Andrey Gugnin wins top prize at Classic Piano International Competition

Andrey Gugnin receiving a €100,000 cheque at the final of the Classic Piano International Competition. - Copyright Credit: Dmytro Yeliseiev

By Emma Pearson

Published on 27/02/2024 - 12:10•Updated 29/02/2024 - 00:08

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The prestigious competition featured 70 pianists from around the world, with finalists performing alongside the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra in Dubai.

Andrey Gugnin has been crowned winner of Classic Piano International 2024.

Gugnin, who lives in The Netherlands, triumphed after a gruelling four rounds at Dubai’s Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, scooping €100,000 in cash and a life-changing ten-date concert tour with an honorarium of €50,000.

The 36-year-old played his way to the title with a stirring rendition of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, wowing judges at the hotel’s Zabeel Theatre.

Over the past three weeks, 70 virtuosos from around the world descended on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah for the third edition of the Classic Piano International Competition.

The final round saw nine competitors go head-to-head over three sensational nights, with each pianist performing alongside the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra (ASSO), led by founder, artistic director and principal conductor, Sergey Smbatyan.

The candidates were granted a wide degree of freedom for their choice of repertoire, with each performing one concerto from a list including seminal offerings from Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Robert Schumann, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt.

Second place went to Sunah Kim, 23, from South Korea, who took home €50,000 after impressing the jury with her rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.

Russian pianist Anastasiia Kliuchereva, 19, who came in third place, was awarded €25,000 for her rousing interpretation of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

The remainder of the finalists each took their own smaller shares of the competition's €250,000 total prize fund.

For Gugnin, however, the title is about more than just the prize money.

“I started playing piano when I was seven years old and it just felt very natural for me,” says Gugnin.

“I really enjoyed it and it was somehow very clear for me and my family that it was something I should do. I never had any like doubts and it's been a very natural process.”

The prize is the latest in a long string of successes for Gugnin, who will be taking on the role of artistic director at the OutWest Piano Fest this season.

Playing under pressure

Last year, he won the 2023 International German Piano Award and was awarded the 2020 Instrumental Award for his recording of Shostakovich: 24 Preludes – Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 by BBC Music Magazine.

Earlier accolades include first place at the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition and the gold medal at the XCI International Gina Bachauer Piano Competition.

“It’s really hard to describe my feelings because it's a mixture of feeling really good and feeling so exhausted after these three long weeks under enormous pressure, both physically and psychologically,” says Gugnin. “I still cannot really process the fact that I won as it’s not something I expected.

“In the final round, each participant could choose the concerto, so I chose the piece which is most dear to me and the one I’ve probably played the most.

“Despite the enormous feeling of stress and being nervous, I could feel a connection with music and despite being in a competition, the feeling of playing it was a really precious moment.”

Each performance was minutely scrutinised by the 15-member jury board that has been overseeing each phase of the competition, including British classical pianist and jury member Ashley Wass.

“It’s been fascinating to watch the performers grow from one round to the next,” says Wass.

“We’re under strict instructions to only judge on what we see here on any particular day, so I’ve found that my personal views have been shifting from one round to the next, which has been really interesting.

“Some are far more experienced and performing with orchestra than others. The age range represented in the final is vast, with the youngest being 14 and the oldest being 36.

“You can imagine this difference that makes in terms of just knowing how to play with orchestra but that doesn't necessarily mean anything because it's all about natural instinct and that ability to adapt.”

Both competitors and judges hail from around the world, with jury members from Austria, France, Germany and Italy joining counterparts from China, the US, the UK, Turkey, South Africa and South Korea – each looking for something different in the finalists.

“It was quite a diverse jury with lots of different backgrounds and lots of different professions,” says Wass. “I think we're all listening for slightly different things but that's fine. You trust in democracy.”