Li Yundi, the gold medal winner at the 14th Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition, gave a Chopin concert in Beijing November 25 evening together with the China National Orchestra.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng were among the audience at the concert.

Li Yundi, 18, won the gold medal in October, the first time the event's top prize has been awarded since 1985.

He is the youngest in the world and the first Chinese to get the top prize.

The Chopin competition, held every five years since 1927, is devoted entirely to music by the 19th-century Polish composer. The judging is so tough that in 1990 and 1995 no performances were deemed good enough for a gold medal.

Li, still a student at Shenzhen Piano Art School, has won several prizes at the international level. His past honors include first place at the Gina Bachauer Young Artists International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1999, and third place at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in the Netherlands.

(People's Daily 11/27/2000)