2022 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition Program Book

OCTOBER 12–18, 2022 FORT WORTH, TEXAS USA

Van Cliburn Recital Hall & Bass Performance Hall

PRESENTED BY THE CLIBURN 201 Main Street, Suite 100 Fort Worth, Texas 76102

Jeffrey B. King CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Jacques Marquis PRESIDENT AND CEO

Pamela Mia Paul CHAIRMAN OF THE JURY

PROLOGUE

Message from Chairman Jeffrey B. King Message from President and CEO Jacques Marquis Cliburn Administration About the Cliburn 2022–2023 Cliburn Schedule The Cliburn Amateur Vision

2022 AMATEUR COMPETITION

Competition Schedule Free Festival Events Jury Chairman Pamela Mia Paul Members of the Jury Final Round Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Jury Handbook Prizes & Awards Sponsors & Underwriters Volunteers Professional Services & Personnel Amateur Competition History

CREATIVELY.

In TCU’s College of Fine Arts, we put our passion into practice. Our powerful academic and creative community challenges students to excel personally and artistically to become the next generation of world-changing teachers, performers, scholars and arts advocates.

TCU celebrates a rich legacy with The Cliburn, dating back to the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition hosted on campus in 1962. Learn more at finearts.tcu.edu

Dear friends,

The wait is over! You are about to experience what I believe is the most heartwarming event produced by the Cliburn.

The Eighth Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition once again brings together those virtuosos who, at some point in their lives, decided to pursue careers other than in music. These are not aspiring professional musicians; they’ve built their careers in other fields, while remaining heartwarmingly dedicated to what, for many of them, was their first love: the piano. Because of their hard work and devotion, they are capable and confident enough to play on the Cliburn stage, in front of a live audience and—for six of them—a full symphony orchestra. Imagine that. It’s what makes the Amateur so special and why it captures the hearts of so many people.

There can be no mistaking the global cultural impact that is derived from the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, or its little sister, the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival. Likewise, Cliburn Kids and Cliburn in the Classroom bring classical music, history, arithmetic, rhythm, and fun to thousands of local schoolchildren, many of whom would never be exposed to such high-quality educational opportunities if not for these programs.

It is the mission of the Cliburn to advance classical music throughout the world, and I cannot imagine a more powerful way to do that than to celebrate those who, quite simply, choose to share their talent, hard work, and passion for piano performance with the rest of us. This is when we as an audience are allowed to experience a love so pure and perfect that we all transcend competition.

So sit back, relax, and prepare to be transported! You are about to encounter true community through music.

Jeffrey B. King Chairman of the Board

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“The thing that thrills me the most is that you are honoring classical music, because I am only a witness and a messenger. I am only one of many who believe in the beauty of music.”

—Van Cliburn, New York ticker-tape parade, 1958

Welcome to the Eighth Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition. This event was postponed from May 2020, and I would first like to thank all the Amateur competitors for their patience, resilience, and commitment. They were selected three years ago and, since then, they had to keep practicing, again and again. Teachers, engineers, IT personnel, health and science workers... you will realize their dedication and engagement when you’ll know that, above and beyond their regular jobs, family commitments, and so on, they practice the piano at least several hours per week (or even per day)!

The Amateur Competition represents an important part of our mission: the celebration of music. Inspired by Van Cliburn and his desire of sharing music with the world, the amateur pianists are pursuing his vision. Music should be accessible to all and shared. And how great it is that the messengers are flying to Fort Worth from all over the world to share their passion with us!

Thirty-nine pianists and 15 additional festival participants from 19 countries are joining us for a week of musical pleasures. At the end, the opportunity for six amateur pianists to play with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is particularly special and exciting. In addition to this, they will also have the privilege to work with Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the wonderful conductor emeritus of the Orchestra.

Through concerts, discussions, seminars, and symposia, these messengers will bring to all of us the joy of music-making and the joy of sharing it with each other.

Thank you all, artists, musicians, volunteers, staff, contractors, donors, sponsors, and supporters, for making this happen.

Jacques Marquis President and CEO

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Jacques Marquis President and CEO jmarquis@cliburn.org

ARTISTIC PLANNING & OPERATIONS

Sandra Doan Director of Artistic Planning sdoan@cliburn.org

Michael Bellinson Manager of Artistic Administration mbellinson@cliburn.org

Nicole Paglialonga Artistic Programs Associate npaglialonga@cliburn.org

COMMUNICATIONS

Maggie Estes

Director of Communications and Digital Content mestes@cliburn.org

Garrett Owen Communications and Digital Content Manager gowen@cliburn.org

MARKETING

Kimberly Blouin Director of Marketing kblouin@cliburn.org

DEVELOPMENT

Kay Howell Chief Donor Relations Officer khowell@cliburn.org

Marianne Pohle Director of Development mpohle@cliburn.org

Corrie Donovan Donor Relations Manager cdonovan@cliburn.org

Claire Serafin Development Associate cserafin@cliburn.org

FINANCE

Alissa Ford Chief Financial Officer aford@cliburn.org

Susan Henry Finance and HR Administrator shenry@cliburn.org

Linda McMillan Business Systems and Records Administrator lmcmillan@cliburn.org

201 Main Street, Suite 100 I Fort Worth, Texas 76102 817.738.6536 I generalinformation@cliburn.org I cliburn.org

The Cliburn advances classical piano music throughout the world. Its international competitions, education programs, and concert series embody an enduring commitment to artistic excellence and the discovery of new artists. Established in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1962, the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition remains the most visible expression of that mission and is, as always, committed to its original ideals of supporting and launching the careers of emerging artists, age 18–30. It shares the transformative powers of music with a wide global audience, through fully produced webcasts and by providing comprehensive career management and concert bookings to its winners. Rounding out its mission, the Cliburn also produces the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival (third edition, June 8–17, 2023) for exceptional 13- to 17-year-old pianists and the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition for outstanding non-professional pianists age 35 and older.

Over a four-year cycle, the Cliburn contributes to North Texas’ cultural landscape with over 170 classical music performances for 150,000 attendees through competitions, free community concerts, and its signature Cliburn Concerts series. It presents 1,000 Cliburn in the Classroom in-school, interactive music education programs for more than 200,000 area elementary students. During the same time period, it garners the world’s attention with more than 30 million views from 170 nations for competition webcasts; 300 concerts worldwide booked for competition winners; more than 10,000 news articles about the Cliburn and its winners; and regular national radio broadcasts to 245 public radio stations.

SIXTEENTH VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

2–18,

A COMPETITION OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS READ

Against an unprecedented international backdrop, the transcendence of music triumphed at the sixteenth edition of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, with a slew of uplifting firsts that made for a global event never to be replicated.

ALL ABOUT THE COMPETITION IN THE RECAP EDITION OF CLIBURN

BY THE NUMBERS A QUICK SUMMARY OF GLOBAL REACH, JUNE THROUGH AUGUST 2022

THE WORLDWIDE PRESS

70 journalists covered in person Hundreds more followed online 2000+ articles across 50 countries Another 3000+ pieces in Korea alone, about Gold Medalist Yunchan Lim

THE WORLDWIDE COMMUNITY THE WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE

The Cliburn’s active presence on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and WeChat created a community around music: 300 million impressions (times posts were seen) 80,000 new followers (a 141% increase) 4 million engagements (shares, likes, comments)

The 2022 webcast was the first of its kind to offer 4K picture and surround sound and has become one of the most-watched classical music events of all time: 25 million views in 170 countries 3 million hours watched

THE WORLD LISTENED. JUNE

2022 VAN CLIBURN CONCERT HALL & BASS PERFORMANCE HALL

PROGRAMS

CAREER MANAGEMENT

The three medalists of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition receive a comprehensive and personalized career management package, including three years of concert bookings, artistic planning mentorship, traditional and social media training, logistics support, and tax and financial planning guidance, as well as commercial recording releases and a complete promotional package. Competing in—and winning—one of the world’s major classical music events marks only the beginning of their professional lives in music. The Competition is foremost a launch pad for establishing meaningful careers.

AMATEUR COMPETITION

Inaugurated in 1999, the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition was the first event of its kind in the United States. Hailed by the Boston Globe as “a celebration of music, and the people who have to make music no matter what,” the contest highlights the importance of musicmaking in everyday life and provides a forum for non-professional pianists age 35 and older. Postponed from 2020, this special competition this week features two rounds of recitals and the culminating Final Round, when six outstanding artists will perform with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

JUNIOR COMPETITION

The Cliburn International Junior Competition and Festival was established in 2015 as another means for the Cliburn to use its standing and expertise to encourage tomorrow’s great artists, to provide a valuable forum for them to express themselves, and to give them an entrance to the next step of their journeys. Key ingredients are top international jurors, the media and webcast, Final Round performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the festival atmosphere, which includes performance experience and artistic workshops—all put into place to make the program significantly useful for students with aspirations of being professional musicians. Third edition: June 8–17, 2023.

