A RUSSIAN TEENAGER has been crowned the winner of the Dublin International Piano Competition for 2012.

Nikolay Khozyainov, 19, took the title and in the process now gets an opportunity to debut recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York and Dublin’s own National Concert Hall.

“These concerts, will expose Nikolay to international agents and managers as well as press,” the organisers said in a statement.

“The Dublin International Piano Competition also offers the unquantifiable service of management and support in steering each winner towards finding an agent and networking effectively in building a career as a concert pianist.”

Khozyainov is from Blagoveschensk in the far eastern region of Russia. He began playing piano of his own accord when he was just 5 years old.

In 1999, aged 7, he began studying at the Central Musical School at the P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and currently studies with Mikhail Voskresensky.

He has since performed recitals and played with orchestras around the world including in Malaysia, South Africa and the US and has won numerous prizes.

As well as the recognition this competition win gives him he also receives a cheque of €15,000 from Axa Insurance, the competition’s sponsors. The competition saw 51 competitors who are under 30 compete for a number of prizes.

The highest placed Irish competitor was Neden Fiorentin from Greencastle in Donegal who won the Charles J. Brennan Prize.

The 22-year-old receives the McCullough Bursary and the Sean O’Connor Bursary prize to facilitate additional studies. She also got to meet the president: