Young Croatian Pianist Ivan Krpan Wins Prestigious International Competition

Big success for 20-year-old Croatian pianist Ivan Krpan (Photo: Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition)

Big success for 20-year-old Croatian pianist Ivan Krpan who has won one of the world’s most prestigious competitions.

Krpan, who is a 5th-year student at the Music Academy in Zagreb, has won the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition held in the Italian city of Bolzano on the weekend.

Ivan Krpan (Photo: Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition)

On the Grand final evening, Krpan played Ludwig van Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concert along with the Haydn Orchestra.

Ivan Krpan (Photo: Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition)

Korea’s Jaeyeon Won took second place, whilst Russian Anna Geniushene was third.

Krpan was born in Zagreb and began studying the piano at the age of 6 at the Blagoje Bersa Music School in Zagreb, under the tutelage of Renata Strojin Richter.

From 2013, he has been studying piano with Ruben Dalibaltayan at the Music Academy in Zagreb. He has won several first prizes in national and international piano competitions: first prize in the EPTA International Piano Competition in Bruxelles in 2014, 1st prize in the International Piano Competition Young Virtuosi in Zagreb in 2014, 2nd prize in the International Danube Piano Competition in Ulm (Germany) in 2014 and 1st prize in the International Piano Competition in Enschede (The Netherlands). In 2015 he won 4th prize in the 1st International Zhuhai Mozart Competition in Zhuhai (China).

Recently he won the annual Ivo Vuljević prize awarded by the Jeunesses Musicales Croatia for the best young musician in Croatia in 2015. He has participated in masterclasses of Dalibor Cikojević, Siavush Gadjiev, Ruben Dalibaltayan, Djordje Stanetti, Kemal Gekić, Pavel Gililov and Klaus Kaufmann. He won a special prize from Dean of Zagreb Music Academy in 2014.