CONCERTS

One of the country's premier recital series, Cliburn Concerts brings the world's leading classical musicians to North Texas audiences throughout each season, ulitizing a number of venues to provide a variety of inspiring and welcoming experiences. From more traditional concerts at Bass Performance Hall and the Kimbell Art Museum, to new music exploration at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, to casual performances at The Post at River East and Tulips FW, there truly is something for everyone. Additionally, Cliburn in the Community brings in young, emerging artists to perform free concerts for the community at large, through innovative partnerships with local non-profits.

EDUCATION

The Cliburn designed Cliburn in the Classroom, its signature music education program, to introduce young audiences to classical music. Cliburn in the Classroom programs present the excitement of live piano performances to second-, third-, and fourth-grade students and

reinforce the basic elements of music through fun, interactive activities within the context of classical piano repertoire. Cliburn in the Classroom is presented annually to more than 60,000 public elementary students across North Texas. The programs are offered at no cost to participating schools.

NOVEMBER

CONCERTS Jessie Montgomery, composer Modern Art Museum

CONCERTS Vadym Kholodenko, piano Kimbell Art Museum

THE CLIBURN AMATEUR SPIRIT: A LIFE FILLED WITH MUSIC

BY SANDRA DOAN, director of artistic planning

At the Cliburn, we are lucky to promote and be surrounded by music. We present recitals by professional artists through several series, bring a grand piano and musicians to hundreds of schools for interactive concerts, and produce competitions that reward artistic achievement at the highest levels. We constantly strive to present the best-quality programs in service to our mission of advancing classical piano music throughout the world.

As a patron, it’s easy to enjoy these musical offerings. But the Amateur Competition brings deeper participation by inviting nonprofessionals to aspire to great musical heights themselves.

For the pianists who are competing this week here in Fort Worth, preparation has required commitment and discipline in the midst of already busy lives. First there’s the task of creating interesting programs and curating a series of recitals that will showcase a distinctive musical vision while displaying technical ease. Then there’s the process of actually learning music: to read the notes and thread them together, to get the fingers to do exactly what they’re supposed to do, to understand the overall architecture of a work, to create meaning and nuance in each phrase. After all the hours of practicing are done, these competitors will allow themselves both the immense joy and the vulnerability of sharing their work and artistic vision with a widespread audience. We can’t help but admire their efforts and cheer them on!

The Boston Globe proclaimed the Cliburn Amateur Competition to be “a celebration of music, and the people who have to make music, no matter what.” We’re privileged to offer a platform for these gifted amateur pianists to show off their incredible talents, to honor the hard work and dedication that goes into perfecting this art, and to celebrate classical piano music with those who love it.

With this eighth edition of the Competition, the Cliburn will have welcomed to Fort Worth over 400 different pianists from six continents who have represented such diverse fields as architecture, banking, engineering, film, homemaking, IT, journalism, law, mathematics, and medicine. These competitors inspire us not only with extraordinary performances and musicianship, but also by their devotion to this craft and all the ways that manifests itself in daily life: waking up at 5:00 in the morning to sneak in an hour of practice before the rest of the family wakes up; accompanying the kids in violin recitals or helping them practice; heading straight to the piano after a long workday to finish learning a page of music; giving performances in their local communities. Some have played continuously since the age of 4, while others have returned to the piano after perhaps decades of silence. Some have advanced performance degrees; others are self-taught. Their training, histories, and beliefs vary, but their shared passion brings them all to us, here in Fort Worth.

We look forward to discovering these artists' personal stories through music and conversation, and of course, celebrating their artistic achievements. In turn, we hope they return home to their respective cities with new friends, amazing experiences, and renewed inspiration for a life filled with music.

PRELIMINARY ROUND I VAN CLIBURN RECITAL HALL

39 pianists perform a 15-minute solo recital

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12

2:30–4:45 p.m. (#1–7)

7:00–9:00 p.m. (#8–13)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13

2:30–4:45 p.m. (#14–20) 7:00–9:00 p.m. (#21–26)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14

2:30–4:45 p.m. (#27–33)

7:00–9:00 p.m. (#34–39) followed by announcement of semifinalists

SEMIFINAL

330 E. 4TH STREET

ROUND I VAN CLIBURN RECITAL HALL 330 E. 4TH STREET

20 pianists perform a 28-minute solo recital

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15

2:30–5:20 p.m. (#1–5) 7:00–9:50 p.m. (#8–13)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16

2:30–5:20 p.m. (#8–13)

7:00–9:50 p.m. (#8–13) followed by announcement of finalists

FINAL ROUND I BASS PERFORMANCE HALL

6 competitors perform one movement of a concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18

7:00 p.m. followed by Awards Ceremony

PURCHASE COMPETITION TICKETS AT CLIBURN.ORG

GENERAL CONCERT INFORMATION

Patrons must be 8 years of age or older to attend Amateur Competition performances. There will be no late seating during any recital. During orchestra performances, latecomers will be seated at the discretion of house management. Audience members are encouraged to remain in their seats until the conclusion of each performance. Photography and recording are strictly prohibited. All phones and other electronic equipment must be turned off.

JOIN US FOR THESE FUN, FREE EVENTS!

FESTIVAL CONCERTS I

VAN CLIBURN RECITAL HALL 330 E. 4TH STREET

The non-competing festival participants perform for jury members, who will provide them invaluable notes.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 10:00 a.m.–12:20 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16 10:00 a.m.–12:35 p.m.

CLIBURN AMATEUR IN THE COMMUNITY

Free concerts around Fort Worth featuring competitors and festival participants.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12

6:00 p.m. I Fort Worth Public Library – Ridglea (3628 Bernie Anderson Avenue)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13

6:00 p.m. I Fort Worth Public Library – East Regional (6301 Bridge Street)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16

2:00 p.m. I Fort Worth Public Library – Southwest Regional (4001 Library Lane)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17

12:00 p.m. I 203 Café (215 Commerce Street, Suite 203)

6:00 p.m. I Fort Worth Public Library – Summerglen (4205 Basswood Boulevard)

OPEN PIANO NIGHT I THE POST AT RIVER EAST 2925 RACE STREET

A night of fun under the Texas skies with good drinks, food, and, of course, music! Competitors and festival participants (plus a special guest or two!) will come and sign up to perform throughout the evening, on the cool, casual patio of the Post at River East. (Food and drink available for purchase.)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17

6:30–10:00 p.m.

JURY SYMPOSIUM I VAN CLIBURN RECITAL HALL 330 E.

4TH

STREET

Members of the jury and Cliburn President and CEO Jacques Marquis convene to discuss the differences between evaluating amateur and professional competitions; preparation and the approach to performance; and the importance of program selection and process, all moderated by Buddy Bray.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17

4:00 p.m.

Competitors and festival participants will also be enjoying a number of private musical development opportunities, including four-hand and chamber music readings, and a special Q&A session with Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

American pianist Pamela Mia Paul is both a brilliant performer and a deeply dedicated teacher. On stage, she has performed with the world’s great orchestras. She has given concerts throughout the United States, and in Europe, China, South Korea, and Turkey, both as soloist and as chamber musician. In the studio, or in the setting of a masterclass, she is an internationally sought-after pedagogue whose students hold teaching positions throughout the United States and Asia, and who have participated in and won competitions including the Nina Widemann and Naumburg International Piano Competitions.

Ms. Paul has commissioned and premiered works for the piano; Robert Beaser’s Piano Concerto, which was written for her, had its premiere in the United States with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and in Europe with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic under the baton of American conductor Richard Dufallo. The Beaser Concerto had its New York premiere in 1992 at Carnegie Hall, with Dennis Russell Davies conducting the American Composers Orchestra. In 2012, she commissioned a concerto for piano and symphonic winds from Steven Bryant. The concerto was premiered with the UNT Wind Symphony conducted by Eugene Migliaro Corporon and recorded for release on the Klavier label in December 2012.

Ms. Paul has received critical acclaim for her appearances with orchestras in the United States and Europe, where her interpretations of both standard repertoire and 20th-century piano concertos have garnered consistent critical praise. Her European orchestral appearances include the Vienna ORF Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Berlin Staatskapelle, and the Dutch Radio Symphony. U.S. appearances include the New York Philharmonic; Minnesota, American Composers, and Caramoor Festival Orchestras; the Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Houston Symphonies; and the Boston and New York Pops.

