Interview: Vincent Ong – 5th Prize Winner of 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition

From October 2nd to 23rd 2025, one of the most esteemed international piano competitions in the world, the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition was held in Warsaw, Poland.
At this 19^th edition competition, three finalists selected the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX full concert grand piano, and won the prizes.

We asked Mr. Vincent Ong, the 5th prize winner of this 19th edition’s competition about his feeling and thoughts for the competition and the Shigeru Kawai piano.

Interview

How did you feel about winning the prize?

Of course, I’m very happy. It’s an honor to reach so far because I’ve never thought that I would get the final. I thought maybe the second round would be maximum.
My final stage performance was very fun because I got to play with an orchestra and a conductor, and somehow I enjoyed.
I was nervous a bit but I was more excited. Despite some mistakes or memory issues, I felt that I could enjoy to play on stage!

What are your impressions of the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX full concert grand piano?

For me, I thought that the Shigeru Kawai piano was so great for me. It fits me well. I thought that I could express myself with it. I didn’t know how it could do. This instrument helped me!
With the variety of touch, I could somehow control the attack and release the speed easily and without much effort. I don’t mean like something heavy or light, but more like the control for me was somehow.
Also the sound is very warm and fits Chopin’s music a lot!
I think that the instrument gives the music some character, too. It’s a not just me, the instrument itself is very special!
It has warm, but also it is not too weak, it sounds can projects well. I mean I heard some feedback from some friends or those who listened in the hall, and they said they could hear truly even if I played like pianissimo or no matter what range, so I could feel like to play in such a wide range.
Of course, that might also have to do with the hall, but I was really satisfied.
The Shigeru Kawai piano matched the hall, and it also matches me. Sometimes when you play on the piano and if you feel like that the piano is bad, you don’t really enjoy playing. But, for me, Shigeru Kawai inspired me. So it’s not just a piano, it helps me with the sounds and ideas while playing. So I felt like I wasn’t fighting with the piano. Sometimes you have to try so hard to control the piano, but I thought it was opposite for me, Kawai’s piano was helping me.
So far, I have played Shigeru Kawai only once, in this June, when I was in masterclass at Kawai France.

What are your plans for future activities and further challenges?

First, I want to learn more about the life of a concert pianist – working with agencies, travelling, performing concerts, recordings, managing PR etc.; while at the same time, having the balance to practice piano, enjoy music and grow musically.
Then, maybe in the distant future, I would be interested in getting better at teaching.

About Vincent Ong

Born on 12 April 2001, he began studying with Ng Chong Lim and is now continuing his education with Eldar Nebolsin at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. He has been tutored by the likes of Elisabeth Leonskaja, Natalia Trull and Boris Berman. His first competition success was winning the International Taipei Maestro Piano Festival in 2019. He later won sixth prize in the Singapore International Piano Competition (2020) and first prize in the International Robert Schumann Competition (2024). He has received the Susanne Scholten Foundation’s Maurice Ravel Piano Prize, a scholarship from the Clavarte Foundation of Switzerland and the Lucia-Loeser Scholarship funded by his university.

Official Instagram: @vincent.ong_piano

Final round performance

About the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition

Established and inaugurated in 1927, the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition is one of the oldest music events of its kind in the world. 2025 will see the beginning of a series of special celebrations for its centenary. In the course of the past century, the formal aspects of the competition have constantly evolved, resulting in changing the number of its stages, programme, judging criteria, prizes, and also the media through which audiences have experienced the competition recitals. There have only been two elements of the Competition that have remained unchanged since its inception: Chopin’s music and the fascination of pianists and audiences alike. Another chapter in the hundred-year-long tradition is opening before us. The competition is organised by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

Official website: https://www.chopincompetition.pl/en

About the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX full concert grand piano

Unveiled in 2001 as the flagship instrument of the Shigeru Kawai line, the SK-EX concert grand piano is hand-crafted in limited numbers following a unique ‘prototyping’ creation process. In order to achieve the supreme range of expression required in a concert piano, each instrument utilises a variety of carefully selected materials, with premium aged spruce soundboards. Shigeru Kawai instruments adopt the advanced Millennium III keyboard action, featuring extended wooden keys and advanced ABS Carbon action parts, providing superior speed and responsiveness than conventional wooden action parts, allowing pianists to express a greater range of feeling and emotion in their performance.

Shigeru Kawai official website: https://www.shigerukawai.jp/en/