Prizes Given at the Walter Naumburg International Piano Competition for 2023

19-year-old Chinese pianist Yang (Jack) Gao has won $25,000, two opportunities to give recitals at Carnegie Hall, and a new work commissioned especially for him

The Naumburg International Piano Competition 2023, which is run by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, has recently come to a close. The final round was held on November 4 at the 92 Street Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall, and four finalists performed a full recital as well as two movements from separate concerti.

First Prize went to the 19-year-old Chinese pianist Yang (Jack) Gao. He is currently studying with Jerome Lowenthal at The Juilliard School, having studied with Huiqiao Bao, Xu Fei, and Elmar Gasanov at schools affiliated to the China Conservatory of Music. Gao has also won Juilliard's Gina Bachauer Piano Competition, as well as its concerto competition.

As part of his prize, Gao will receive $25,000, two opportunities to give recitals at Carnegie Hall, and a new work commissioned especially for him.

Second Prize of $15,000 went to the 27-year-old American pianist Anna Han, who recently received her Artist Diploma from the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin as a student of Sir András Schiff and Schaghajegh Nosrati.

Third Prize of $10,000 went to the 20-year-old American pianist Sahun (Sam) Hong, who won the 2017 Vendome Prize at Verbier and received Second Prize at the 2017 International Beethoven Competition in Vienna. 26-year-old American-Canadian Carter Johnson received the honorarium of $2,000.

In 2023, the jury comprised Anton Nel and Ursula Oppens (co-chairs), John Corigliano, Seth Knopp, Nicholas Mann, Ann Schein, Diane Walsh, and William Wolfram.

You can re-watch the competition's final round here.