Chopin Competition 2025: Stage 3, Day 3
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Jed Distler, Friday, October 17, 2025, shares his thoughts on the competition.
Stage 3, Day 3: Thursday October 16, 2025
Not much to get excited about this morning in the hall. Jed Distler heard Tomoharu Ushida for the first time when he blogged about the 2021 Chopin Competition and liked him a lot then.
However, this year's competition has left him with mixed impressions - as seen in his comments in blogs 1 and 10. Ushida has formidable fingers and a huge sound, but his loud and undifferentiated F minor Fantasy and B minor Sonata performances were underwhelming.
Experiencing Zitong Wang in a relatively extended recital provided a little more perspective than gathered from her first two stages. For the most part, her loud playing seemed hollow and aggressive, while her softest passagework lacked body and definition.
Ushida has formidable fingers and a huge sound, and he never lets you forget it.
Author's summary: Mixed impressions at the Chopin Competition 2025.