It was a proud night for The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) family last night as students and alumni from The Glenn Gould School, The Taylor Academy and the RCM Certificate Program won top prizes across all three divisions at The Sixth Canadian Chopin Piano Competition! The four-day event was held at The Royal Conservatory’s acclaimed Koerner Hall and Mazzoleni Concert Hall and concluded with last night’s gala concert where winners for the Intermediate and Senior divisions were announced.
from L to R: Xian Bao, Kenneth Chen, Eric Guo
It was a “podium sweep” for the RCM in the Intermediate division with Taylor Academy students
Kenneth Chen and
Xian Bao taking First and Second Prize, respectively.
The Taylor Academy is the RCM’s extracurricular program for gifted musicians ages 8 to 18.
Charlotte Giraudeau, ARCT ’22, took Third Prize;
the ARCT (or Associate of The Royal Conservatory) Diploma is amongst the highest academic credentials offered by the nearly 140-year
RCM Certificate Program. Students and alumni from the Certificate Program also had a clean sweep in the Junior Division at the Competition and a near-sweep in the Senior division with
Eric Guo, ADP '26,
The Glenn Gould School, taking Third Prize, and
Athena Deng, ARCT '22, taking Second Prize.
Congratulations to our students and alumni for their impressive achievements at last night’s competition! The calibre of performance was incredibly high and we are so proud of all who will be representing Canada at the upcoming Chopin competition in Poland. My congratulations as well to the Canadian Chopin Society who put on a spectacular competition at The Royal Conservatory!
Alexander Brose
Michael and Sonja Koerner President & CEO
The Royal Conservatory of Music
The Canadian Chopin Piano Competition takes place every five years, in conjunction with the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition held in Warsaw, Poland. In addition to cash prizes across all three divisions, the top three prize winners of the Senior Division receive funds towards travel expenses to Poland and may be eligible for a “simplified qualification procedure, bypassing the work of the qualifying committee” for acceptance into the Preliminary Round of the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.
Competition results for RCM students/alumni are as follows (for complete results, please visit the Canadian Chopin Society website):
Junior Division
1st Prize - Aidan Zhou (Richmond Hill, ON), RCM Certificate Program
2nd Prize - Ethan Wang (Calgary, AB), RCM Certificate Program
3rd prize - Charlotte Florence Deng (Delta, BC), RCM Certificate Program
Jury Discretionary Award - Bradley Lim (Richmond, BC), RCM Certificate Program
Honorable Mentions – Winnie (Weitong) Geng (Toronto, ON), The Taylor Academy, and Yiyan Liu (Richmond Hill, ON), ARCT ‘24, RCM Certificate Program
Intermediate Division
1st Prize - Kenneth Chen (Markham, ON), The Taylor Academy
2nd Prize - Xian Bao (Toronto, ON), The Taylor Academy
3rd Prize - Charlotte Giraudeau (Calgary, AB), ARCT ’22, RCM Certificate Program
Honorable Mention – Victoria Zeng (Hamilton, ON), The Taylor Academy
Senior Division
2nd Prize and Best Mazurka - Athena Deng (Port Moody, BC), ARCT ’22, RCM Certificate Program
3rd Prize - Eric Guo (Toronto, ON), ADP ’26, The Glenn Gould School (alumnus of The Taylor Academy and RCM Certificate Program)
Jury Discretionary Award: Jerry Hu (Saskatoon, SK), BMus ’27, The Glenn Gould School, ARCT ’19, RCM Certificate Program
Best Polonaise: Huy Dang (Toronto, ON), ARCT ’19, RCM Certificate Program, Taylor Academy alumnus
At The Royal Conservatory of Music
Registration for May-June 2025 in-person examinations in Canada and the US is now open! Learn more.
Applications for Fall 2025 at The Taylor Academy open January 21, 2025. Learn more.
Learn more about studying at The Glenn Gould School, The Royal Conservatory of Music’s post-secondary institution focused on music performance, here. Applications for The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program close on January 31, 2025.