History

The first Volodymyr Krainev Competition for Young Pianists was held in March 1992 in Kharkiv on the initiative of the teaching staff and personally the director of the Kharkiv Secondary Specialised Music Boarding School (now the Kharkiv State Music Lyceum – Steinway School) Valery Altukhov, who was warmly and sincerely supported by the outstanding pianist of our time, People’s Artist of the USSR and Ukraine, professor at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, winner of international competitions, Volodymyr Krainev, whose childhood years were spent in the Kharkiv School.
The first competition, held in the spring of 1992, was attended by 90 young musicians from 12 countries. The organizing committee decided to hold the competition every two years in Kharkiv in the last decade of March.
The second competition, held in 1994, attracted 70 participants and was held in three rounds. For the first time, the finalists performed the programme of the third round accompanied by a symphony orchestra.
In the spring of 1996, the third competition was attended by about 90 participants from 10 countries.
A significant event in the life of the competition took place in 1997. It became a member of the European Union Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY) and gradually became known among creative young people.
The fourth competition was held in 1998 and brought together 100 participants from 14 countries.
The fifth V. Krainev Competition for Young Pianists was held in March 2000. It was attended by more than 80 young musicians from 16 countries.
The sixth competition, held in 2002, brought together 100 young musicians from 12 countries.
More than 60 young pianists from 11 countries took part in the seventh international competition in 2004.
The eighth international competition, held in 2006, was attended by 94 young pianists from 13 countries.
In 2008, the ninth competition was held, with 46 young pianists from 13 countries taking part.
In 2010, the tenth anniversary competition was held, with 52 young pianists from 9 countries taking part.
The XIth Competition in 2012 was held, unfortunately, without Volodymyr Krainev (1944-2011), with 37 participants from 8 countries.
In 2014, due to the annexation of part of the territory of Ukraine and the threat of armed aggression by the Russian Federation, the Organising Committee decided not to hold the competition.
In 2016, the “Debut” nomination was added to the rules of the XII Competition. In this nomination, the participants performed a programme of one round. The competition received 53 applications from 4 countries.
The XIII Competition in 2018 received 56 applications from 9 countries.
In 2021, the XIVth Competition (due to the covid pandemic) was held online and consisted of two rounds. There were 90 applications from 16 countries.
In 2022, the XVth competition was also not held due to the full-scale war unleashed by Russia throughout the country.

 

1992
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman
Valentin Belchenko (Russia), Galina Vratcheva (Switzerland), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Katerina Murina (Russia), Serhiy Polusmyak (Ukraine)
Laureates:
Junior group
Grand Prix – Yaromir Bozhenko (Ukraine)
First prize – Alina Kiryaeva (Ukraine), Nina Shimkunas (Russia)
Senior group
Grand Prix – Liene Thirtsene (Latvia)
First prize – Marco Martin (Estonia), Evgen Khanin (Russia), Olexandr Chernov (Russia)

 

1994
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Valentin Belchenko (Russia), Galina Vratcheva (Switzerland), Bernd Getskey (Germany), Aldona Dvarionaite (Lithuania), Natalia Dushchenko (Ukraine), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Sergiy Polusmyak (Ukraine)
Laureates:
Junior group
First prize – Olena Bobrovskykh (Russia), Olena Kolesnichenko (Ukraine)
Senior group
Grand Prix – Igor Tchetuev (Ukraine)
First prize – Mykhailo Danchenko (Ukraine), Paul Kern (Germany), Natalya Taldykina (Russia)

 

1996
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Valentin Belchenko (Russia), Bernd Getskey (Germany), Natalya Dushchenko (Ukraine), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Viktor Makarov (Ukraine), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Snezana Panovska (Malaysia, Macedonia), Worren Thomson (Australia), Volodymyr Rozhok (Ukraine)
Laureates:
Junior group
Grand Prix – Oleksandr Romanovskyi (Ukraine)
First prize – Lilian Akopova (Ukraine), Sergiy Shkoliarenko (Ukraine)
Senior group
First prize – Maria Kim (Ukraine), Oleksiy Koltakov (Ukraine), Olexandr Mutuzkin (Russia)

 

1998
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Valentin Belchenko (Russia), Paola Volpe (Italy), Bernd Getskey (Germany), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Tamara Koloss (Russia), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Snezhana Panovska (Malaysia, Macedonia)
Laureates:
Junior group
Grand Prix – Tong Bo (China)
First prize – Olga Kuznetsova (Ukraine), Dinara Nadzhafova (Ukraine), Robert Umansky (Ukraine)
Senior group
Grand Prix – Illya Rashkovsky (Russia)
First prize – Aureliy Pontie (France)

 

2000
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Valentin Belchenko (Russia), Bernd Getskey (Germany), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Tamara Koloss (Russia), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Snezhana Panovska (Malaysia, Macedonia), Yoko Yamaoka (Japan)
Laureates:
Junior group
First prize – Andriy Baranenko (Russia), Daria Dashutina (Ukraine), Maria Mikhailidi (Ukraine)
Senior group
First prize – Elmar Gasanov (Ukraine), Dmytro Onishchenko (Ukraine)

 

