19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition: Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand piano selected by 3rd prize winner and 5th prize winners

Kawai has provided instruments for official selection in the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition since the 11th edition held in 1985.
Throughout the competition period, Kawai staff, led by Mr. Mariusz Adamczak, Kawai Europa GmbH Poland Branch, provided full support to the contestants.
And Kawai’s most esteemed piano technicians, MPA (Master Piano Artisan), Hidemi Okubo, Yoshifumi Sato from Kawai Japan, and Naoto Ichikawa from Kawai Europe also played a pivotal role at this competition. They diligently worked on not only crafting the sound, but also contestant support through active communication.

Three Finalists, One Strategic Choice

Zitong Wang (China) – 3rd Prize + Krystian Zimerman Award for Best Performance of a Sonata

The 26-year-old protégé of legendary Chopin Competition winner Dang Thai Son captured not only the bronze medal but also the prestigious award for best sonata performance—worth an additional €10,000. Her finals performances of the Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat major and the Piano Concerto in E minor demonstrated exactly why she chose the SK-EX: its ability to paint with subtle colors while maintaining structural clarity.

Piotr Alexewicz (Poland) – 5th Prize

Representing the host nation, Alexewicz understood the weight of Polish expectation. His selection of the Shigeru Kawai spoke to confidence in finding his own voice rather than defaulting to convention.

Vincent Ong (Malaysia) – 5th Prize

Ong’s journey to the finals on the SK-EX added to the compelling narrative: three finalists, three different countries, one shared conviction about their instrument.

What These Pianists Discovered: The SK-EX Advantage

1. The Chopin-Specific Tonal Architecture

Chopin’s music demands something unique: the ability to create what pianists call “melt”—where melodic lines, inner voices, and bass foundations don’t just coexist but blend into watercolor-like sonic paintings. The SK-EX was engineered specifically for this.

The Kigarashi process—a proprietary natural wood-aging technique—creates soundboards from premium aged spruce that respond with warmth rather than brittleness. Where some concert grands prioritize projection and brilliance (essential for Rachmaninoff or Prokofiev), the SK-EX prioritizes tonal complexity and register integration—exactly what Chopin’s intricate passages require.

One competitor described it as having “a watercolor palette of sounds” that allows you to “intertwine registers seamlessly.” This isn’t marketing language—this is competitive intelligence.

2. The Millennium III Action: Speed Where It Matters

Chopin’s music is deceptively demanding. Those delicate passages in the Nocturnes? They require repetition speeds that can make or break a performance. The cascading notes in the Etudes? They demand absolute consistency under pressure.

The Millennium III ABS-Carbon Action in the SK-EX provides:

• Lightning-fast repetition capability
• Extended pivot length for greater control
• Reduced friction points for reliable technical execution

When you’re in the finals of the world’s most prestigious piano competition, “good enough” doesn’t exist. The action needs to be invisible—never fighting you, never surprising you, always responding exactly as intended.

The Competitive Context: Piano Selection at the 2025 Competition

To understand the significance of Shigeru Kawai’s success, consider the complete landscape:

Final Results and Piano Choices:

Placement	Pianist	Country	Piano
1st Prize	Eric Lu	USA
2nd Prize	Kevin Chen	Canada	–
3rd Prize	Zitong Wang	China	Shigeru Kawai SK-EX
4th Prize	Tianyao Lyu	China	–
4th Prize	Shiori Kuwahara	Japan	–
5th Prize	Piotr Alexewicz	Poland	Shigeru Kawai SK-EX
5th Prize	Vincent Ong	Malaysia	Shigeru Kawai SK-EX
6th Prize	William Yang	USA	–

■ About the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition

Established and inaugurated in 1927, the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition is one of the oldest music events of its kind in the world. 2025 will see the beginning of a series of special celebrations for its centenary. In the course of the past century, the formal aspects of the competition have constantly evolved, resulting in changing the number of its stages, programme, judging criteria, prizes, and also the media through which audiences have experienced the competition recitals. There have only been two elements of the Competition that have remained unchanged since its inception: Chopin’s music and the fascination of pianists and audiences alike. Another chapter in the hundred-year-long tradition is opening before us. The competition is organised by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

Official website: https://www.chopincompetition.pl/en

■ About the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX full concert grand piano

Unveiled in 2001 as the flagship instrument of the Shigeru Kawai line, the SK-EX concert grand piano is hand-crafted in limited numbers following a unique ‘prototyping’ creation process. In order to achieve the supreme range of expression required in a concert piano, each instrument utilises a variety of carefully selected materials, with premium aged spruce soundboards. Shigeru Kawai instruments adopt the advanced Millennium III keyboard action, featuring extended wooden keys and advanced ABS Carbon action parts, providing superior speed and responsiveness than conventional wooden action parts, allowing pianists to express a greater range of feeling and emotion in their performance.

Shigeru Kawai official website: https://www.shigerukawai.jp/en/