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A Morning for a New Star

Competitions

19-year old Yifan Wu Wins the 2025 Busoni Prize in Bolzano

The Grand Final of a major international piano competition is typically an evening affair, full of excitement and anticipation. Yet, for the 2025 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, the climactic moment arrived on a Sunday morning at 10 a.m.—an unconventional time that set the stage for an unconventional winner.

While the other finalists delivered brilliant and technically impeccable performances, it was Yifan Wu, 19 years old, born in Shanghai and based in Kansas City, who captivated the audience with his profoundly compelling artistry. His playing left a distinct impression: there was something uniquely authentic and naturally convincing about his music. “I believe we should always say something new out of these old pieces,” acknowledging the tension between “respecting the composer and reflecting on your own ideas.” 
The competition's namesake, Ferruccio Busoni, similarly believed that artists should "make new laws, not follow laws already made."

Yifan Wu´s victory at the 2025 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition underscored the competition´s unique focus on identifying singular musical voices. Financial rewards may be important to some, but performance opportunities, exposure, and media presence by far exceed the appeal of a monetary prize:This year’s event saw a record 648 applications. The competition’s extensive outreach began a year earlier with the "Glocal Piano Project," which gave 113 young pianists the opportunity to play a livestreamed recital at a Steinway representation in 12 cities around the world. From these, thirty finalists were selected to compete in Bolzano, presenting a field of exceptional strength and artistic depth.

The jury was unusual as well: rather than including eminent educators and seasoned professors, it included active performers such as Lucas Debargue and Sergio Tiempo, and was chaired by the great opera director Sir David Pountney, who explained in the very beginning that jury decisions were not a sports-like judgment on artistic capacity, but a subjective response to exceptionally high-quality performances.

“if it is artistic expression that is the prime aim, then the issue of quality cannot be compromised…. We may be amazed and often moved by the journeys that have brought all these wonderful artists to take part here, but ultimately, however sympathetic we may feel, quality, however that is defined, is the only issue”

Sir David Pountney

This commitment to building a sustainable career, rather than just presenting a cash prize, is what truly sets the Busoni Competition apart. The previous winner, Arsenii Mun, received over 130 performance engagements following his 2021 victory. The 2025 edition has already demonstrated significant global reach, with close to one million streams of its performances online. 

Yifan Wu, Sandro Nebieridze, and Christos Fountos

Building on this foundation, the Busoni Competition continues to innovate with career development. A groundbreaking new initiative, "Meet the Conductor," has been launched to equip its laureates with insights beyond the keyboard. Recognizing that conductors often play key roles in the international cultural scene—influencing artistic programming, leading major institutions, and making long-term entrepreneurial decisions—this mentoring project connects Busoni Prize winners directly with these influential figures.
The first edition of "Meet the Conductor" boasts an extraordinary roster of mentors, with confirmed participation from maestros Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Ingo Metzmacher, Manfred Honeck, Vasily Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, Daniel Harding, Matthias Pintscher, and Lahav Shani.

Yifan Wu will be one of the first to benefit from this new project. “He is not merely an outstanding pianist”, says Artistic Director Peter Paul Kainrath, “Yifan Wu elevates interpretation into a creative act. Grounded in a profound reading of the score, Wu embodies a great gesture of freedom.”

To read more about Yifan Wu and listen to his and other competition performances, visit www.busoni-mahler.eu
 

Laureates:
First Prize: Yifan Wu (20)
Second Prize: Sandro Nebieridze (24)
Third Prize: Christos Fountos (28)

Major Special Prizes (for full list see here)
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize (endowed by the City of Bolzano) | not awarded
Maurizio Pollini Prize (endowed by Milano Musica): YungYung Guo
Audience Prize: Yifan Wu

Jury:
Sir David Pountney (Chair), HieYon Choi, Lucas Debargue, Josu De Solaun, Saskia Giorgini, Peter Jablonski, Sergio Tiempo, Mariangela Vacatello, Pi-hsien Chen

Artists:
Haydn Orchestra, Bolzano/ George Pehlivanian, Conductor

 

©WFIMC 2024/FR