In both orchestral performances and recitals, she has appeared in the world’s major concert halls, including New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. As a chamber musician, she has been an invited guest artist at the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals in Austria, Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and at Music Mountain in Connecticut. She has performed with the Cassatt, Penderecki, Borromeo, Chester, Orlando, Leontovich, Miro, DaPonte, and St. Petersburg Quartets.

Summer programs at which Ms. Paul has taught include the Prague International Master Classes, The Institute for Strings, and the Vienna International Piano Academy. She has presented masterclasses in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, Turkey, South Korea, and throughout the United States. In 2017, she served as a member of the screening jury of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Ms. Paul received the Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music, and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School. She is currently Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas and is a Steinway artist.

PETER CZORNYJ

UNITED KINGDOM

Peter Czornyj, born in England, studied musicology, piano, and composition at Hull University and musicology at Hamburg University, Germany. Upon graduation, he commenced research for a doctoral dissertation on Telemann and Berlin while performing as a theater musician, vocal coach, and piano accompanist in Hamburg and Berlin. From 1992 to 1998, he was director of Archiv Produktion at Deutsche Grammophon, and then founded the independent label Glissando.

In 2001, he was named artistic administrator of The Cleveland Orchestra, working closely with Christoph von Dohnányi, Franz Welser-Möst, and Pierre Boulez, including extensive new music commissioning and presenting a chamber music and piano recital series. In 2006, he was appointed vice president for artistic administration at the St. Louis Symphony, and in August 2008, joined the Sydney Symphony as director of artistic planning, partnering with Vladimir Ashkenazy and David Robertson in concert planning, recordings, new music commissioning, and an international piano recital series. In February 2014, he returned to the United States to be the Dallas Symphony’s vice president of artistic operations, collaborating, until his retirement in August 2021, with Music Director Fabio Luisi.

ALESSANDRO DELJAVAN

ITALY

Italian pianist Alessandro Deljavan has been astonishing audiences for more than two decades. Acknowledgements began at the age of nine when he won the prestigious Concours musical de France (1st Prize, Paris, 1996). He is embraced for his remarkable prowess and emotional intensity by audiences and colleagues alike. “Deljavan played Chopin’s B-minor Etude with jaw dropping virtuosity and heartstopping eloquence” (Dallas Morning News). A prolific recording artist, he has more than 60 albums from the solo and chamber music repertoire. Of his recording of the Chopin complete études, Pizzicato wrote, “Technically brilliant and with an exceptional imagination, Alessandro Deljavan brings finesse and spontaneity to Chopin’s Etudes.” In 2021, Alessandro launched his own label, AERAS.

Mr. Deljavan has performed with the Mariinsky Theatre, Fort Worth Symphony, Israel Camerata, Wu Han Philharmonic, and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestras, as well as Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra Sinfonica Leopolis, and Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento, among others. He has appeared at the Festival International Piano Classique de Biarritz, Festival Chopin à Paris, Piano Intime Series, Glafsfjordens musikfestival, Bologna Festival, Il Festival Piano Master, Orta Festival, Gradus International Piano Festival, Franz Liszt Festival, Festival Città di Morbegno, Festival Internazionale di Lapedona, Autunno Musicale, the Bogotà International Piano Festival, and Tippet Rise. He is currently professor of piano at the U. Giordano Conservatory of Music, Rodi Garganico, Italy.

VALERY KULESHOV

UNITED STATES/RUSSIA I 1993 CLIBURN SILVER MEDALIST

Valery Kuleshov’s first major international success was at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy in 1987, where he was awarded second place. In his North American debut at the Ninth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1993, he was awarded the silver medal, as well as the Prize for Best Performance of the Commissioned Work, Ghost Waltzes, by American composer Morton Gould. His performance in the Final Round prompted the Le Monde reviewer to exclaim, “What sound! What allure! What a musician!”

Mr. Kuleshov has accomplished the unique and incredibly difficult work of writing out, from listening only to the LP recordings, Vladimir Horowitz’s unpublished piano transcriptions. After listening to the recordings of his transcriptions played by Mr. Kuleshov, he wrote to the young musician: “I was not only delighted by your fantastic performances, but I congratulate you on your keen ear and great patience that were required to write out, note by note, the scores of these unpublished transcriptions, by listening to my recordings.”

In 1997, by decree of the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, Valery Kuleshov was awarded the rare distinction “Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation.” In addition to maintaining an international performing schedule, Valery Kuleshov is artist-in-residence at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma. In 2019, he served on the jury of the Second Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. He also performs duo piano repertoire with his talented daughter, Tatiana Kuleshova.

CAROL LEONE

UNITED STATES

American pianist Carol Leone is active as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A successful recording artist, she can be heard on MSR Classics, Gasparo, Crystal, and Augusta Read Thomas labels. Her recording, Change of Keys, on MSR Classics garnered two 2016 Silver Global Awards. She has performed regularly with the Grammy®-nominated contemporary music ensemble Voices of Change. Considered one of the world’s leading advocates and presenters for alternatively-sized piano keyboards, Dr. Leone has energized a worldwide movement to transform pianists’ artistry and wellness.

Carol Leone is chair of piano studies and professor of piano at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas. At SMU, she performs regularly as concerto soloist with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra and as part of a faculty piano trio with violinist Aaron Boyd and cellist Andres Diaz. She is also on the piano faculty of the Siena International Music Programs at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and is co-director and co-founder of the International Stretto Piano Festival.

ALEX MCDONALD

UNITED STATES

Since his orchestral debut at age 11, pianist Alex McDonald has soloed with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, Louisiana Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Utah Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has performed across the United States, as well as in Israel, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and South Korea; additionally, he has been a featured performer on PBS, WRR (Dallas/Fort Worth), NPR, and WQXR (New York City). Awards include second prizes at the 2007 New Orleans International Piano Competition and 2001 Gina Bachauer International Young Artist Piano Competition, and the 2008 Harvey Fellowship by the Mustard Seed Foundation. In 2013, he was a competitor in the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Mr. McDonald is currently the festival director for Basically Beethoven, a thriving summer concert series now approaching its 40th season in downtown Dallas’ Arts District. His program “Music for Animals” was hailed by Theater Jones as one of its “Concerts of the Year” in 2016. Equally passionate as a teacher, his private piano students have been admitted to Juilliard and Eastman, and have performed at Carnegie’s Weill Hall and on WRR. He has taught at Texas Woman’s University, Richland College, and The Juilliard School, where he also was a teaching fellow for both the Literature and Materials and Piano Minor departments. The Texas Music Teachers Association awarded him the 2017 Outstanding Achievement Award in teaching at the age of 34.

SPENCER MYER

UNITED STATES

Lauded for “superb playing” and “poised, alert musicianship” by the Boston Globe, and labeled “definitely a man to watch” by London’s The Independent after his 2012 Wigmore Hall recital debut, American pianist Spencer Myer is one of the most respected and sought-after artists on today’s concert stage.

He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Cape Town and Johannesburg Philharmonics, the Indianapolis, New Haven, and Phoenix Symphony Orchestras, and Beijing’s China National Symphony, collaborating with conductors Yannick Nézét-Séguin, Michael Christie, Arthur Fagen Bernhard Gueller, Jahja Ling, Kevin Rhodes, Gerald Steichen, Thomas Wilkins, and Victor Yampolsky. His 2005 tour of South Africa included a performance of Beethoven’s five piano concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, followed by six subsequent return tours. An in-demand chamber musician, he has appeared at the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival with cellists Lynn Harrell, Brian Thornton, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Amit Peled, and enjoys a recurring partnership with the Miami String Quartet at the Kent Blossom Music Festival. Other artistic partners have included clarinetist David Shifrin, soprano Nicole Cabell, and the Jupiter and Pacifica String Quartets.

Mr. Myer served on the piano faculty of Boston’s Longy School of Music of Bard College from 2016 to 2022, and is currently associate professor of piano at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has released four CDs on the Steinway & Sons label — Piano Rags of William Bolcom, and three discs with cellist Brian Thornton encompassing repertoire of Brahms, Debussy and Schumann. Mr. Myer is a Steinway Artist.

Celebrating more than 30 years of professional conducting, Miguel Harth-Bedoya has recently concluded tenures as chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (7 seasons) and as music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (20 seasons), where he now holds the title of music director laureate.

With a deep commitment to passing his experience on to the next generation of musicians, he is currently the Mary Franks Thompson Director of Orchestral Studies at Baylor University, where in addition to conducting the orchestras, he teaches orchestral conducting at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has also established The Conducting Institute to teach the fundamentals of conducting to students ages high school and up, of all levels, through an intensive summer program, workshops, courses, and seminars. Previously he was the director of orchestral studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

Mr. Harth-Bedoya conducts orchestras worldwide such as the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, BBC Orchestra, Birmingham Orchestra, National Orchestra of Spain, New Zealand Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, NHK Symphony, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Equally at home in opera, he has led traditional productions with The English National Opera, Canadian Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Bremen Opera, among others. He has also conducted the world premiere performances of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at the Santa Fe Opera, and additional productions with the Cincinnati Opera and at the New Zealand Festival.

