Founded in one thousand nine hundred seventy-fourth, the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel, is held every three years. This year’s participants performed with the Camerata Jerusalem and conductor Avner Biron, as well as the Israel Philharmonic with Yoel Levi. First prize winner, eighteen-year-old Kevin Chen impressed the jury with a ion of works including Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and a Brahms piano trio. His award included the Gold Medal of $forty.000 and an extra .000 to go toward his career advancement fund. He also received the Advanced Studies Grant, which involves $1.000 a year for three consecutive years. His winning performance can be viewed below.
Chen is familiar with the contest stage, having recently won the Concours de Genève in two thousand twenty-second. The second prize and $20.000 went to 23-year-old Georgian pianist Giorgi Gigashvili. He was also the recipient of the $6.000 Chamber Music Prize; the $3.000 Audience Favorite Prize; the Jr Jury Prize of $2.000; and the Israeli Piece Prize of $3.000 — which was also received by Chinese pianist Jiacheng Xiong. Japanese pianist Yukine Kuroki, twenty-four, won the third prize and Bronze Medal of $10.000. She also won the Classical Concerto Prize of $5.000 and an extra .000 for her career advancement fund. Other awards involved finalists' prizes of $6.000 each to Elia Cecino, Caheyoung Park, and Alberto Ferro. The $2.500 Israeli Performer Prize went to Jonathan Senik, and the $1.000 Jr Jury Encouragement Grant was awarded to Gippe Guarrera. Senick, Itamat Prag, Almog Segal, Tom Zalmanov, and Mariamna Sherling were awarded the encouragement prize for Israeli competitors and won $800 each.
After receiving hundreds of applications, the two thousand twenty-three edition of the contest featured thirty-six participants, aged between eighteen and thirty-two, 18 countries. Chaired by Arie Vardi, the jury comprised Asaf Zohar, Émile Naoumoff, Janina Fialkowska, Kataryna Popowa-Zydron, Noriko Ogawa, Robert Levin, Ronan O´Hora, Taiseer Elias, Xiaohan Wang, and Yoheved Kaplinsky. Across more than 40 years of the competition’s history, its former winners have included Gerhard Oppitz, Angela Cheng, Alexander Korsantia, Kirill Gerstein, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Igor Levit, Khatia Buniatishvili, Boris Giltburg, Daniil Trifonov, and many others.
