The winner of the Sixteenth Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition is Shunta Morimoto, who is 17 and from Japan. Morimoto won the title, £15,000 and the Molly Townson Memorial Trophy after giving a thrilling performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor Op.54 accompanied by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

During the two-night final 6 finalists, each performed a concerto with the world-famous orchestra to sell-out audiences at The historic White Rock Theatre on Hastings sea front. Second prize and £7,000 was awarded to British pianist Thomas Kelly, who dazzled the audience with a performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor Op.30. Third Prize and £3,000 was awarded to Mariamna Sherling from Russia and gave a spectacular performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C major Op.26.
Fourth Prize and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Prize (voted for by members of the orchestra and presented by the conductor Rory Macdonald) was awarded to Aleksandr Kliuchko from Russia.
Fifth Prize was awarded to Fedor Orlov from Russia and Sixth Prize was awarded to Sandro Nebieridze from Georgia.

Earning its reputation as ‘The Friendly Competition’, the entire competition was streamed live for the first time on YouTube and our website, reaching new local, national and international audiences for the first time, making it one of the most accessible cultural events in the UK.

With competitors from more than 40 countries, a record number of entries and for the first time two orchestras accompanying both semi-finalists and finalists, the sixteenth prestigious Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition took place for first time in both Rye at The Rye Creative Centre and Hastings our competition home from 24th February to 5th March 2022.

Hastings International Piano welcomed an international jury of hugely respected pianists, conductors and orchestral leaders to the historic south coast.

Led by President of The Jury Professor Vanessa Latarche – Head of Piano at The Royal College of Music, the jury included Paul Hughes (UK) – Director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Aisa Ijiri (Japan)– international pianist and Steinway Artist, Stanislav Ioudenitch (Uzbekistan/USA)—winner of the Gold Medal at Van Cliburn Piano Competition, Diana Ketler (Latvia) Pianist, Festival Director and Professor of Piano, Scott Dunn (USA), conductor, pianist and composer and Anthony Byrne (Ireland) international pianist and Professor of Piano at The Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Managing Director of Hastings International Piano Ian Roberts says – “I am delighted that this was our best ever competition, with new friendships forged and solidarity show by competitors to each other throughout the past two weeks. Our audiences have been bigger and even more diverse this year and the standard of the pianists has been outstanding. Our host families and volunteers have been the backbone of our competition welcoming the world to Hastings and offering the very best hospitality and kindness to all of our competitors from around the world and I am proud that we have delivered an exceptional experience for both competitors and audiences alike, whether they were part of our live audience or watching from home. The competition has discovered a number of hugely talented artists and their trailblazing performances, especially during the final with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, have enthralled our town and will be remembered for many years to come.”

The Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition has evolved from its earliest days as part of Hastings Music Festival to become an internationally-renowned competition for young concert pianists from around the world, attracting 360 applicants from more than 40 countries for our 2022 competition via our video auditions, 50 of which will be invited to compete in Hastings.

To support the growth of audiences and educational outreach opportunities, Hastings International Piano produced the inaugural Hastings International Piano Festival, which took place over two weeks in February and March 2020. The charity also presents fundraising concerts with many of the world’s finest artists and ensembles, most recently with pianist Mitsuko Uchida and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. We also administer The Royal College of Music Prince Consort Orchestra, a new collaboration with the prestigious Royal College of Music whose debut took place during the semi-final of the competition.

The 2022 Prize Winners