Mao Fujita
Russia, China, France, Japan and the USA will all be represented in this year's finals
The finalists for the piano category at this year's 2019's International Tchaikovsky Competition have been picked, and there was an unexpected surprise.
The jury, chaired by Denis Matsuev, has decided to pick SEVEN finalists as opposed to the standard six. Five countries will be represented in Tuesday's grand final:
Konstantin Yemelyanov (Russia)
Dmitriy Shishkin (Russia)
An Tianxu (China)
Alexey Melnikov (Russia)
Alexandre Kantorow (France)
Mao Fujita (Japan)
Kenneth Broberg (USA)
Each of the seven pianists will play a Tchaikovsky concerto, plus a concerto of his own choice. They will be joined by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko. All performances will be streamed live on medici.tv.
Watch Japan's Mao Fujita perform during the second round of the competition