Mr. Harth-Bedoya has an impressive discography of more than 25 recordings, including critically-acclaimed albums on Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, LAWO, Naxos, and MSR Classics. He is the artistic and managing director of Caminos del Inka, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the rich musical legacy of the Americas.

Born and raised in Peru, Mr. Harth-Bedoya received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, both under the guidance of Otto-Werner Mueller.

The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Robert Spano is deeply committed to uniting its community through performance, education, and outreach, reaching an audience of more than 200,000 annually. Since its beginnings in 1912, the FWSO has been an essential thread in the city’s cultural fabric and the very foundation of Fort Worth’s performing arts.

The FWSO has performed at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras. The FWSO has released 13 recordings—with several being world premiere releases—garnering international acclaim. The FWSO has embraced creative collaborations through residencies, partnerships, and commissions. As the principal resident company of the acoustically superb Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, the Orchestra performs a full season of concerts featuring internationally acclaimed guest artists and works by living composers.

The Orchestra performs and partners with the Texas Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Opera, The Cliburn, and Performing Arts Fort Worth. Each summer at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the FWSO presents Concerts In The Garden—a series of family-friendly concerts that have become a city-wide tradition. The FWSO keeps exceptional musical experiences at the heart of its community.

Robert Spano, Music Director

Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Chair

Kevin John Edusei, Principal Guest Conductor

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Music Director Laureate

Taichi Fukumura, Assistant Conductor Rae and Ed Schollmaier+ Foundation Chair

John Giordano, Conductor Emeritus

VIOLIN I

Michael Shih, Concertmaster

Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass Chair

Mr. Sid R. Bass Chair

Swang Lin, Associate Concertmaster Ann Koonsman+ Chair

Eugene Cherkasov, Assistant Concertmaster

Mollie & Garland Lasater Chair

Jennifer Y. Betz

Ordabek Duissen

Qiong Hulsey

Ivo Ivanov

Izumi Lund

Ke Mai

Rosalyn Story

Kimberly Torgul

Albert Yamamoto

VIOLIN II

Adriana Voirin DeCosta, Principal Steven Li, Associate Principal Janine Geisel, Assistant Principal Symphony League of Fort Worth Chair

Molly Baer

Tatyana Smith

Matt Milewski

Sue Jacobson° Kathryn Perry

Andrea Tullis

Camilla Wojciechowska

VIOLA

DJ Cheek, Principal

Linda Numagami, Associate Principal°

HeeSun Yang, Assistant Principal

Joni Baczewski

Sorin Guttman

Aleksandra Holowka

Dmitry Kustanovich

Daniel Sigale

CELLO

Allan Steele, Principal

Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass Chair

Mr. Sid R. Bass Chair

Emileigh Vandiver, Associate Principal Keira Fullerton, Assistant Principal Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation Chair John Belk

Deborah Brooks Shelley Jessup Jenny Kwak

BASS

William Clay, Principal Mr. & Mrs. Edward P. Bass Chair

Paul Unger, Assistant Principal Jeffery Hall Julie Vinsant

The seating positions of all string section musicians listed alphabetically change on a regular basis.

FLUTE

Jake Fridkis, Principal Shirley F. Garvey Chair

Gabriel Fridkis, Assistant Principal Pam Holland Adams

PICCOLO

Pam Holland Adams

OBOE

Jennifer Corning Lucio, Principal Nancy L. & William P. Hallman, Jr., Chair

Tamer Edlebi, Assistant Principal Tim Daniels

ENGLISH HORN Tim Daniels

CLARINET

Stanislav Chernyshev, Principal Rosalyn G. Rosenthal Chair* Ivan Petruzziello, Assistant Principal Gary Whitman

E-FLAT CLARINET

Ivan Petruzziello

BASS CLARINET Gary Whitman

BASSOON

Joshua Elmore, Principal

Mr. & Mrs. Lee M. Bass Chair

Cara Owens, Assistant Principal Samuel Watson

CONTRA BASSOON

Samuel Watson HORN

Gerald Wood, Principal Elizabeth H. Ledyard Chair

Alton F. Adkins, Associate Principal Drs. Jeff and Rosemary Detweiler Chair

Kelly Cornell, Associate Principal Aaron Pino

TRUMPET

Kyle Sherman, Principal Cody McClarty, Assistant Principal Dorothy Rhea Chair Oscar Garcia

TROMBONE

Joseph Dubas, Principal Mr. & Mrs. John Kleinheinz Chair Steve Peterson, Principal° John Michael Hayes, Assistant Principal Dennis Bubert

BASS TROMBONE

Dennis Bubert

Mr. & Mrs. Lee M. Bass Chair

TUBA

Edward Jones, Principal

TIMPANI

Seth McConnell, Principal Madilyn Bass Chair

Nicholas Sakakeeny, Assistant Principal

PERCUSSION

Keith Williams, Principal Shirley F. Garvey Chair

Nicholas Sakakeeny, Assistant Principal Adele Hart Chair Deborah Mashburn Brad Wagner

HARP

Position vacant Bayard H. Friedman Chair

KEYBOARD

Shields-Collins Bray, Principal Rildia Bee O’Bryan Cliburn & Van Cliburn Chair

STAGE MANAGER

Branson White

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER

Joseph Dubas

ORCHESTRA LIBRARIANS

Christopher Hawn

David Sterrett

* In Memory of Manny Rosenthal

° 2022/2023 Season Only

+ Denotes Deceased

The Concertmaster performs on the 1710 Davis Stradivarius violin.

The Associate Concertmaster performs on the 1685 Eugenie Stradivarius violin.

COMPETITION PHASES & REPERTOIRE REQUIREMENTS

SELECTION PROCESS

In 2020, a selection committee chose 48 competitors from an applicant pool of 205 amateur pianists. Competitors were selected through online applications and video submissions of 15 to 20 minutes in length. Works performed in the screening videos can be performed during the Competition rounds. The videos were filmed with both the pianist’s face and hands in the frame at all times. Recordings could be paused between each repertoire selection, but each work on the video was required to be a continuous and unedited performance. Videos were required to be filmed no more than six months prior to submission. The competition was postponed due to the global pandemic to October 2022, and 39 pianists were still able to compete.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

Up to forty-eight (48) competitors will each present a solo recital not to exceed 15 minutes in length. The repertoire will consist of works chosen by the pianist.

SEMIFINAL ROUND

Twenty (20) competitors will each present a solo recital not to exceed 28 minutes in length. The repertoire will consist of works chosen by the pianist.

FINAL ROUND

Six (6) competitors will each perform one concerto movement, chosen by the pianist from the following list, with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

BACH Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052: I. Allegro

BACH Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052: III. Allegro

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15: I. Allegro con brio

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15: III. Rondo (allegro scherzando)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, op. 19: I. Allegro con brio

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, op. 19: III. Rondo (molto allegro)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37: I. Allegro con brio

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37: III. Rondo (allegro)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, op. 58: III. Rondo (vivace)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 73: III. Rondo (allegro)

GRIEG Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 16: I. Allegro molto moderato

GRIEG Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 16: III. Allegro moderato molto e marcato

MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25: I. Molto allegro con fuoco

MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25: III. Presto—Molto allegro vivace

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271 (“Jeunehomme”): I. Allegro

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271 (“Jeunehomme”): III. Rondeau (presto)

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: I. Allegro maestoso

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: III. Allegro vivace assai

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488: I. Allegro

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488: III. Allegro assai

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26: I. Andante—Allegro

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26: II. Tema con variazioni (andantino)

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26: III. Allegro, ma non troppo

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22: I. Andante sostenuto

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22: II. Allegro scherzando

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22: III. Presto

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, op. 103 (“Egyptian”): I. Allegro animato

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, op. 103 (“Egyptian”): II. Andante

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, op. 103 (“Egyptian”): III. Molto allegro

SCHUMANN Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54: I. Allegro affettuoso

SCHUMANN Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54: III. Allegro vivace

SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, op. 102: I. Allegro

SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, op. 102: III. Allegro

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23: III. Allegro con fuoco

GENERAL RULES RELATING TO REPERTOIRE

1. Competitors are free to choose their own programs for all recital phases of the Competition. Applicants may perform any work written for solo piano by a classical composer of any era, including contemporary music. It is suggested that the repertoire reflect a variety of musical periods and composers. Returning competitors are encouraged to present repertoire that has not been performed at previous competitions.

a. If an applicant also composes original music in a classical style, s/he may include such works, but at least 75% of the repertoire timing must be written by another composer.

b. Broadway show tunes, movie music, jazz, folk, and other forms of popular music generally will not be eligible for consideration.

