Grzegorz Niemczuk, 25, won first prize in the Chopin Polish Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Niemczuk started learning to play the piano when he was seven. In 2006, he won a scholarship from the Birmingham International Piano Academy, allowing him to take part in summer music courses in England. While in Birmingham, Niemczuk studied under British pianist Peter Donohoe, the winner of the Pyotr Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow in 1982.

Niemczuk has won first prize at international piano competitions in Zabrze (2003), Trieste (2007) and Waterloo (2008) as well as the Konin-Żychlin Polish Festival of Chopin Interpretations by Young Musicians in 2008.

The second prize in the Chopin Polish Piano Competition went to Nikodem Wojciechowski while Marcin Mogiła and Patryk Koralewski took joint third place. The winner received zl.20,000, the second prize was zl.18,000 and the third prize zl.16,000.

The National Frederyk Chopin Institute will sign up the winners for performances at Chopin's birthplace, Żelazowa Wola, at the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź, in Geneva and in the United States.

The Chopin Polish Piano Competition is organized for Polish students of music academies and high schools specializing in music. As of this year, it is also open to foreigners who study at music academies in Poland. The competition has been held in Warsaw since 1968 and since 2006, it has been organized by the National Frederyk Chopin Institute.