EPTA UK Piano Competition 2026 (29th Grand Final).
A review by Nadia Lasserson
On Saturday morning of 28th March 2026, any passerby could be forgiven for wondering what was going on behind the doors of Steinways Showroom in Central London. Every young contestant was playing on each of the many pianos in the showrooms with parents standing in disbelief at the conglomerate noise. On the dot of 10.0 am, order reigned and the competition began in the lovely Mezzanine Room offered to EPTA UK for the day.
Nancy Litten was the morning Adjudicator and Penelope Roskell took over for the afternoon.
Twenty-five students performed during the day, divided into Categories of Intermediate I & II, Advanced I & II, 12 years and under, 15 years and under, 18 years and under and 18 years and over. Technically they were all Winners from the three Regional Rounds held in Bristol, Leeds and London and here they were competing against each other.
The Winners are:
- Intermediate I Emily Goh (Kathleen Underhill)
- Intermediate II Chimaria Enunwa (Michael Burke)
- Advanced 1 Freya Simpson (Karis Stretton)
- Advanced II James Tinker
- 12 years and under Shengruo Mei (Danielle Salamon and Shen Yue)
- 15 years and under Tiantian Gao (Murray McLachlan
- 18 years and under Anton Pigott (Andrew Byrne)
- Over 18 years Lincoln Poon (Murray McLachlan)
The Overall Winner of the 2026 EPTA UK Piano Competition is Tiantian Gao.
Our grateful thanks go to George Soole ,Sales Manager of Steinways, who so generously gave up his Saturday to enable EPTA UK to hold its Finals in this prestigious venue. And thanks also to Andrew Higgins, EPTA UK’s Business Manager who masterminded the entire Competition with more than 350 entries in over 20 Regions throughout the UK.
EPTA is all about teachers and their students and congratulations must go to all the teachers involved in this year’s competition as all those who attended, were treated to piano playing of the highest professional standards – another EPTA UK triumph.
By Nadia Lasserson
