Second and third place go to Alexei Tartakovsky and Giorgio Lazzari
Hans Suh has won the Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn 2021. The 31-year-old pianist was crowned first prize winner on 11 December in front of around 800 spectators in the almost sold-out Telekom Forum. Alexei Tartakovsky and Giorgio Lazzari followed in second and third place.
Hans Suh convinced the nine-member jury chaired by Pavel Gililov with his interpretation of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37. The Beethoven Orchestra Bonn conducted by Hans Graf accompanied the final. Each of the three finalists had prepared two piano concertos by Beethoven. The selection of which one the young pianists would interpret took place after the semifinals on 8 December.
In addition, Hans Suh won the special prize "Audience's Favourite" for the best interpretation of a piano concerto in the final, which was determined by tele-voting, and also received the special prize for chamber music as well as the special prize for the best interpretation of a work by Robert Schumann.
Pavel Gililov, jury president and artistic director of the competition, underlines the achievement of the young participants:
Spreading Beethoven's music throughout the world and inspiring people for it is the core task of our truly international competition. This is demonstrated not least by our prize-winners, who come from South Korea, Russia/USA and Italy and thus from three continents. The fact that they have mastered the European musical language at such a remarkably high level is, among other things, the result of the Competition's international endeavours. Beethoven's legacy that "all people become brothers" is thus thoroughly fulfilled."
The first prize winner will receive prize money of 30,000 euros, the second winner 20,000 euros and the third-place winner 10,000 euros. In addition to these grants, the prize winners get numerous opportunities to perform in solo recitals and as soloists with orchestras worldwide. More than 30 concert engagements in seven countries in the next two seasons have already been fixed for the prize winners. Among others, piano recitals are scheduled in Düsseldorf, in the chamber music hall of the Beethovenhaus, in Montepulciano, Italy, as well as the piano series "Young Stars of Classical Music" in Kirchheimbolanden. In addition, a concert tour with eleven concerts will lead through Germany. The concert partner for the German tour is the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn.
Alexei Tartakovsky won the Deutsche Telekom StreamOn Beethoven Award, becoming the favourite of the live stream audience. Giorgio Lazzari won the special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work, played in the chamber music final on 10 December. Semifinalist Philipp Scheucher received the Beethoven House Prize and can look forward to an invitation to a recital in the Chamber Music Hall of the Beethoven House on 29 May 2022.