The VI International Chopin Piano Competition () was held from 22 February to 13 March 1960 in Warsaw. The competition was won by Maurizio Pollini of Italy, becoming the first winner not from Poland or the Soviet Union.
Awards
The competition consisted of two elimination stages and a final with twelve pianists. Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini won first prize, with Arthur Rubinstein, honorary chairman of the jury, declaring "that boy can play the piano better than any of us".
Audience favorite Michel Block failed to win a prize and only received an honorable mention. Outraged, Rubinstein created a special prize bearing his name on the spot, and awarded it to Block.
The following prizes were awarded: PrizeWinner1stMaurizio Pollini Italy2ndIrina Zaritskaya3rd4thMing-Qiang Li5thZinaida Ignatyeva6thMichel BlockReiya SilvonenAleksander Słobodianik
Two special prizes were awarded: Special prizeWinnerBest Performance of MazurkasIrina ZaritskayaBest Performance of a PolonaiseIrina Zaritskaya
Jury The jury consisted of: Guido Agosti Stefan Askenase Nadia Boulanger (vice-chairman)
Sequeira Costa Harold Craxton Halina Czerny-Stefańska ( IV) Zbigniew Drzewiecki (chairman) Jan Ekier Henri Gagnebin
Emil Hájek Arthur Hedley (vice-chairman) Lajos Hernádi Jan Hoffman Mieczysław Horszowski Dmitry Kabalevsky (vice-chairman) Witold Małcużyński
Florica Musicescu Heinrich Neuhaus František Rauch Reimar Riefling Arthur Rubinstein (honorary chairman)
Bruno Seidlhofer Pavel Serebryakov
Henryk Sztompka (vice-chairman) Magda Tagliaferro Ding Shande
Amadeus Webersinke Beveridge Webster Bolesław Woytowicz (secretary) Yakov Zak ( III) Jerzy Żurawlew
References
Further reading
External links