[2] The Guardian, concluding that the Tchaikovsky Competition audience is “one of the most interactive, involved and opinionated groups of music lovers anywhere,”[3] called Lubyantsev, who was a top prizewinner at the competition's previous edition, a “favorite of the fervent, Muscovite public” and described his being “mobbed like a pop star by groups of photographers, journalists and teenage girls” backstage after his last performance.
[7] The critics proceeded independently with their award, and Mikhail Prokhorov’s Cultural Initiatives Foundation offered sponsorship in order to make a monetary prize possible.
He commented, “I think that what was, in my opinion, an error of the jury could turn out to be more beneficial to him…As happened with Pogorelich.”[10] The day after Lubyantsev's exit, Valery Gergiev invited him to perform at the Mariinsky Theater.
[6] At the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, Lucas Debargue, a Frenchman completely unknown beforehand[11] and with a very different background and training from typical competitors,[12] became the “audience’s favorite”[11] and the “most talked-about” participant.
[13] In The Huffington Post, critic Olivier Bellamy wrote, “There hasn’t been a foreign pianist who has caused such a stir since Glenn Gould’s arrival in Moscow, or Van Cliburn’s victory at the Tchaikovsky Competition.”[14] Nonetheless, Debargue finished in fourth place.
[16]At the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Moscow Music Critics Association awarded its prize to Russian violinist Aylen Pritchin, "for his artistic mastery and the beauty of his programs.