Prize winners 2024

Zonghua Wei made his solo debut at the age of 10 and by the age of 12 had already studied the complete Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach, all the etudes by Chopin and Liszt, and all of Mozart's piano sonatas. Born in Guangzhou, China, in 2008, he initially enjoyed success in the national Chinese competitions Pearl River Kayserburg and Xinghai Cup, as well as a 2nd prize in the Steinway National Competition. In 2023, he ventured into an international competition for the first time and was immediately awarded first prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition for Young Artists. He also won third prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists.

After his initial piano training in his home country, Chia-Yang Hsu was accepted into Prof. Stepan Simonian's class at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre at the age of 16, where he completed his master's degree and is currently studying for his concert exam. Born in Yilan (Taiwan) in 1999, the pianist has already been invited to give solo recitals in China, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and the United Arab Emirates. He has performed with orchestras including the Xiamen Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra. In 2017/18, he won first prize and the C.P.E. Bach special prize at the ICoM piano competition and the special prize for song interpretation at the Gustav Mahler song competition in Hamburg.

Viktoria Baskakova received her training primarily at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg and the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, but she also studied for a time in the Weimar piano class of Prof. Christian Wilm Müller in 2018. Born in 1997 in Nyagan (Russia), she has already enjoyed success in numerous international piano competitions. In 2021, she won first prize at the Sigismund Halberg Competition and in 2023 she won third prize at the RPM – Sanremo Competition. Concerts have already taken her to the Gasteig in Munich, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, St. Catherine's Church in Vilnius (Lithuania) and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Israel), among other places.