2. No works may be repeated in subsequent rounds.

3. Total performance times must include applause and pauses, and will be strictly enforced.

4. Individual movements of larger works will be accepted but must be performed in their entirety.

5. Repeats are at the discretion of the pianist.

6. Works do not have to be memorized (a page turner will be provided if requested).

7. If requested, the pianist must supply a copy of the edition of the score used in preparation of each work performed to the jury.

PRIZES AND AWARDS

Three ranked awards will be presented to the first, second, and third prize winners of the Competition.

• A first prize is always to be awarded.

• Ties will not be permitted.

Three Jury Discretionary Awards will be presented to competitors selected by the jury.

Prizes will be awarded by the jury at the Awards Ceremony as follows:

RICHARD RODZINSKI FIRST PRIZE – $2,000 cash

SECOND PRIZE – $1,500 cash

THIRD PRIZE – $1,000 cash

JURY DISCRETIONARY AWARDS (3) – $500 cash each

An Audience Award will be determined by public vote at the Final Round concert.

JURY CONDUCT

1. All members of the jury must attend the official jury orientation scheduled prior to the Competition, except under special circumstances, at the discretion of the president and CEO of the Cliburn, during which they will be given an official notebook containing information and all materials necessary for their adjudication, including sections on which to write their evaluations. These notebooks must be treated as documents containing privileged information that may not be divulged to anyone during the course of or after the Competition. All notebooks and their contents remain the property of the jury members.

2. Each member of the jury must attend every performance of each round. Failure to do so will disqualify the juror, except under extenuating circumstances, at the discretion of the president and CEO of the Cliburn.

3. Subsequent to the first jury orientation meeting, official gatherings of the jury for the purpose of briefing or voting will be closed except for jurors, the chairman of the jury, the voting administrator, the president and CEO of the Cliburn, and a third-party voting witness. Any exceptions will be made at the discretion of the president and CEO of the Cliburn.

4. Jurors will not discuss with any person whatsoever, including amongst themselves, their opinion of competitors’ performances or any other aspect of their adjudication responsibilities. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the press (on or off the record) and in any public forum, in person or online, such as on blogs or social media—personal or professional.

5. Jurors may not communicate privately at any time during the Competition with competitors.

6. Jurors are required to sign a conflict of interest waiver. Any juror having, or having had during the preceding four years, a familial, teaching, or professional relationship with a competitor must declare such relationship. Voting on that competitor’s performance shall be held in accordance with the special voting procedure outlined in the Jury Handbook. Any juror who has had a long-term teaching or close relationship of any kind with a competitor at any time must disclose such relationship. Masterclasses do not count as a teaching relationship.

7. Jurors must refrain from verbal comment, demonstrative behavior, or any form of communication during or after competitors’ performances.

8. Jurors must have approval from the Cliburn’s director of communications and digital content prior to accepting any media interviews or other requests. The Cliburn’s communications department will oversee all initial contacts with the press, the content of all materials and statements, and scheduling.

9. No individual or composite jury votes may be disclosed at any time to any person who is not a juror, the voting administrator, the president and CEO of the Cliburn, or the third-party voting witness, except the final composite decision of the jury at the conclusion of each round of the Competition, which will be announced to the public after the Preliminary and Semifinal Rounds by the jury chairman, and after the Final Round at the Awards Ceremony by the jury chairman, master of ceremonies, or as designated by the president and CEO of the Cliburn.

10. Jurors must comply with all rules in the Handbook for the Jury. Any infraction of the Handbook for the Jury by a juror may result in the dismissal of that juror and/or the disqualification of a competitor.

VOTING PROCEDURES

The following procedures apply to the selection of competitors for the Semifinal and Final Rounds. The jury will select, in no specific order, the 20 most qualified pianists for advancement to the Semifinal Round, and six most qualified pianists for advancement to the Final Round. Selections for advancement will be based on a composite evaluation of the competitors’ performances.

BALLOTS

Ballots will be distributed at the end of each round with the names of pianists listed in performance order. Each juror will indicate the competitors s/he selects for advancement to the next round, as well as a specific number of pianists whom the juror feels have the possibility to be selected, i.e. “maybes.”

After voting, jurors will submit the completed and signed ballots directly to the voting administrator. The votes will be tabulated by the voting administrator under the scrutiny of the president and CEO of the Cliburn, the third-party voting witness, and jury chairman.

Results will be revealed to the jury in random order. The relative standing of competitors will not be revealed.

TIES

In the event of a tie for the last place(s), and in order to avoid re-voting, the pianists selected as “maybe” votes will be taken into account. In the event of an unresolved tie for the last place(s) (after counting the “maybe” votes), a second ballot shall be held for the tied competitors, in order to select the required number of competitors equal to the number of place(s) remaining. Subsequent ballots will be taken only if the vote remains deadlocked after the chairman of the jury’s vote is discarded.

JUROR CONFLICT OF INTEREST

A juror with a conflict of interest as defined under the jury conduct requirements of the Handbook for the Jury may, if s/he sees fit, include the name of this competitor in the ballot. However, in such cases, the juror’s opinion will not count as a vote on behalf of that particular competitor. When counting the votes for each competitor, the juror’s vote will be expressed as the ratio between the total number of votes received and number of jurors eligible to vote for that competitor. For the first, second, and third prizes, a juror with a conflict of interest may participate in the gathering of the jury, but s/he will not be permitted to vote.

Specific procedures for each round are as follows:

I. PRELIMINARY ROUND

The jury will select 20 competitors to advance to the Semifinal Round. Ballots will be distributed on which each juror will mark the names of 20 competitors to advance to the Semifinal Round in no order of preference. On the same ballot and to help resolve a possible tie, each juror must notate the names of three “maybes” in no order of preference. The “Ties” procedure outlined above will be used to resolve a tie in the last place(s).

II. SEMIFINAL ROUND

The jury will select six competitors to advance to the Final Round, taking into consideration all performances up to this point. Ballots will be distributed on which each juror will mark the names of six competitors to advance to the Final Round in no order of preference. On the same ballot and to help resolve a possible tie, each juror must also notate the name of one “maybe.” The “Ties” procedure outlined above will be used to resolve a tie in the last place(s).

III. FINAL ROUND

After the completion of the final performance, the jury will render a final decision taking into consideration all performances of the Competition. A juror with a conflict of interest under the jury conduct requirements of the Jury Handbook may participate in the gathering of the jury, but s/he will not be permitted to vote.

1. FIRST PRIZE. Ballots with the six finalists’ names will be distributed on which each juror will mark the name of the one competitor to be awarded first prize. The competitor with the majority of votes of the jurors entitled to vote and who did vote in the Final Round, will be awarded first prize.

a. SECOND BALLOT. Should none of the competitors attain a majority of votes in the first ballot, then a second ballot shall be held between the two competitors with the most votes. The competitor from the second ballot with the majority of votes will be awarded first prize.

b. TIE BALLOT. Should none of the competitors attain a majority of votes on the first ballot and more than two competitors received the most votes, the jury will first hold a ballot to decide between those tied competitors. A second ballot will then be held as outlined above.

c. EXACT TIE. Should there be an exact tie of three or more competitors, the jury chairman’s vote will count twice.

2. SECOND PRIZE. After the winner of the first prize is selected, the second prize winner will be determined using the same procedure. Ballots will be distributed on which each juror will mark the name of one competitor to be awarded second prize without regard to the results of the first prize balloting.

3. THIRD PRIZE. After the winner of the second prize is selected, the third prize winner will be determined using the same procedure. Ballots will be distributed on which each juror will mark the name of one person to be awarded third prize without regard to the previous balloting.

4. The remaining finalists will not be ranked.

IV. JURY DISCRETIONARY AWARDS

After the completion of the Semifinal Round, the jury will select three recipients of Jury Discretionary Awards. Each juror will nominate one non-finalist to be recognized for a specific reason. The president and CEO of the Cliburn will draw the jurors’ names, in which order the jurors will present their suggestions; discussion among jurors will be allowed at this time. All jurors must nominate different competitors.

After seven competitors are nominated, ballots will be distributed on which each juror will mark the names of three competitors to be awarded Jury Discretionary Awards in no order of preference. On the same ballot and to help resolve a possible tie, each juror must also notate the name of one “maybe.” The “Ties” procedure outlined above will be used to resolve a tie in the last place(s).

