About the win

Lev Oborin took first prize at the very first Chopin Competition in 1927, becoming the contest's inaugural champion at the age of twenty. His victory helped establish the young Warsaw competition on the international stage and opened a long career centred in Moscow.

Key facts

• First winner in the history of the competition (1927).
• Celebrated chamber musician who formed a famous trio with violinist David Oistrakh and cellist Sviatoslav Knushevitsky.
• Long-serving professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where his students included Vladimir Ashkenazy.
• Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto was written for and premiered by him.