When Szymon Nehring became the only Polish pianist to qualify for the finals of the 17th Chopin Competition in 2015, the music press at home and abroad couldn’t get enough of him. Although he didn’t go on to win a prize, the publicity certainly didn’t do him any harm. And the real bombshell came in May last year, when Nehring was crowned as winner of the Artur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv! As well as winning the gold medal, he was showered with special prizes, including best interpretation of a composition by Chopin, best participant aged 22 or under, and young jury and audience awards.

So what came next? He went on to study with Boris Berman at Yale University, appeared for the first time in front of New York audiences at Carnegie Hall, debuted at Wigmore Hall in London, toured China and Japan… The young pianist – surely on his way to major success – appears on 28 January at the Kraków Philharmonic, performing works by Beethoven, Chopin, Szymanowski and Stravinsky. (Barbara Skowrońska)

Szymon Nehring – piano

in programme: Ludwig van Beethoven, Fryderyk Chopin, Karol Szymanowski, Igor Stravinsky