It was with a mixture of pleasure, excitement and nerves that I attended the final stages of this year’s Leeds International Piano Competition. The performances were at a consistently high level from a group of gifted and dedicated young musicians. The repertoire they chose included mainstream works as well as – a special feature of the 2024 competition – lots of music by women composers. But why nerves? For most of the audience, waiting for a performer to walk on stage creates a sense of anticipation. The sight of a packed hall, screens in the auditorium showing close-ups of the performer’s profile, not to mention the moving camera on stage (each performance was livestreamed for both medici.tv and YouTube), make it stressful for any audience member who is connected with one of the participants. On a personal level, this competition was of special significance as my eldest son Callum was selected from the initial 366 entrants as one of the 24 pianists invited to Leeds for the final stages of the event. Having a family member go through the whole process was an extraordinary odyssey. Callum had to record his initial recital in one take with no editing, and this was dutifully sent off to be listened to (audio only, no video) by a panel consisting of Adam Gatehouse, Katya Apekisheva, Clare Hammond, Charles Owen and Lucy Parham. They had no idea of any names and chose ‘blind’ 64 pianists to participate in the international round. This took place in April 2024 in six cities (Berlin, Beijing, New York, Paris, Seoul and Vienna). For this Adam Gatehouse was joined by Nino Gvetadze, Tom Poster and Noriko Ogawa. There was no live audience at this stage.

As Callum has been studying in Salzburg for the past six years, he opted to do the international round in Vienna, playing Barber’s Sonata and other works. He enjoyed the experience, but in many ways these early ‘pre-Leeds’ rounds are the most difficult of the competition, simply because the quantity of performers makes it very challenging to progress to the next stage. As a parent and someone who has mentored students in their preparation for previous Leeds competitions, I encouraged Callum not to expect too much. But after several weeks of waiting, notification came that he had been selected as one of 24 chosen for the second round, taking place in Leeds itself. The dream had become reality and Callum was faced with the Herculean task of preparing over four hours of repertoire.

The stipulated demands for the final stages of the competition could hardly have been more taxing, mixing free-choice solo repertoire with a specific list of concertos, chamber works and contemporary pieces. The young pianists were asked to prepare two alternative selections for the second round, the semi-final and the concerto final, with decisions on selections for semi-finals and concertos being made by the jury only after the results of each round were announced. This meant lots of planning for everything to be up to standard at the required time. Warm-up concerts, consultation lessons, exercise, sleep, nutrition, meditation and positive thinking were all part of the essential preparation: the Leeds is a marathon for all the entrants.

The single-minded dedication and long hours of work required to be prepared for a competition such as the Leeds cannot be overstated. Little time is left for anything else except the piano. On one level this is possibly unhealthy, but provided the players can move on from this period of intense preparation, it can strengthen a young pianist’s resolve. If you can survive and thrive after this process then you will emerge a better player and a stronger artist.

The pianists themselves were the most charming group of young people. I was impressed with the attitude of everyone I met. They were consistently gracious and generous in their praise of each other. Though there are many pianists who enter international competitions, the world they inhabit is small. Callum already knew over half of the pianists in the second round, people he had befriended at the Santander and Ferrol competitions – Carter Johnson, Pedro López Salas, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, Kai-Min Chang and Junyan Chen. They realise that competitions are unpredictable and that nothing can be taken for granted. Surprises are commonplace and to be expected. They dedicate their lives to achieving a level of excellence that will withstand the emotional and physical stresses of performing demanding programmes in a competition environment.

There were the inevitabe outcries when certain performers were not selected for the latter stages at Leeds while others were. We all have our favourites; personally I was disappointed that the Dang Thai Son student Sung Ho Yoo did not progress from the second round. One of the top winners of the Hamamatsu competition Tomoharu Ushida did, but he was not among the five concerto finalists – although he did win the Audience Prize. Kai-Min Chang, another student of Dang Thai Son, may not have progressed to the latter stages of the Ferrol Piano Competition a few years back but he fared magnificently at Leeds, with a particularly fine performance of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Chaconne, and made it to the finals. Julian Trevelyan’s fate was more dramatic: having failed to reach the last 24, he was called as a reserve only a few weeks before the second round and reached the concerto final, where he performed Bartók’s Third Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and their chief conductor Domingo Hindoyan.

For the second round, Callum was told he had to play Schumann’s Études symphoniques, a CPE Bach Sonata and some Lili Boulanger, rather than a programme that included Shostakovich and Reger, and he performed with courage. He was scheduled towards the end of the week, and when his name was read out at 11.30pm that Friday night as a semi-finalist, there was much jubilation. Twenty minutes later the 10 selected semi-finalists were informed which of their programmes they would be playing – in some cases with only a day and a half before their scheduled slot. This meant that Callum and a number of the others went straight off to practise, working into the night.

In the semi-finals the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective collaborated with the pianists in works as diverse as Ravel’s Trio, Shostakovich’s Quintet, Beethoven’s Ghost Trio and Fauré’s First Violin Sonata. It was especially fascinating to hear Amy Beach’s Op 67 Piano Quintet. The encouragement and motivation to present works by female composers was ubiquitous at Leeds this year, although it was a shame that none of the participants chose to play Clara Schumann’s attractive A minor Concerto in the final.

Listening to your students and/or children performing under these circumstances is stressful, so it was a huge relief when the closing bars of Brahms’s Handel Variations brought Callum’s 75-minute semi-final programme to a close. He survived, enjoyed the experience, and won many friends and admirers – including the offer of recitals in Germany as a direct result of his playing at the competition. Though he did not pass to the finals, the whole event was a hugely positive experience.

In the finals themselves, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko showed extraordinary maturity and control in Brahms’s colossal Second Concerto. Though not quite as authoritative but arguably more exciting, Junyan Chen made a hugely positive impression in Rachmaninov’s often elusive Fourth Concerto. She is a born performer and her communicative energy was especially impressive in her earlier performances of Bartók’s inhumanly challenging Études. Khanh Nhi Luong presented a rhythmically tight and disciplined Prokofiev Third, which followed a stream of beautiful performances, including Dutilleux’s Sonata and Beethoven’s Op 90. Kai-Min Chang showed admirable control and musical understanding in Beethoven’s Fourth, while Julian Trevelyan excelled in the lyrical yet densely concentrated and highly demanding world of Bartók’s Third. In the end there was no question in my mind that the jury chose the right winner, as Jaeden Izik-Dzurko won first prize. His Rachmaninov First Sonata and Ravel Miroirs were especially strong. Junyan Chen as second prize winner has already been signed by Askonas Holt and shows many of the essential attributes necessary for an enduring career. Khanh Nhi Luong was third, with Kai-Min Chang fourth and Julian Trevelyan fifth.

As in 2021 there was much going on outside of the competitive rounds themselves: community events; a gala recital from the 2021 winner Alim Beisembayev; ‘I Clara’ with Lucy Parham and Dame Harriet Walter; the Leeds Piano Trail with uniquely presented pianos and sculptures strategically positioned around the wider metropolis; parent/carer-and-baby sessions and family singalongs; and the remarkable Pianodrome, an interactive sculpture and event space combined as one. Long may the competition and its satellite activities continue to thrive and grow. This triannial event is a seminal part of the piano world’s structure, and the 2027 competition is already being planned and eagerly awaited.