RBC pianist awarded first prize at Busoni International Piano Competition

UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 11 SEPTEMBER 2019

Bulgarian pianist Emanuil Ivanov – currently studying at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – has been awarded first prize in the Grand Finale of the 2019 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition.

Emanuil took the top spot with a performance of Saint-Saëns Concert n. 2 op. 22 in the final of the prestigious competition for young pianists in Bolzano, Italy on Friday 6 September.

The event, celebrating its 70^th anniversary in 2019, has seen past prize winners including internationally acclaimed pianists Alfred Brendel, Martha Argerich, Richard Goode and Maurizio Pollini.

Professor Julian Lloyd Webber, Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, said:

Born in 1998 in Bulgaria, Emanuil Ivanov studied with Professor A.Kurtev, before joining Royal Birmingham Conservatoire under the tutelage of Pascal Nemirovski and Anthony Hewitt.

In May 2019, Emanuil won both second prize and the Audience Prize at the prestigious Allessandro Cassagrande International Piano Competition in Italy.

Emanuil's studies at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire have been enabled by a generous Scholarship provided by the Denis Matthews Memorial Trust.