Igor Levit, a Russian, won the $15,000 second prize; Yeol Eum Son of Korea won third place and received $10,000. Gavrylyuk was born in Ukraine and moved to Australia at 14 with his teacher, Victor Makarov. His life in Australia hasn't been easy. At 17, he was badly injured in a car accident. Last year, Makarov was arrested and eventually convicted of sexually assaulting his students. Gavrylyuk now studies with a France-based teacher.

According to Ha'aretz, the favorite of the audience—and some judges—was the Chinese pianist Jie Chen, who was eliminated in the semi-final round.