About the win

Yakov Zak won the third Chopin Competition in 1937, adding to the run of Soviet successes in the pre-war editions. He became one of the most influential piano teachers of his generation.

Key facts

• Winner of the 1937 edition, the last before the Second World War.
• Studied with the legendary pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus.
• Long-tenured and influential professor at the Moscow Conservatory.
• Trained many prizewinning pianists, among them Nikolai Petrov and Eliso Virsaladze.