Bold Paths
Pianist Zhonghua Wei Makes His Debut at the Weimar Master Classes
It was something of a sensation: At the 2024 Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar–Bayreuth, Zhonghua Wei, a pianist just 16 years old, won the first prize of 12,000 euros, the audience prize, and the special prize for the best interpretation of a song transcription by Franz Liszt. Now the young Chinese pianist will once again perform for the Weimar audience on Monday, August 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Festsaal Fürstenhaus.
For his “debut” concert as part of the Weimar Master Classes, he has put together a virtuoso program: Character Pieces by Franz Liszt, with their fascinating contrasts—and, with the Petrarch Sonnet, a love poem set to music. Franz Schubert, meanwhile, ventures down his boldest paths with the *Wanderer Fantasy*. Four movements, a single idea: the Wanderer’s melancholic song runs as a central thread through a work that pushes the piano to its absolute limits, both technically and emotionally. Alexander Scriabin’s Fantasy in B minor, Op. 28, and his Prélude and Nocturne for the left hand, brimming with blazing intensity, are followed by a late-Romantic sonata in C-sharp minor by the forgotten master Sergei Bortkiewicz.
Zhonghua Wei was born in Guangzhou, China, in 2008 and began his piano training at the age of five with the Taiwanese-American pianist Jay Sun, head of the piano department at the Xinghai Conservatory’s middle school. From the very beginning, he displayed an astonishing natural talent for the instrument; he made his debut as a soloist at the age of ten and, by the age of twelve, had already mastered Johann Sebastian Bach’s entire *Well-Tempered Clavier*, the complete études by Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, and all of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano sonatas. Most recently, the French music magazine “Diapason” praised the then 14-year-old Zhonghua Wie for his “outstanding performance” of Unsuk Chin’s études and his “sensitive, joy-filled” interpretation of Robert Schumann’s “Symphonic Études.”
His successes in youth competitions include first prizes at the most prestigious Chinese national competitions—the “Pearl River Kayserburg” and the “Xinghai Cup”—as well as second prize at the “Steinway National Competition.” Starting in 2024, Zhonghua Wei began demonstrating his talent at international competitions. He won 4th prize at the 65th International Busoni Piano Competition, along with the Senior Jury Prize and the Special Prize for the best performance of contemporary piano music. At the 11th International Franz Liszt Competition Weimar–Bayreuth | Piano 2024, he won first prize, the Audience Prize, and the Special Prize for the best interpretation of a song transcription by Franz Liszt.
In 2025, Zhonghua Wei was awarded First Prize at the International Hilton Head Piano Competition for Young Artists, where he also received the Peter Takács Prize for the best classical sonata. In addition, in 2025 he won Third Prize at the International Piano Competition for Young Artists in Cleveland, along with a special prize for the best Bach performance.
Tickets are 15 euros (reduced rate: 10 euros) and are available at the Weimar Tourist Information Office and at the box office.
[3 August 2026]