Pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko’s name can be added to the growing list of young Canadian musicians who’ve taken home multiple international prizes. On September 21, the British Columbia native was named first prize winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition in the UK.
On receiving the jury’s verdict, Izik-Dzurko called the win an “indescribable honour”.
The prize comes with about $54,000 CAD in cash, along with a series of concert gigs that will see him performing with the Royal Liverpool Orchestra, as well as on stage at Wigmore Hall, and a recital tour across the U.K. and beyond.
Leeds International Piano Competition
The Leeds International Piano Competition was founded in 1963, and is held every three years. The competition is open to pianists under the age of 30 from anywhere in the world. Jaeden was one of three Canadians who made it to the second round. From that list of 24, nine (38%) of the finalists were women, partly due to measures, including blind judging, that the competition took to address systemic gender imbalance.
From there, the list was whittled down to ten for the semi-finals, and then five for the final round.
The full list of winners:
- 1st Prize: Jaeden Izik-Dzurko
- 2nd Prize: Junyan Chen
- 3rd Prize Khanh Nhi Luong
- 4th Prize Kai-Min Chang
- 5th Prize Julian Trevelyan
Special Prizes:
- Yaltah Menuhin Award: Junyan Chen
- Henle Urtext Prize: Ryan Zhu
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Award: Kai-Min Chang
- Alexandra Dariescu Award: Junyan Chen
You can check Jaeden Izik-Dzurko out wowing the judges and crowd at the Concerto Final on September 21, 2024 at St. George’s Hall, Bradford, performing Johannes Brahms Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op.83 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan:
Pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko
A native of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Jaeden studied at The Juilliard School, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree, and won the Gina Bachauer Scholarship Competition. He went on to complete his Master of Music degree at the University of British Columbia, adding private studies with renowned pianist Ian Parker, along with training at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold and at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
The Leeds win is not the first time that Jaeden has taken home the hardware in an international competition. He recently took home First Prize at the 2024 Montreal International Music Competition.
He was also First Prize winner at the 2022 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the 2022 Maria Canals International Music Competition. Jaeden earned the First Prize, the Canon Audience Prize, and the Chamber Music Award at the 20th Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition.
Jaeden has performed with orchestras across North America and in Europe, including the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, the Kamloops Symphony, the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, and the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, among others.
He has performed at Wigmore Hall, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, among others, as a recitalist.
Congratulations on a well-deserved win. Perhaps we’ll see Jaeden Izik-Dzurko in concert in Toronto sometime soon…
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