(Sept. 24) – Italian 24-year-old pianist Federico Colli has won the prestigious 2012 Leeds International Piano, held every three years and now in its 50th Anniversary year. The Finals, broadcast live by BBC Radio 3, saw Colli give an outstanding performance of Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto at Leeds Town Hall with the Hallé Orchestra directed by Sir Mark Elder. The other prize winners were Louis Schwizgebel from Switzerland ,Jiayan Sun from China, Andrejs Osokins from Latvia, Andrew Tyson from the USA and Jayson Gillham from Australia. Federico Colli, who will also collect a 18 thousand pounds prize, said: “It has always been my dream to win the Leeds International Piano Competition and I am absolutely overjoyed at being the First Prize winner of the 2012 Competition.” From today, Dame Fanny Waterman – Chairman and Artistic Director of the Competition – and Lang Lang – the Competition’s new Global Ambassador – will feature in a six-part BBC Four documentary about the Competition presented by Suzy Klein as part of the Piano Season on the BBC. The documentaries will be shown on consecutive Friday evenings from 7.30pm to 8.30pm. (red)
