Nguyen Viet Trung performs at the first round of the Competition. Photo courtesy of Chopin2020.pl website

Music fans in Vietnam have been enthralled since Trung got to play in the competition, which started on October 2nd and shall end October 23. 

Taking place at 5-year interval, the competition, supposedly to have taken place in 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Born in 1996 in Hanoi to Vietnamese parents, he grew up in Warsaw and went to study music with Polish teachers. He is a student of Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. He has won many prizes in piano competitions, including fifth prize in the National Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw (2020), the grand prix in the Vietnam International Chamber Music Competition (2019), third prize in the Karlovac International Piano Competition in Croatia (2019), and the grand prix and first prize in the All-Poland CEA Auditions (2014).

He had his first public concert aged 11 with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra in Hanoi. He also performed at the Artur Rubinstein Festival in Łódź (2019) and the Frost Chopin Piano Festival (2018). As a soloist, he has played with the Vietnamese Symphony Orchestra, Hanoi Symphony Orchestra and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. He has given concerts in Poland, the US, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Vietnam and Japan.

Forty years after world-acclaimed pianist Dang Thai Son won Grand Prize at the 10th Chopin competition, this is the second contestant who holds a Vietnamese citizenship.

Source: Vietnam News

Online piano competition calls for applications

Despite staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, young pianists can still showcase their talent by participating in an online piano competition that is calling for applications till April 20.