Every performance competition represents a confrontation of the aptitudes, skills and experience of the young musicians taking part. Yet the age differences, and consequently the range of experience, among participants can be quite

considerable, which surely has some bearing on the final verdict. To what extent is a rhetorical question; it is unlikely that anyone has yet conducted research into the matter.

Piotr Pawlak, born in 1998, was 25 years old when the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in 2023 began, and boasted an impressive list of educational achievements.

As a pianist, he also has considerable professional experience, having performed in many European countries, as well as the US and China, and two years before the Chopin Competition on Period Instruments he made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Everything--education, skills and certainly self-aware ness--conspired to make Piotr Pawlak one of the more distinctive pianists from the start of the competition, and possibly one of the favourites.