Back

Elia Cecino wins the 2023 Iturbi Prize

Competitions

The Iturbi Prize, organised by the Provincial Council or Diputació of Valencia, has announced the winners of the Valencia International Piano Competition in the different categories at a gala presented by Laura Grande and Martín Llade, which took place at the Teatro Principal on Saturday 10th June.

The jury, chaired by Joaquín Achúcarro and including leading personalities from the international piano and music scene such as Catherine d'Argoubet, Edmon Colomer, Ana Guijarro, Paolo Pinamonti, Jorge Luis Prats, Didier Schnorhk and Josu de Solaun, decided to award the first prize to Elia Cecino (22, born in Treviso, Italy). The second and third prizes went to Anthony Ratinov and Rachel Breen, after having assessed each candidate’s performances throughout the entire competition, including two recitals and two concerts with the Valencia Orchestra conducted by Álvaro Albiach in more than three hours of performance. 

Cecino has received 30,000 euros as the winner of the contest, and will record an album with the IBS Classical label; Ratinov has earned 20,000 for the second prize; and Breen 10,000 for the third. The musicians will be performing a concert tour. The three finalists who did not reach the Grand Final were Sergey Belyavsky and Anastasia Vorotnaya  as well as Djordje Radevski, who each received 5,000 euros. Belyavsky also earned 3,000 euros as the best finalist not awarded with the first, second or third prize, from the Valencia City Council.
 

Elia Cecino, Winner of the 2023 Iturbi Prize

Anthony Ratinov, Second Prize

Rachel Breen, Third Prize

Achúcarro, the artistic director and chair of the jury, stressed that "I think Valencia can feel satisfied with the result of this Iturbi Prize. There have been 184 applications, which thanks to the tremendous work by Ana Guijarro, Carles Marín and Ángel Sanzo were whittled down to the contestants who have been playing at the Teatro Principal as of 31st May. The jury has had to work hard and deliberate after listening to each candidate in their four performances. We have awarded three prizes, possibly leaving out some great pianists. Musician’s lives and careers are quite long, which I can confirm, and the future will tell if we have made the right choices.” 

For her part, the coordinator and artistic advisor, Ana Guijarro, stressed that "we have made a very positive assessment of the contest, and soon we will analyse this twenty-second prize in more detail." The pianist, who was also on the pre-shortlist jury, considers that "the Iturbi Prize gives a great boost to the artistic careers of the award-winning participants, contributing decisively to fostering their artistic careers."  

 

©WFIMC 2023