2002
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Bernd Getskey (Germany), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Yoko Murata (Japan), Snezhana Panovska (Malaysia, Macedonia), Volodymyr Skanavi (Russia), Naum Shtarkman (Russia)
Laureates:
Junior group
Grand Prix – Valeria Mirosh (Ukraine), Yasuda Hidekazu (Japan), Zhang Zuo (China)
First prize – Kateryna Levchenko (Ukraine), Nariya Nogi (Japan)
Senior group
First prize – Olexandr Maslov (Russia)

 

2004
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Bernd Goetzke (Germany), Aldona Dvarionaitė (Lithuania), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Li Ming Qiang (China), Julia Krudger (USA), Kyung Mi Lee (Korea), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Oleksandr Polusmyak (Ukraine), Yoko Murata (Japan), Volodymyr Skanavi (Russia), Naum Shtarkman (Russia)
Laureates:
Junior group
Grand Prix – Danylo Kyrylov (Russia), Tai Yang (China)
First prize – Hanna Gogava (Georgia)
Senior group
II prize – Nariya Nogi (Japan)

 

2006
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Bernd Goetzke (Germany), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Julia Krudger (USA), Kyung Mi Lee (Korea), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Oleksandr Polusmyak (Ukraine), Yoko Murata (Japan), Volodymyr Skanavi (Russia)
Laureates:
Junior group
Grand Prix – Sigian Li (China)
First prize – Sergey Belyavsky (Russia), Anna Denysova (Russia)
Senior group
Grand Prix – Dinara Nadzhafova (Ukraine, Russia)
First prize – Chun Wang (China)

 

2008
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Bernd Goetzke (Germany), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Julia Krudger (USA), Kyung Mi Lee (Korea), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Oleksandr Polusmyak (Ukraine), Volodymyr Skanavi (Russia), Igor Chetuev (Ukraine, Germany)
Laureates:
Junior group
Grand Prix – Hanna Kipiani (Georgia)
First prize – Yamato Komatsu (Japan), Xu Qi (China)
Senior group
First prize – Hanna Gogava (Georgia), Tetyana Dorokhova (Russia)

 

2010
Jury:
Volodymyr Krainev (Russia, Germany) – Jury Chairman, Bernd Goetzke (Germany), Thérèse Dussaut (France), Fumiko Iguchi (Japan), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Julia Krudger (USA), Kyung Mi Lee (Korea), Natalya Melnikova (Ukraine), Oleksandr Polusmyak (Ukraine), Volodymyr Skanavi (Russia), Igor Chetuev (Ukraine, Germany)
Laureates:
Junior group
First prize – Vsevolod Brygida (Russia)
Senior group
First prize – Arseniy Esaulkov (Russia), Yvette Gyöngyösi (Hungary), Illya Zuiko (Ukraine)

 

$2012
Jury:
Bernd Goetzke (Germany) – Jury Chairman, Tong Bo (China), Svitlana Zakharova (Ukraine), Valeriy Kozlov (Ukraine), Julia Krudger (USA), Olexandr Romanovsky (Italy), Katya Skanavi (Russia), Igor Chetuev (Ukraine, Germany), Michael Shalamov (Germany), Sonja Steindl-Kwon (Austria)
Laureates:
Junior group
First prize – Yelyzaveta Korman (Ukraine)
Senior group
II prize – Dina Ivanova (Russia), Gana Rudakova (Russia)

 

2016
Jury:
Justas Dvarionas (Lithuania) – Jury Chairman, Svitlana Zakharova (Ukraine), Yuriy Kot (Ukraine), Julia Krudger (USA), Milan Langer (Czech Republic), Maya Narimanidze (Georgia)
Laureates:
Nomination “Young Master”
Junior group
First prize – Roman Fediurko (Ukraine)
Senior group
II prize – Anastasiya Gai (Ukraine)
Nomination “Debut”
I group
II prize – Sofia Karapetyan (Ukraine)
II group
II prize – Darya Sannikova (Ukraine)
III group
First prize – Kasparas Mikužis (Lithuania)
IV group
First prize – Oleksandr Panchenko (Ukraine)

 

2018
Jury:
Justas Dvarionas (Lithuania) – Jury Chairman, Svitlana Zakharova (Ukraine), Yuriy Kot (Ukraine), Milan Langer (Czech Republic), Anna Sagalova (Ukraine), William Fong (United Kingdom)
Laureates:
Nomination “Young Master”
Junior group
II prize – Rae Yue Pung (Australia)
Senior group
First prize – Milda Daunoraite (Lithuania)
Nomination “Debut”
I group
II prize – Oleksandr Fediurko (Ukraine)
II group
II prize – Sofiya Karpetian (Ukraine)
III group
First prize – Bohdan Terletskyi (Ukraine)

 

2021
Jury:
Justas Dvarionas (Lithuania) – Jury Chairman, Natalia Balycheva (Ukraine), Yuriy Kot (Ukraine), Milan Langer (Czech Republic), Anna Sagalova (Ukraine), Catherine Grave (UK)
Laureates:
Nomination “Young Master”
Junior group
First prize – Yonghuan Zhong (China)
Senior group
First prize – Dmytro Semykras (Ukraine)
Nomination “Debut”
I group
First prize – Kyrylo Taranovskyi (Ukraine), Kateryna Pyshniuk (Ukraine)
II group
First prize – Charlotte Giraudeau (Canada)
III group
Grand Prix – Asta Dora Finnsdottir (Iceland)
II prize – Momone Shiraishi (Japan), Anastasiya Shymchuk (Ukraine)