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Winners of the 23rd Iturbi Competition

Competitions

Nabeel Hayek wins the 2025 Edition of the renown piano competition in Valencia

Nabeel Hayek, A Christian-Arab born in Nazareth, Israel, was awarded First Prize at the 23rd Iturbi international Piano Competition in Valencia Spain. He receives €30,000 in prize money from the Diputació de València, as well as the opportunity to make a CD recording and undertake a concert tour.

Aged just 23, Hayek has already made solo appearances with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra – Rishon Lezion, and the Galilee Chamber Orchestra. He has also appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, the Lieven Piano Foundation in Vienna, and the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Society. A graduate of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, where he studied with Arie Vardi and Asaf Zohar, Hayek is now studying with Julian Martin at The Juilliard School.

Second Prize was awarded to Uladzislau Khandohi, while Third Prize went to Ruggiero Fiorello.

The Iturbi Prize was established in June 1981 with the aim of honouring and preserving the legacy of the great Valencian pianist José Iturbi, who passed away on June 28, 1980, in Beverly Hills, California. At the same time, it emerged as a platform to support young talents embarking on their careers in the demanding world of piano performance, just as Maestro Iturbi once did.
The Valencia Iturbi International Piano Competition, held biennially, celebrated its 22nd edition in 2023. It returns in 2025 with renewed enthusiasm to host its 23rd edition, reaffirming its commitment to artistic excellence and the promotion of emerging talent.
This new phase of the Iturbi Prize is marked by the appointment of the acclaimed Spanish pianist Joaquín Achúcarro as Artistic Director in December 2019.

Nabeel Hayek, First Prize 2025

Embodying the innovative spirit of José Iturbi—who brought the music of his time to major U.S. stages such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit—the Prize is also committed to contemporary creation. For the 2025 edition, a commissioned work by composer Sebastián Mariné will be premiered during the Semifinals.
Over its more than forty-year history, the Competition has welcomed distinguished jury members including Alicia de Larrocha, Alexis Weissenberg, Jenő Jandó, John O’Conor, Pascal Rogé, Andrea Lucchesini, Henry Barda, Rosa Sabater, Maria Tipo, Sulamita Aronovsky, Dmitri Bashkirov, Joaquín Soriano, Joaquín Rodrigo, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Eduardo López-Chávarri, and Menahem Pressler, among many others.
The Iturbi Prize has attracted participants from all five continents, with a particularly strong connection to pianists from the former Eastern Bloc during the final years of the Cold War—several of whom achieved top prizes.

 

2025 Winners
First prize: Nabeel Hayek (23), Nazareth
Second Prize: Uladzislau Khandohi (24), Minsk
Third Prize: Ruggiero Fiorella (23), Montevarchi, Puglia (Italy)

Jury
Joaquín Achúcarro (President), Catherine d´Argoubet, Nikolai Demidenko, Janina Fialkowska, Ana Guijarro, Paul Hughes, Jorge Luis Prats, Nicola Sani, Didier Schnorhk

Artists
Orchestra of Valencia/ Guillermo Garcia Calvo, Conductor
 

©WFIMC 2025