Piano Competition, International Advisor for the Isidor Basic International Piano Competition in Serbia and often serves on the juries of other international piano competitions.
His career as Steinway Artist takes him around the globe to perform as guest artist and give masterclasses at numerous international music festivals. His own teachers, during studies in London, USA, Canada and France, included Maria Curcio, Gyorgy Sebok, Phyllis Sellick, Jerome Lowenthal and Alain Planès.
He has broadcast for radio and television networks internationally and his World Première performances and recordings of music by British composer Rebecca Clarke received much enthusiastic attention.
Classic FM magazine wrote that “Jones possesses the ‘pearl’ touch that marks out the finest Chopin exponents…his timing remains immaculate whatever the technical pressure.” International Piano praised “ magically veiled sonorities and exquisite pianissimo…reminiscent of 1970s Pollini” and Gramophone noted his ability to “transform passages often treated as superficial rhetoric into something thoughtful and communing”. BBC Music Magazine described his playing as having “a lyrical elegance and unselfconscious purity of expression.”
He was music advisor and composer/performer for the Oscar-nominated film Hilary and Jackie and has also written and performed music for France’s two national theatres in Paris and Strasbourg.
“A fine sense of line, volatility and rapt concentration informs Ian Jones’s performances” Classicalsource.com
