Ingolf Wunder

Ingolf Wunder (born 8 September 1985 in Klagenfurt) is an Austrian classical pianist. Wunder was the second prize winner at the International Chopin Competition 2010 in Warsaw, Poland. He also won special prizes for Best Concerto, Best Polonaise-Fantasie performance and the public prize at the competition.

Wunder had his first music lesson at the age of four, initially learning the violin. His talent for the piano was discovered years later, and he studied in conservatories in Klagenfurt and Linz before joining the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. A participant in the earlier 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition, Wunder failed to make the last stage. From 2008 to 2010 he studied under Adam Harasiewicz, who was himself the winner of the Chopin Competition in 1955, in preparation for the 2010 International Chopin Piano Competition.

After the Chopin Competition, he has performed around the world, both in solo recital and with orchestras.

2006 his first CD featuring works by Frédéric Chopin, Maurice Ravel as well as Franz Liszt. In January 2011 he signed as an artist with Deutsche Grammophon. In June 2011 his second CD with works by Frédéric Chopin was released. Followed by "300", Piano Concerti with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Chopin&Liszt in Warsaw

Throughout the competition, Wunder was widely believed to be the best competitor as the audience favorite and leader in points. However, in the last stage of the competition, the judges scrapped the points system being used and evaluated the winner solely based on the final round. Although Wunder won the prize for Best Concerto (the final stage), he was not given the gold medal (awarded to Yulianna Avdeeva.) This created outrage among the Warsaw public, proclaiming the events a scandal similar to the Ivo Pogorelich case of the 1980 competition.

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