Yifan Wu the 21 year old winner of the 2025 Busoni Competition making his London debut at Steinway & Sons in an agreement sealed many years ago with the founders of the Keyboard Trust.
A competition that Noretta Conci had frequented since the first edition in 1949 when her lifelong friend and eventual trustee of the Trust , Alfred Brendel, was awarded fourth prize and Bela Siki fifth.
This young Chinese pianist demonstrated much more than his twenty one years as he showed himself to be immersed in a world of a different age .
Speaking perfect English which he learnt via his passion for the great British cinema of the 40’s and 50’s . The Ealing comedies and especially keen on Margaret Lockwood whose daughter Julia I can just about remember as Peter Pan on the stage of the Scala Theatre that was demolished at least fifty years ago.
‘ Kind Hearts and Coronets’, ‘In which we Serve’ , ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ and many others with actors that Yifan identifies himself with. It is the same passion that he has for the performing practices of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, that informs his own playing .
A knowledge of the very earliest studio recordings and even those of the piano roles of the time. It was this complete immersion in the past that inspired his playing as he improvised between pieces that as if by magic became Beethoven’s Rondo in C op 51, Mozart’s Sonata also in C or the eight fantasies that make up Schumann’s Kreisleriana.
He showed us his own very personal but informed interpretations in this hour long presentation recital.
He even chose to play as an encore a Scarlatti Sonata but from the hands of Tausig. I have not heard Scarlatti played in this way since Cherkassky who would delight with his multicoloured playing of another era when Scarlatti would occasionally appear on programmes of showpieces and transcriptions under the titles such as ‘ Pastorale and Capriccio’. Much frowned on in this era of authenticity and absolute fidelity to the scores handed down to us directly from the composers hand.
Playing from the score to alleviate a sense of panic and allow himself total dedication to the recreation of the music as it might have been played by the pianists of the so called Golden era of piano playing or even in the actual period in which the ink was still wet on the page.
The pianists Lucas Debargue and Sergio Tiempo ( both on the jury of the 2025 Busoni Competition ) have even created their own movement in which they claim that in an age when there is a uniformity of performance we need to free ourselves from the printed score and bring a new life to well worn works. Looking into the meaning behind the notes and the performing practices of the antique even if limited instruments of the day.
Andras Schiff , on the other hand declares that he only plays a limited repertoire of great works because a lifetime is not enough to delve ever deeper into the scores to find the meaning of the composers indications on the printed page . Gone are the performing practices that people like Robert Levin or Richard Goode have enlightened us with from scores that have been overburdened by the personal freedom of performers of the past who were more entertainers than interpreters.
Yifan is a passionate and dedicated young man extraordinarily well informed and ready to share his passion as he did with us via his music making. Also in the very interesting discussion he had with Elena Vorotko, who apart from being co artistic director of the KT, is a fellow of Historic Instruments at the Royal Academy .
Yifan’s performances were always of commanding authority and a deep concentration as he delved into the music recreating many moments with inspired intuition contrasted with other moments of what would seem wilful distortion .They were performances that did not leave you indifferent but evoked feelings that ranged from complete ravishment to anger.
There was a continual arpeggiating of chords especially in the left hand and adding deep bass notes sometimes with such surprise that we jumped in our seats. A wake up call indeed but in the end this continual adding and arpeggiating became predictable and in the end boring.
Many of Alfred Cortot’s recorded legacy of a poetic genius can only be listened to for a limited amount because of the mannerisms of his age. Moments of enlightened poetic inspiration in Cortot’s case inspired by a deep knowledge and respect for the text. This was the basis for the inspirational performances of Rubinstein , Pollini or Perahia where the mannerisms of a past age were put aside with instruments that no longer needed help to resonate or to project.
This was a recital by a dedicated young man which provoked and made us rethink our values . Masterly piano playing and a chameleonic sense of colour from a passionate advocate of all he does.
The one thing that is sure is his undying love for the sounds of this black box of hammers and strings that can be made to sound like the Philadelphia or Caballe .
The problem is as Karl Ulrich Schnabel once said to a student, who has since become a celebrated artist on the world stage, ‘ so you are a composer but with the notes that are not your own!’
Fou Ts’ong listened to Cherkassky having listened to a pianist riding on the fame of a clamorous dissent in the Chopin Competition. I suggested that they both were rather free with the printed score . Tsong who was the most inspired and passionate man I have ever known , shrieked : ‘But Shura loved the piano, this man hates it !’
There is no doubt that Yifan is a master pianist who loves the piano but whose performances may always provoke but will never leave you indifferent .
Indifference is the death to any relationship and I am sure that we will all be convinced by Yifan’s love for music as he gains more experience sharing his music making on the world stage.
‘Chapeau’ Maestro Yifan Wu.
Winner of the 2025 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition
 Mozart Sonata No. 10 in C major K.330 Beethoven Rondo in C major Op.51 No. 1 Schumann Kreisleriana Op. 16 Wednesday 11 November at 6.30pm Steinway Hall This one-hour recital will be followed by a short, informal interview with Yifan to talk about his life and choice of music. . Yifan Wu was born in 2005 into a non-musical family, and began his piano studies at the age of 14 with Prof. Yunlin Yang. He is currently studying with Prof. Ioudenitch at Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, Spain.His has won top prizes in the Singapore International Piano Competition and Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition. His performances have taken him to many prestigious venues in China: Shenzhen Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Shanghai Conservatory Opera House, He Luting Concert Hall (Shanghai), Qintai Concert Hall (Wuhan), Tianjin Juilliard Recital Hall, SOTA Concert Hall (Singapore) as well as Carnegie Hall (New York). He has also performed concertos with renowned conductors including Daye Lin, Yifan Sun, Stefan Vladar, Peng Liu, and Xiao’ou Zhao, appearing with orchestras such as the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra.In November 2024, Yifan was named a Young Steinway Artist by Steinway & Sons Asia Pacific Headquarters, joining the international community of Steinway Artists. In 2025 he won 1st Prize in the Ferrucio Busoni International Piano Competition.Besides piano playing, he is also a keen photographer, winning several international awards including the 2022 Architecture Photographer of the Year in the International Photography Awards. His work has been exhibited in New York, Shanghai, and Budapest. |
On Sunday 29th November 2026 at 11 am , the city of Trento will celebrate this great much loved lady, Noretta Conci, at ‘her’ Filarmonica .
Surrounded by eight wonderful musicians who have come together to celebrate and thank her for her unstinting dedication of helping young musicians.
Gradus ad Parnassum.
Together with her husband ,John Leech ,they created the Keyboard Trust, an invaluable friend to all aspiring young musicians.
Performances by Evgeny Kissin and his colleagues Francesco Libetta , Alessandro Taverna , Stefano Greco , Vitaly Pisarenko , Sasha Grynyuk , Elena Vorotko and Giovanni Bertolazzi.
Together with just a few heartfelt words from her friends, Marco Gambino, Valentina Lo Surdo and Moritz von Bredow
It will be a memorable occasion celebrating a great lady in her own much loved city .
