Australian-Indonesian pianist Calvin Abdiel has reached the final of the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Pécs, Hungary, with the competition concluding without a first-prize winner.

Abdiel was one of four finalists in the competition, alongside Hungarian pianists Rozsonits Ildikó and Sebestyén Pellet and Georgian pianist Barbare Tataradze.

The jury awarded joint second prize, worth €18,000 each, to Rozsonits and Tataradze, while Pellet received the third prize of €9,000. Rozsonits also received the €1,000 Audience Award.

Abdiel was awarded the Olga Kern Special Prize and Filharmónia Hungary Special Prize, each worth €500. The four finalists also received additional concert opportunities.

Calvin Abdiel. Photograph supplied

The competition’s Solo Final took place at the Kodály Centre on 18 September, followed by the Orchestral Final on 20 September, when the finalists performed Liszt concertos with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by György Vashegyi.

Dating back to 1933, when the inaugural competition was held under the direction of composer and pianist Ernő Dohnányi, the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition is held every four years and celebrates the Hungarian composer’s enduring legacy.

Abdiel was a finalist in the 2021 Sydney International Piano Competition, where he won third place and the Nancy Weir Best Australian Pianist Prize. He studied with Natalia Ricci at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, graduating with First Class Honours, before completing a master’s degree at Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler under Professor Eldar Nebolsin. He has performed across Australia, Austria, Russia, Indonesia, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland.