Taylor Academy Alumnus is a Laureate of Prestigious International Piano Competition

Published on October 21, 2021

JJ Jun Li Bui, alumnus of The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists, has placed sixth in the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

The Chopin Competition, held every five years since 1927, is one of the most prestigious piano events in the world and provides young musicians a platform to shine on the international stage.

JJ performed Chopin’s Concerto in E minor, Op. 11 in the Finals in Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall having advanced through five rounds of competition which started with 87 participants performing (from over 500 applicants) and ended with 12 finalists - two more than usual given the very high level of competition this year as noted by observers. Fellow Canadian Bruce Liu won the competition which also saw ties for 2nd and 4th place, and JJ also won the prize for youngest performer in this year's Finals at the age of 17. The full results from the Competition can be read here.

JJ was at the Taylor Academy, The Royal Conservatory's school for musically gifted children, from 2014 to 2020 studying with Li Wang and Michael Berkovsky. He was on the CBC Music "30 Under 30" list in 2016, performed solo at the Toronto Summer Music Festival in 2019, and is now attending the Oberlin Conservatory studying with Dang Thai Son (along with Bruce Liu).

The competition in Warsaw included four other alumni of The Royal Conservatory (three of whom qualified by winning the Canadian Chopin Society’s piano competition held at The Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall in August 2019):

Eric Guo, Taylor Academy alumnus
Agnė Radzevičiutė, Glenn Gould School alumna
Victoria Wong, Taylor Academy alumna
Lingfei (Stephan) Xie, Taylor Academy alumnus

Another Taylor Academy alumnus was also in attendance at this year's competition – Tony Yike Yang, laureate of the previous Chopin event and also the youngest prize winner in the history of the competition (at 16 years of age), participated in an interview panel alongside previous winners while the jury was deliberating. Earlier in the day, Tony and JJ met with Leslie Scanlon, the Ambassador of Canada to Poland, along with Founder and Artistic Director of the Canadian Chopin Society and Senior Director, Academic Programs at The Royal Conservatory, Dr. Janet Lopinski.