PRIZES & AWARDS

RICHARD RODZINSKI FIRST PRIZE

$2,000 cash Funded by a generous gift to the Cliburn Endowment by Scott Cutler

– AND –Performance opportunity with the Calgary Civic Symphony Custom boots, donated by Justin Brands

SECOND PRIZE

$1,500 cash Funded by The Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation in Memory of Bernice Gressman Meyerson 1918–2016

THIRD PRIZE

$1,000 cash Funded by The Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation in Memory of Bernice Gressman Meyerson 1918–2016

First, Second, and Third prizewinners also receive a TUMI bag, courtesy of NorthPark Center

JURY DISCRETIONARY AWARDS (3)

$500 cash each

Funded by The Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation in Memory of Bernice Gressman Meyerson 1918–2016

AUDIENCE AWARD

$500 cash

Funded by The Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation in Memory of Bernice Gressman Meyerson 1918–2016

– AND –Cowboy hat, donated by Justin Brands

AUDIENCE AWARD VOTE

Patrons in attendance at the Final Round concert on October 18 will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite finalist through the Cliburn's website. The pianist with the most votes will be given the Audience Award, announced at the Awards Ceremony that evening.

DISCRETIONARY

List as of September 21, 2022. The Cliburn also appreciates donations made after the print deadline. *Endowed funds

CLIBURN UNDERWRITERS

Alice L. Walton Foundation

Amon G. Carter Foundation

Ann L. & Carol Green Rhodes Charitable Trust Arts Fort Worth

Sid W. Richardson Foundation The Rea Charitable Trust

William & Catherine Bryce Memorial Trust

William E. Scott Foundation

ARTIST LOUNGE / PRACTICE ROOMS

Kristy Odom*

Jim Barker

Lauren Castle

Jordan Hainsfurther

Sarah Howell

Johanna M. Kimpland

BACKSTAGE MOM

Kathie Cummins

Sara Doan

CALLIGRAPHY

Jacqueline Copeland

CONDUCTOR HOST

Johanna M. Kimpland

FACILITIES

Kristy Odom*

GIFT SHOP

Mary Elizabeth Van Meter*

Katie Day

Christine Gores

Taylor Gray

Elizabeth Grover

Shanelle Reyes

Allie Sanders

Pamela Smith

Megan Bowdon Wilkinson

INFORMATION BOOKS

Corrie Donovan

JURY GREEN ROOM

Stephanie Fox*

Johanna M. Kimpland*

Jim Barker

Sarah Howell

Morgan Laughlin

Gail Roberts

VOLUNTEERS

LATE NIGHT EVENTS

Shelby White LIAISON TO DIRECTOR OF VOLUNTEERS

Chandler Wallace MEDICAL

Dr. James D. Harper*

Dr. Lauren Getz

Dr. James B. Getz, Jr. Dr. Eric S. Wroten

MUSICAL SCORES

Echo Wilson

PAGE TURNER

Lauren Koszyk

WELCOME BAGS

Chandler Wallace*

Tave Doty-Nichols

Sarah Howell

Lauren Staats

JUNIOR LEAGUE OF FORT WORTH PLACEMENTS

Lauren Castle

Corrie Donovan

Tave Doty-Nichols

Taylor Gray

Elizabeth Grover

Jordan Hainsfurther

Sarah Howell

Morgan Laughlin

Allie Sanders

Lauren Staats

Chandler Wallace

Megan Bowdon Wilkinson

* denotes chair / co-chair

ANNOUNCERS

Robin Bangert

Rodolfo Mireles-Manzano

Buddy Bray, Awards Ceremony

AUDIO-VISUAL PRODUCTION

Probst Audio

Scott Probst, audio engineer

Andrew Newton, videographer

CATERING

Robert Jones Catering

Yami Alvarez Catering

FACILITIES

Performing Arts Fort Worth, Inc.

Dione Kennedy, president and CEO

Jason Wise, vice president of programming & engagement management

Hannah Guinn, assistant director of programming & engagement management

Justin Perrin, manager of programming & engagement management

Chris Sanders, director of front of house

Gordon Kelly, assistant director of front of house

Clara Silva, assistant director of front of house

Jacob Mobberley, production manager & senior technical director

Charles McCormick, technical director, audio

Dylan Walker, production technician

Melinda Willmann, production assistant

Jim Carley, director of safety & risk management

Stephen Rorai, director of information technology

City Center Fort Worth

Robert Gamblin, director of leasing

Barry Lohr, director of parking services

Jim Irwin Floral

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Mowry Advertising and Design

Jimmy Mowry, president/creative director

PHOTOGRAPHY

Ralph Lauer

PIANO TECHNICIAN SERVICES

Steinway Hall – North/Texas

Steve Claunch, COO/vice president of technical services

Atticus Alvizo, piano technician

Jino Jordan, piano technician

PRODUCTION/TECHNICAL SERVICES

I.A.T.S.E. Local 126

TICKETING SERVICES

Performing Arts Fort Worth, Inc.

Laura Crick, patron services supervisor

Phillip De Leon, assistant director of CRM strategy

Kelsey Fales, patron services manager

Alexus Ogrodnik, patron services supervisor

VOTING WITNESS

Hatter & Associates, LLP

David Eason, partner

Inaugurated in 1999, the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition is the first event of its kind in the United States. Hailed by the Boston Globe as “a celebration of music, and the people who have to make music no matter what,” it was established at the behest of the late Nela Rubinstein, wife of legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein. The contest highlights the importance of music-making in everyday life and provides a forum for musicians age 35 and older who do not derive their primary source of income from playing or teaching piano. The quadrennial competition brings together the finest amateur pianists from around the world for seven days of performances, symposia, and social events.

FIRST COMPETITION

June 9–13, 1999

Jury Award

Joel Holoubeck (Numismatist, France)

Press Jury Award

Joel Holoubeck

Audience Award

Alexandre Bodak (Physician, France)

SECOND COMPETITION

June 5–10, 2000

First Prize

Christopher Basso (Assistant Store Manager, USA)

Second Prize Steven Ryan (Computer Consultant, USA)

Third Prize Debra Saylor (Private Voice Instructor, USA)

THIRD COMPETITION

June 3–8, 2002

First Prize

Victoria Bragin (Professor of Chemistry, USA)

Michael Hawley (Director of Special Projects, MIT, USA)

Second Prize

Paul Romero (CD-ROM Game Composer, USA)

FOURTH COMPETITION

May 31–June 5, 2004

First Prize

Paul Anthony Romero (Composer and Porcelain Dealer, USA)

Second Prize

Averill Piers Baker (Legal Volunteer, Canada)

Third Prize

Ann Herlong (Homemaker, USA)

FIFTH COMPETITION

May 28–June 3, 2007

Richard Rodzinski First Prize

Drew Mays (Ophthalmologist, USA)

Second Prize Mark Fuller (Attorney, USA)

Third Prize

Clark Griffith (Composer/Internet Technology Administrator, ret., USA)

SIXTH COMPETITION

May 23–May 29, 2011

Richard Rodzinski First Prize

Christopher Shih (Physician, USA)

Second Prize

Clark Griffith (Database Programmer, ret., USA)

Third Prize Barry Coutinho (Family Physician, USA)

SEVENTH COMPETITION

June 19–25, 2016

Richard Rodzinski First Prize Thomas Yu (Periodontist, Canada)

Second Prize Michael Slavin (Ophthalmologist, ret., USA)

Third Prize Xavier Aymonod (Strategy Consultant, France)

COMPETITORS

NUMBER OF COMPETITORS: 39

NUMBER OF FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS: 15

NUMBER OF APPLICANTS: 205

AGE RANGE: 38–75

AVERAGE AGE: 53

WOMEN: 22 MEN: 32

COUNTRIES REPRESENTED: 19 Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

U.S. STATES REPRESENTED: 12+ District of Columbia

INDUSTRIES REPRESENTED: Law, Homemaking/parenting, Computer systems/programming, Accounting, Academia, Banking/financial services, Marketing/sales, Medicine/healthcare, Physics, Software development, Real estate, Engineering, Nonprofit management, Clerical, Retail, Government, Human resources, Transportation, Translation

COMPOSERS AND REPERTOIRE

MOST POPULAR COMPOSERS THROUGH ALL THREE ROUNDS: Chopin—39 works Beethoven—17 works Bach—14 works (+5 transcriptions) Liszt—14 works (+1 transcription) Scriabin—11 works Rachmaninov—11 works (+1 transcription) Ravel—9 works

MOST POPULAR WORKS: Bach Italian Concerto—programmed 4 times Beethoven “Waldstein” Sonata—programmed 4 times

MOST POPULAR CONCERTO: Prokofiev Third Concerto—selected by 9 competitors

FUN FACTS

NUMBER OF PIANOS: Steinway & Sons—8 rehearsal grand pianos, 18 practice pianos, and 1 grand piano for Open Piano Night The Cliburn—2 performance pianos, 1 community concerts piano

