FRENCH PIANIST NATHALIA Milstein has become the first woman to win the Dublin International Piano Competition.

The 18-year-old musician, who began playing the piano at the age of four, beat off 62 other competitors to clinch the prize last week.

Milstein was one of four finalists whittled down from 158 entries to the prestigious piano competition, which is now ranked in the top five in the world.

The Lyon native is currently a full-time student at the Geneva Conservatory of Music. She told TheJournal.ie that she practises the piano at least five to six hours a day. “This was my first major award, so it means a lot,” she said.

She was attracted to the Dublin International Piano Competition because it allows competitors to play works of their own choosing, which meant that she could express her own personality, she added.

The winner of the top prize at the annual competition receives €15,000, as well the opportunity to perform at the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Wigmore Hall in London, a series of Steinway recitals across Europe and a debut recital with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin.

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