Sussex International Piano Competition

The Sussex International Piano Competition is a music competition that takes place in Worthing, West Sussex, England. It was founded in 2010 by Worthing Symphony Orchestra (WSO) artistic director and conductor John Gibbons.[1] It takes place at the Assembly Hall in Worthing, a venue noted for its acoustics,[1] which, according to the organisers, are some of the best in Europe.[2]

Sussex International Piano Competition
The Assembly Hall, Worthing in 2013 - competition venue
Awarded for	Exceptional piano performance
Country	United Kingdom
First awarded	2010
Last awarded	2018
Website	www.sussexipc.co.uk/

The competitors are accompanied by the Worthing Symphony Orchestra. The second edition of the competition was won by Poom Prommachart of Thailand,[3] who in the Grand Final played Rachmaninoff’s 3rd piano concerto.[4] The third edition of the competition was won by Varvara Tarasova of Russia who played Chopin's second piano concerto.[5] Yi-Yang Chen won the fourth edition of the competition having played Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in the Grand Final.[6]

The international jury for the second edition of the competition was drawn from across the music industry and included composer/pianist John McCabe (President of the British Music Society), Philip Fowke (UK), Yuki Negishi (Japan), Judith Clark (Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra) and the competition’s 2010 inaugural winner Arta Arnicane (Latvia).[3] Patrons of the event include Karl Jenkins, Rick Wakeman, and BBC presenters Katie Derham, Ken Bruce, John Inverdale and Eleanor Oldroyd.[1]

The jury for the third competition in 2015 included İdil Biret from Turkey and winner of the second Sussex International Piano Competition, Poom Prommachart.[7] The jury for the competition's fourth edition included previous winners Arta Arnicane (2010) and Varvara Tarasova (2015).[6]