Prizewinners Announced at Zurich's Géza Anda Competition for 2024

Russian pianist Ilya Shmukler received First Prize of 40,000 CHF

Zurich's Concours Géza Anda, a piano competition that takes place every three years, has recently concluded its 2024 edition.

In the final round, the three pianists performed a concerto with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, conducted by Paavo Järvi. In addition, they each played the compulsory encore, Etude I-VI: No. 1 "2 Lines" by jury member Toshio Hosokawa.

First Prize of 40,000 CHF was won by Ilya Shmukler (Russia), while Second Prize of 30,000 CHF was shared between Daumants Liepiņš (Latvia) and Dmitry Yudin (Russia).

Ilya Shmukler has also previously been a laureate of the New York Virtuoso, Lewisville Lake Symphony, Artist Presentation Society (St. Louis), Shigeru Kawai (Tokyo), Sсriabin–Rachmaninov (Bulgaria), and Rachmaninov (St. Petersburg) competitions. He also reached the finals of the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition.

Shmukler received his master’s degree from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2021, where he studied with Elena Kuznetsova and Sergey Kuznetsov. Presently, he studies with Stanislav Ioudenitch at the International Center for Music at Park University in Parkville, Missouri.

In 2024, the Géza Anda jury comprised Rico Gulda, Martha Argerich, Ricardo Castro, Zlata Chochieva, Lucas Debargue, Konstanze Eickhorst, Toshio Hosokawa, Robert Levin, and Dénes Várjon.

You can watch the final in full below.