CELEBRATED
ROMANIAN YOUNG PIANIST RADU-GABRIEL
STOICA
ADDS EASTBOURNE’S NORAH SANDE AWARD 2025 TO HIS LIST OF
INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS
2025 Norah Sande Award winner Radu-Gabriel Stoica |
The Norah Sande Award, an international piano competition held in Eastbourne since its launch twenty years ago, was won on 6th July by Royal College of Music pupil Radu-Gabriel Stoica who thrilled the Birley Centre audience with a range of exciting pieces. This impressive 24 year old Romanian has already won many international awards including the Frederick Chopin and the Schumann Piano competitions and performed in prestigious concert venues in Italy, Romania, Germany and the UK’s Wigmore Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Currently studying for a Masters in Performance at the RCM under Prof Ian Jones, he is a C.Bechstein scholar and also has a London Symphony Orchestra Conservatoire Scholarship.
Sussex concertgoers will be able to enjoy Radu’s talents again when he will be the soloist at the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Autumn concert on 19 October. This honour for the Norah Sande Award winner is in addition to a cheque for £2000.
The final stages were held in the purpose-built concert hall at the Birley Centre, Eastbourne College. Fourteen semi-finalists performed a 20 minute programme on Saturday 5th July before a prestigious adjudication panel, Richard Deering (Chairman) Caroline Clemmow and Michael Young - keyboard exponents of international repute. The adjudicators debated at length as this year’s semi finalists had proved to be such a talented group. Three were chosen to perform a full recital programme incorporating classical, romantic and contemporary pieces the following day. Richard Deering wrote that Radu, the winner, gave "a commanding performance, both interpretatively and pianistically… with some excellent colourings”.
Wei Cherry Ge (23) was named as runner up and received a cheque for £1000. Cherry and Radu both studied at The Purcell School and she is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Piano at the Royal Academy of Music with Emeritus Head of Keyboard, Christopher Elton, where she recently won the Chung Lee Piano Prize. Beyond her musical achievements, Cherry recently graduated Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University with a degree in Anthropology.
Third place and a cheque for £500 was given to Macao pianist Erica Sou Sin U (20) who studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Prof Colin Stone. A winner of numerous scholarships and international music competitions including the Steinway International Youth Piano Competition, Erica has performed in many of the great concert halls of Europe and Asia.
"The adjudicators said that the standard had been exceptional for this year’s Norah Sande Award which continues to attract talented young pianists on the cusp of an international performing career” said Brian Knights, the Award’s Chairman. "Applications were of a high quality which enabled us to put on an outstanding Second Round and Final, enjoyed by the audience now loyal to the annual Award. The Birley Centre is proving to be a very fine concert hall for the region and we are looking forward to hosting our twentieth Award finals there next year. This year was the twentieth anniversary of the Award’s launch but one year had to be missed so we are gearing up to a very special anniversary finals weekend in 2026”.
Radu-Gabriel Stoica delighted the audience with his performance in the final round of Mozart’s Sonata No 4 in E flat major, Thomas Ades’ Mazurka No 1 and selected pieces from Schumann’s Carnaval.
Previous winners of the Award have been performing in top concert halls around the world and achieving great accolades. Details of the 2026 Award and entry form will shortly be available on www.sande-award.co.uk. This Award has been enabled by a substantial bequest from the late Norah Sande, in memory of her Grandmother, Alice Mary Caffen.
Left to Right:
Adjudicators Michael Young and Caroline Clemmow, Norah Sande Award winner 2025 Radu-Gabriel Stoica,
Wei Chery Ge, runner up, Chair of Adjudicators, Richard Deering, and third place, Erica Sou Sin U.