Evgeni Bozhanov

Evgeni Bozhanov (Bulgarian: Евгени Божанов) (born in Rousse, Bulgaria on 10 March 1984) is a Bulgarian pianist who trained with Evgeny Zhelyazkov at the National School of Arts "Prof. Vesselin Stoyanov" in Rousse (Bulgaria).

From 2001 to 2006, he studied with Boris Bloch at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen and from 2006 he continued his studies with Georg Friedrich Schenck at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf.

He has garnered worldwide attention after his charismatic performances at the 2009 Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels and the XVI International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

In 2010, he won the Second Prize at the 16th International Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition, and a few months later was awarded Fourth Prize at the XVI Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition.

Whether he refused his prize and the attendant monetary award is a matter of ongoing speculation fueled by the fact that he did not participate in the Prize Winner's concerts "for reasons outside the competition".

The Chopin Competition jury had decided at the time of the final round to suddenly change the rules of judging by discarding the point system, where Bozhanov was consistently in 2nd place through the 3rd round, in favor of a ranking system for the final (concerto) round and competition.

The latest published jury voting details on the final round provides proof of the large variation in judgment of Bozhanov's performances, with his being ranked first or second place by some and 9th or 10th place by others.

Such a rule change at the last minute of the competition was not explained or given reasons by either the chairman of the jury nor jury members in public, calling the impartiality of the procedure into question.