Switzerland’s Prix Serdang Piano Prize Announces 2023 Winner

25-year-old pianist Ariel Lanyi was awarded 50,000 CHF for outstanding musicianship and artistic vision

Formed during the COVID-19 pandemic and launching in 2022, the Prix Serdang awards exceptional pianists to support their careers and invest in their creativity and musicianship. Pianist Ariel Lanyi won the award and 50,000 CHF based on his performance of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" sonata. 

Born in Jerusalem, Lanyi is a graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Music and studied with Lea Agmon, Yuval Cohen, Hamish Milne, and Ian Fountain. He has performed solo with orchestras across the UK, Israel, and the U.S., plus appeared at the Homburg Masters Concerts, Perth Concert Hall, Menton Festival, Oxford International Piano Series, Wigmore Hall, Miami International Piano Festival, and Marlboro Music Festival.

His accolades include third prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition, and following Linn Records’ 2021 release of his Schubert recording, he toured Argentina as a soloist last year. He is represented by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT).

Internationally renowned Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder is the primary selector of the Prix Serdang’s winner. He evaluates each candidate and selects a maximum of three young potential winners on the recommendation of international organizers, festival directors, conductors, and soloists.

On the basis of the musician’s artistic creativity, personality, and approach, the final winner is ultimately determined by award initiator Adrian Flury and the award’s project developer, Thomas Pfiffner. 

“Ariel is at a crucial point in his career,” Buchbinder said “I got to know him as a serious young man who strikes me as very mature and authentic. I am convinced that the ‘Prix Serdang’ can give him an important impetus”.

“I am beyond delighted, honored, and humbled to have been awarded this year’s Prix Serdang!” Lanyi wrote on Facebook. “To be chosen by a panel chaired by Rudolf Buchbinder, an artist I have admired ever since I heard him in Israel over a decade ago, is an honor beyond what I can express in words,” he added. 

“I am infinitely grateful to the panel for trusting me with this illustrious prize, and I look forward to coming to the beautiful Villa Serdang in June!”

The prizewinners concert will be held on June 25, 2023, as part of a recital at Villa Serdang museum in Switzerland.