Prizewinners Announced at France's Orléans International Piano Competition

35-year-old Ukrainian pianist Svetlana Andreeva received First Prize at this competition for contemporary music

35-year-old Ukrainian pianist Svetlana Andreeva has been named the winner of the 16th International Piano Competition of Orléans. Now in its 30th year, the competition focuses on contemporary music, and features exclusively works from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Alongside Andreeva, the final round featured the British-South African pianist Leo Gevisser and the Japanese pianist Misora Ozaki. They performed alongside Ensemble Intercontemporain at Paris's Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, and the final also featured the premiere of a new work for three pianists and an ensemble by Bastien David.

Gevisser was ultimately awarded Second Prize (as well as extra prizes named for Henri Dutilleux and Elliott Carter, and the audience prize), while Ozaki came third and received the Isang Yun prize.

For the First Prize, Andreeva received €12,000, a professional studio recording of an original project and its distribution on the French and international markets, and a tour of concerts and masterclasses in the Centre-Val de Loire region, in France and abroad. She will also receive two years of career development support and mentoring.

Her additional prizes were the Edison Denisov Prize, the Blanche Selva Scholarship, and the Samson François Prize.

Hailing originally from Dzhankoy, Ukraine, Svetlana Andreeva studied the piano at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Professor Natalia Trull and completed composition studies with Professor Leonid Bobylev. She has also recently undertaken further study with Professor Stefan Arnold at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin.

She is a prizewinner of the Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz, the Southern Highland International Piano Competition in Australia, the Campillos International Piano Competition, the Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meryem International Piano Competition, and the Scriabin International Piano Competition in Moscow.

In 2022, she made her Paris recital debut at the Salle Cortot, and in 2023, she made the world premiere recording of Christian Schittenhelm's piano concerto AIR with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.