Competing against 160 young pianists from around the world, Singapore-born Kate Liu (right) managed to clinch third place on Wednesday in the prestigious International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition held in Poland.

The 21-year-old undergraduate at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia won over the 16-member jury with her performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto #1 in E minor Op 11 with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. She won a bronze medal and $47,000 in cash.

Ms Liu was born in Singapore in 1994, before moving to the United States when she was eight. She started playing the piano at age four, and began studying at the Music Institute of Chicago when she was 10.

Ms Liu won the third Asia-Pacific International Chopin Piano Competition earlier this year, and has performed with orchestras around the world. Now in its 17th edition, the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition is held every five years. South Korean Seong-Jin Cho, 21, came in first, and 26-year- old Charles Richard-Hamelin of Canada took second place.

Singaporean pianist Shaun Choo, 24, also took part, but was eliminated in the preliminary stages.