Chopin Competition Endowment

Chopin's music is universally loved and is immediately recognisable. It appeals to the universal heart regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, nationality or place because it expressed the gamut of human emotions - of love, pain, sorrow, fear, despair, loss and longing - experienced by all humans on all five continents. UNESCO has recognized Chopin's universal status by declaring 1999 the Fryderyk Chopin International Year and placed the composer on its 'Memory of the World List', the cultural equivalent if the World Heritage List. Chopin was also voted the most popular composer with the most piano music Australians couldn't live without in the ABC's Classic 100 Piano Survey (2005).

The Chopin Competition, held every second year, is the only one of its kind in Australia and the region. It has both education and research components and includes a Composition Competition, Young Performers Competition, masterclass and performances on an 1847 Pleyel grand piano - Chopin's favourite instrument. This beautiful instrument provides a special music experience, with well-known and much-loved music heard on an instrument of Chopin's time. 

The Chopin Competition Endowment encourages performers of all ages to follow this 19th century tradition of romantic playing, reflecting the lyrical and poetic interpretive aesthetics of Chopin's own time and educates young pianists on how to perform Chopin according to Chopin. Donations to the Endowment will also assist engaging internationally recognised jurers, attract world-class musicians and provide prize money equivalent to the great piano competitions of the world.