XIII International Paderewski Piano Competition: Laureate Concert - Warszawa (24/11/2025)

On Monday, November 24^th, the Laureates performed a final concert in the hall of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw.

The first half of the evening began with the highest-ranked Polish pianist, Mr. Michał Oleszak, who started with a performance of the competition commission, Herdzin’s Arrectis auribus, from his second stage program, notable for it’s well-voiced octaves. This was followed by a performance of “Shéhérazade” from Szymanowski’s Op. 34 Masques, which—as during the first day of the first stage—represented Mr. Oleszak’s understanding of the composer’s style through an attention to voicing, tone color, and changes in articulation that effectively supported the music’s kaleidoscopic harmonies. Next, the third-place winner, Mr. Pin-Hong Lin of Taiwan, presented Handel’s Suite No. 3 in D minor from his Stage I program, featuring a clarity of individual voices that highlighted the contrapuntal motion and imitative entrances that permeate the piece. This clarity of texture continued in Mr. Lin’s performance of Paderewski’s Op. 10 “Au soir” and the Op. 14 “Intermezzo Polacco,” where it similarly enriched the music.

The second half of the evening featured the first-place winner, Ms. Hyunjin Roh of the Republic of Korea, who began with two works by Paderewski from her second stage program. In the Op. 9 Polonaise in B Major Ms. Roh effectively captured the energy of the dance, while in the Op. 16 “Melody,” her attention to tone color and melodic dissonances enhanced a singing soprano line. She concluded with the Schumann Op. 11 sonata from her semi-final program, where her concern for melodic shaping once again imparted a sense of direction. As with the rest of her program, she demonstrated a sensitivity to tone color throughout the piece, which was especially effective in the second movement where a pearlescent soprano line was accompanied by soft, resonant bass and tenor lines, falling like moonlit rain drops above the dark pools of cool water. The evening concluded with a surprise encore, for which Ms. Roh was joined by Mr. Pin-Hong Lin in a four-hand performance that highlighted their collaborative musicianship skills and was well-received by the audience.

With the end of this final laureate concert, the 13^th edition of the Paderewski International Piano Competition has officially concluded. Congratulations once again to all the laureates, and thank you to everyone who made the event possible, including the audience. We hope you will join us again in 2028 for the 14^th edition.