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The Leeds international piano competition is to be reintroduced under the direction of Sir Stephen Hough. The pianist is leading a major change to the three-year competition that began in 1963. He will also be the head of the international jury that includes fellow pianists Piotr Anderszewski, Lucas Debargue, Yeol Eum Son, Kathryn Stott and Master of the King’s Music, composer. Errolyn Wallen.
The 2027 competition will have an age limit of over 35, and the contestants will have free choice in the music they sing, be it Couperin or Copland, Boulez or Busoni.
“I didn’t want to be on the juries and I didn’t like the competition,” Hough said. They can seem like a lot of tests when you’re trying to impress your competitors. Leedsmaybe there is something a little different that we can do here, and find a way to give young musicians a platform to show us who they are. Everyone is not good at everything.
“A lot of times competitions are like an extension of your final exam at music college. But we want to know what you’ll do when you’re asked to perform at Wigmore Hall or Carnegie Hall? Give us a show, show us your best side so we can see the best of you, not the mediocre version of everything.”
For the finale, the finalists will present three concertos (again, each, instead of being chosen from a pre-arranged list) that they will be happy to perform with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and its principal conductor Domingo Hindoyan. Hindoyan, Hough and one of their fellow judges will choose the work they want to hear in the final act.
Raising the age limit – many competitions restrict competitors to under 30 years of age, and some of the innovations. “We’re not expecting a lot of 33- and 34-year-olds to come in – although they’re welcome to,” says Hough. “But I wanted to send a message to the younger players that there is no rush for this. Don’t think that, you know, you have to suddenly compete before you get old. You have time.
“It comes from something my great piano teacher Gordon Green said to me when I was a teenager, ‘I’m not interested in the way you play now.
Hough was born in Wirral and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. He said: “Ever since I was a kid I’ve been in awe of the Leeds team. The finals of the competition are broadcast on BBC Two; in recent years, BBC Radio 3 has broadcast finals and finals, and a partnership with Medici TV sees the finals being shown and available on catchup. The content will also be available on Leeds’ YouTube channel as well. leedspiano.com.
Previous winners of the prestigious competition are Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia, the finalists are Mitsuko Uchida and Sir András Schiff, Lars Vogt and Federico Colli. Only two women won the competition – Sofya Gulyak in 2009 and Anna Tsybuleva in 2015, both Russian born. Even in recent years, the finals at Leeds have been dominated by male players; blind listening to the first round of Leeds it was introduced in 2024 and will continue to be so in the 2027 race.
“We have to remember these things and make sure there’s no cognitive bias, and that we’re not promoting any style,” says Hough, adding that “by the time you’re 20 years old on stage in Leeds, you’re too late to think critically and represent.
Along with the grand prize of $50,000 will be contemporary music, for the most successful, the new Leeds Piano Trail award (for a compelling vision of a community-focused project to be created and delivered in 2028), and an audience award. “If the audience disagrees with the judges, that, to me, would be a good thing,” Hough said. “This is not a test, but a platform. I want to move away from the idea that there is one winner. Choosing the winner is something known and fixed. Some day other judges may come with different results.
“Leeds put itself on the map in search of ideas, poetry, a deep kind of music. This has remained,” he said. “At the end of the day, we just want to find someone who makes a difference in our lives while they’re doing it.”