ESTIMATED COMPETITION PERFORMANCE TIME: 23 hours

XAVIER AYMONOD

AGE 46 I PARIS, FRANCE I FRANCE MARKETING DIRECTOR – PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

A science and technology graduate of France’s prestigious École Polytechnique, Xavier Aymonod has built a career as an international public transportation specialist with a passion for sustainable and smart mobility. Currently customer director for Transdev, he balances work responsibilities with his family life (his children are 10 and 12 years old) and his love for traveling, running, golf, wine, and—of course—music. His piano studies began early at the Aix-en-Provence Conservatory, and his commitment hasn’t waned in adulthood: he is a laureate of many international amateur competitions—including a third-place finish at the 2016 Cliburn Amateur; has performed in France, Germany, Russia, South Africa, and the United States; and works in transcriptions and composition.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BACH Fantasia in C Minor, BWV 906

DUTILLEUX

SEMIFINAL ROUND

FRANCK

HOROWITZ

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV

“Choral et Variations” from Piano Sonata, op. 1

Prélude, Choral et Fugue

Variations on a Theme from Bizet’s Carmen

Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BEETHOVEN

CHOPIN

MATTHEW BARNHILL

AGE 38 I CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA I UNITED STATES

ACCOUNTANT

Matthew Barnhill dreamt of being a pianist when he was a child. He earned a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Furman University, and—though his career went a different direction (he’s worked in finance since graduating with a master’s in accountancy in 2013)—that dream has never left him. His eye has been on the Cliburn Amateur for several years, waiting until he was old enough to enter. He sees it as a motivation and inspiration—“a path back into the world of music.” In addition to working as a senior manager in project finance and consulting for CohnReznick LLP, Matthew is an avid runner (his marathon count is in the double digits) and loves adventure travel (he summited Kilimanjaro in 2018 and trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal in March 2020, right before the world shut down).

Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”) (I)

Etude in A-flat Major, op. 25, no. 1

Etude in C Major, op. 10, no. 7

Etude in F Major, op. 10, no. 8

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”) (III)

BACH Prelude and Fugue in A-flat Major, BWV 862

LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1

FINAL ROUND

MENDELSSOHN

Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25 (III)

MIRIAM BERRO

AGE 65 I MONTRÉAL, CANADA I ARGENTINA / CANADA SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Multiple passions have driven Miriam Berro’s life. While earning her master’s degree in piano performance from the Juan José Castro Conservatory of Music in her native Buenos Aires, she decided to also seriously study her other loves: mathematics and physics. She completed an electronics engineering degree from the University of Buenos Aires and a Master of Applied Sciences from the University of Sherbrooke in Canada. She went on to build a now 20-plus-year career in information technology and software development, the last decade as a business and functional analyst. Now working for the Desjardins Group, Miriam’s devotion to classical music has burned bright all the while. She’s performed well at amateur competitions across North America, including award-wins in Montréal, New York City, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCHUMANN “Warum?” and “In der Nacht” from Fantasiestücke, op. 12

GINASTERA

SEMIFINAL ROUND

“Danza de la moza donosa” and “Danza del gaucho matrero” from Danzas Argentinas, op. 2

BACH Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Minor, BWV 849

BERG Sonata, op. 1

DEBUSSY “Feux d’artifice” from Préludes, Book II

SCRIABIN Preludes, op. 11, nos. 1, 4, 11, 14

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV

Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

IPEK BOZKURT

AGE 42 I SEABROOK, TEXAS I TURKEY / UNITED STATES PROFESSOR

Ipek Bozkurt grew up on Van Cliburn stories. Her piano teachers, Elif and Bedii Aran, with whom she studied in Ankara for 15 years (and continues to this day), were themselves Juilliard students under Mme. Rosina Lhévinne, just as Van was. She moved to the United States to pursue a master’s and then Ph.D. in engineering management and has built a career as a professor, currently program chair at the University of Houston Clear Lake. She was a selfdescribed “newbie” to the world of amateur competitions in 2016 when she participated in the last Cliburn Amateur; she had an amazing experience, and the 2022 edition marks only her second competition appearance. She recently realized a 30-year dream of owning a grand piano—which she’s named “Black Beauty”—is fluent in two languages, working on two more, and says her “love of music can be extrapolated to all forms of art,” including film, literature, visual art, and knitting.

BRAHMS Ballade in G Minor, op. 118, no. 3

SCHUMANN Fantasiestücke, op. 12, nos. 1–4

SEMIFINAL ROUND

MENDELSSOHN Rondo capriccioso, op. 14

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, op. 27, no. 2 (“Moonlight”)

FINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15 (I)

DEIRBHILE BRENNAN

AGE 53 I DUBLIN, IRELAND I IRELAND

ACCOUNTANT

Just over a decade ago, Deirbhile Brennan found herself back where it all began: the Royal Irish Academy of Music. That’s where she started her music studies when she was 5, and, in 2009, she returned to the school and to the piano, this time simultaneously maintaining a busy career in accounting and raising four small children. That recommitment has led her to a flourishing amateur piano life: she completed her master’s in piano performance (part-time while working full-time) in 2013; has won competitions in St. Petersburg, Boston, Chicago, and Île-de-France; has performed across four continents performing solo and concertos (including at Carnegie Hall with New York Concerti Sinfonietta and at the Gasteig in Munich); and has broadcast on radio in Ireland and the United States. A chartered accountant with almost 30 years of experience, Deirbhile currently serves as head of compliance for an Irish government agency. Outside of all these accomplishments, she also spent nine years in the national broadcaster RTÉ Philharmonic Choir.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”) (I)

RAVEL “Ondine” from Gaspard de la nuit

SEMIFINAL ROUND

GERSHWIN

CHOPIN

Prelude No. 1

Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, op. 54

LISZT “Vallée d’Obermann” from Années de Pèlerinage

FINAL ROUND

SCHUMANN

Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BACH

GORDEN CHENG

AGE 41 I SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA I UNITED STATES INFORMATION

SECURITY ARCHITECT

A computer science graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, Gorden Cheng has grown a flourishing career in technology for more than 20 years, currently serving as director of information security for the Oracle Corporation in San Diego. The Chongqing, China, native is not a conservatory-trained pianist; he’s taken private lessons for many years, which has yielded fantastic results on the amateur scene, including top-three competition prizes in Chicago, Boston, Colorado Springs, Paris, Warsaw, and Washington, D.C., as well as a semifinalist finish at the last Cliburn Amateur in 2016. For him, competing is about “sharing his music with people and performing on a big stage.” Outside of these pursuits, he enjoys spending time with his wife and children, and is a huge fan of FC Barcelona and UFC.

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Minor, BWV 849

HAYDN Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:50 (I)

CHOPIN Etude in B Minor, op. 25, no. 10

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BISCARDI

Incantation to Desire (Tango)

SCHUBERT Fantasie in C Major, op. 15

FINAL ROUND

TCHAIKOVSKY

Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23 (III)

NOAH DEGARMO

AGE 44 I DALLAS, TEXAS I UNITED STATES PHYSICIAN

Noah DeGarmo’s lifetime goal: to be a physician who is active in music. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Cornell University, the Carlisle, Massachusetts native graduated medical school at Columbia University and completed his residency at Northwestern University. Now a respected and well-published emergency medicine physician, he holds a position at Arlington Memorial Hospital. He grew up seriously studying both the piano and oboe (he has a minor in the former from Cornell), and lamented the limited performance opportunity after college, which led to amateur competition participation (Chicago, 2016 Cliburn Amateur). Currently a student of Alessandro Mazzamuto, he formed the Boulanger Piano Quintet in Dallas, composed of colleagues in medicine. Dr. DeGarmo will be performing Gershwin’s Second Rhapsody as soloist with the World Doctor’s Orchestra in October 2023.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BACH–SILOTI

BEETHOVEN

Prelude in B Minor, BWV 855a

Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, op. 109 (I)

RACHMANINOV Prelude in D Major, op. 23, no. 4

SEMIFINAL ROUND

CHOPIN Nocturne in C Minor, op. 48, no. 1

BRAHMS Intermezzo in A Major, op. 118, no. 2

PROKOFIEV Sarcasms, op. 17, nos. 1–5

FINAL ROUND

SCHUMANN

Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

ROBERT FINLEY

AGE 72 I NORTHBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS I UNITED STATES ELECTRONICS ENGINEER (RETIRED)

Robert Finley was born in Hull, England, and studied electronic engineering at the University of Sussex. After graduation he worked as an engineer in the United Kingdom and United States. He was a junior exhibitioner at Trinity College of Music in London and gained the ARCM diploma with Honors at the Royal College of Music. In 1980, he immigrated to the United States. He took part in the first Cliburn Amateur Competition in 1999, as well as others in the United States and Europe, taking first prize in the Yamaha Pianist Magazine Competition (UK) and reaching the finals in Warsaw (Chopin), Colorado Springs, and Washington. He has given recitals in Paris, London, Israel, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Budapest, Bayreuth, Warsaw, and Yokohama, Japan. He has performed concertos by Liszt, Chopin, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich with orchestra and, earlier this year, played Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Brockton Symphony Orchestra. He is the founder and president of the Boston International Piano Competition for highly talented amateur pianists, which takes place every two years since 2001.

BACH–PETRI “Sheep may safely graze”

FAURÉ Impromptu No. 3 in A-flat Major, op. 34

BRAHMS Hungarian Dance No. 2 in D Minor

SEMIFINAL ROUND

CHOPIN Nocturne in B Major, op. 62, no. 1

LISZT Au bord d’une source

SCRIABIN Fantasy in B Minor, op. 28

GRIEG Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, op. 65, no. 6

FINAL ROUND

TCHAIKOVSKY Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23 (III)

SIMON FINLOW

AGE 66 I WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA I UNITED STATES / UNITED KINGDOM IT PROJECT MANAGER/DATABASE ENGINEER (RETIRED)

What started with piano lessons at age 4 led Simon Finlow to study music at both Oxford (bachelor’s) and Cambridge (Ph.D.). He says “hard reality” led him to a career shift in the mid80s. He emigrated from England to the United States, where he earned a master’s in computer science and information systems from American University and built a successful career in the field. In 2014, he quit his high-stress job and—having heard about the Cliburn Amateur while attending the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition the year prior—he rededicated himself to the piano. A former marathon runner, the physical and mental fortitude required for intensive training was not unfamiliar to him. Simon competed in the 2016 Cliburn Amateur and now performs regularly in the D.C. Metropolitan area. In his words: “I really feel as though I’ve been welcomed into an enormous, diverse, multi-national family of like-minded musicians.”

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCARLATTI

Sonata in B Minor, K. 87

BEETHOVEN Bagatelle in B Major, op. 126, no. 4

LISZT

SEMIFINAL ROUND

SCRIABIN

BEETHOVEN

FINAL ROUND

BACH

“Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este” from Années de Pèlerinage

Nocturne for the Left Hand, op. 9, no. 2

Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110

Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052 (III)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

RACHMANINOV

THIERRY GOLDWASER

AGE 46 I PLOEREN, FRANCE I FRANCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

Thierry Goldwaser never gave up on music. After studying piano for seven years, he took a break while completing his engineering degree—but during that time, he played the electric guitar in a rhythm and blues band. He returned to the piano soon after graduation, becoming an active amateur performer while working as a software designer. He won the Concours des Grands Amateurs de Piano in Paris in 2005, which afforded him fulfillment of a childhood dream: playing Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with an orchestra. Since that time, he’s made the finals at amateur competitions in Berlin and Warsaw; has performed in France, China, and South Africa; and has been active in Les Amateurs Virtuoses since 2008, now also serving as its webmaster. Thierry is also a father of four who enjoys cooking, swimming, and cycling.

Prelude in G-sharp Minor, op. 32, no. 12

Prelude in D Major, op. 23, no. 4

Étude-tableau in E-flat Minor, op. 39, no. 5

SEMIFINAL ROUND

GERSHWIN Three Preludes

BRAHMS

Intermezzo in A Major, op. 118, no. 2

CHOPIN Fantaisie in F Minor, op. 49

FINAL ROUND

SAINT-SAËNS

Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22 (III)

JOHN GUTHEIL

AGE 66 I LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA I UNITED STATES / UNITED KINGDOM

CEO – MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST

John Gutheil began college as a piano performance major at California State University Northridge before transferring to the University of California at San Diego to complete his degree in biology. He went on to medical school and then to establish a successful career in cancer research. Currently, he is president and CEO of SciQuus Oncology, a company that conducts clinical studies of new cancer treatments. Inspired by his participation in the 2016 Cliburn Amateur, John rededicated himself to the piano and has since won a gold medal at the Seattle Amateur Competition, and a special prize in San Diego’s; he’s also performed at a festival in Russia. Outside of medicine and music, the London native runs marathons and does woodworking, and also enjoys Italian literature, computer programming, and paintings by Caravaggio.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BACH

CHOPIN

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

FINAL ROUND

MENDELSSOHN

Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 847

Etude in C Minor, op. 10, no. 12 (“Revolutionary”)

Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, op. posth. Etude in G-flat Major, op. 10, no. 5 (“Black Key”)

Sonata No. 3 in C Major, op. 2, no. 3

Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25 (I)

MARISA NAOMI HAINES

AGE 66 I MURPHY, TEXAS I BRAZIL / UNITED STATES BUSINESS STRATEGIST

The 2022 edition marks Marisa Naomi Haines’ sixth Cliburn Amateur appearance, including the inaugural in 1999. In her words: “It has been an exhilarating journey of 21 years, filled with joyful memories and meaningful growth. This competition has proven to be a very powerful catalyst to bring people together.” Her early piano training included studies at the National Conservatory of Music in her native Brazil. After earning an electrical engineering degree, she continued to study with Hans Boepple in Santa Clara, while building a career as a technology executive in California’s Silicon Valley. She is currently based in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, working in strategic initiatives and corporate transformation with a global information technology company. Outside of family, career, and piano, she enjoys cooking, fine wines, reading, and the ocean.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCHUMANN Kreisleriana, op. 16 (I, II)

VILLA-LOBOS “A Bruxa” from A prole do bebê MARLOS NOBRE “Capoeira” and “Cantiga de Cego” from Ciclo Nordestino No. 3

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BRAHMS Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, op. 1

FINAL ROUND

TCHAIKOVSKY Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23 (III)

YOUJIN HONG

AGE 41 I GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA I SOUTH KOREA PSYCHIATRIST

When Youjin Hong was a child, she always said, “I will be a concert pianist!” Now that she’s a doctor, she notes, she doesn’t say that anymore—but she still dreams of being on stage. After medical studies at Korea’s Ulsan University, she did her psychiatry residency at the Seoul Asan Medical Center and currently serves as an associate professor in psychiatry at Ulsan University. She studied piano as a child for seven years and has been with her current teacher for four; she took home the gold star at the 2020 Music & Stars Awards and first prize at the 2021 Spring Chopin Avenue Competition, amateur division. She’s looking forward to the 2022 Cliburn Amateur as “a global music festival” and calls it one of the biggest events in her life. With the rest of her time, she enjoys interior design and gardening.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

DEBUSSY L’isle joyeuse

VERDI–LISZT Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BACH Italian Concerto, BWV 971

CHOPIN Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, op. 22

FINAL ROUND

MOZART

Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

RAVEL

CHOPIN

BACH

SEMIFINAL ROUND

MEDTNER

KEN IISAKA

AGE 53 I FOSTER CITY, CALIFORNIA I JAPAN / CANADA SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Ken Iisaka has made the finals of the last three Cliburn Amateur Competitions. Since then, he’s taken the top prize in contests in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Washington, D.C. His activity in the amateur piano community has led to concert appearances in Germany, China, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. The Tokyo-born Canadian citizen has worked in software engineering since 1993, in California since 1999. He currently serves as lead software engineer for Indeed, a job search engine, in the artificial intelligence field. He also enjoys music criticism, writing regularly for the San Francisco Classical Voice. He finds competitions “necessary for bettering ourselves,” adding “it is a chance for me to become a better artist. Facing the challenges of a competition has always been a metaphor for my renewal.”

Prelude in A Minor

Mazurka in A Minor, op. 17, no. 4 Mazurka in C Major, op. 24, no. 2

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Major, BWV 872

Sonata in F Minor, op. 5 (I)

CHOPIN Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, op. 22

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (I)

YEON WOOK JEONG

AGE 53 I SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA I SOUTH KOREA ENTREPRENEUR/ATTORNEY

Yeon Wook Jeong’s first piano lessons, at 5, were with his father, a high school music teacher. Though he’s not sure of his depth of understanding at a young age, he says: “I have always been captivated by the sheer beauty and joy of music, and playing the piano became such an essential part of my identity that I cannot imagine my life without it, regardless of my non-musical career.” After earning a law degree from Seoul National University, Yeon Wook served a stint as an intelligence officer in the Korean Air Force, then was a deputy director in the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which included work in U.S.- and Canada-Korean relations, as well as with the United Nations. He then earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School and went on to work as a corporate lawyer in the United States and Korea, before founding Tombali, a legal translation service, in 2015. In his free time, he regularly plays tennis in a local club.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 30 in E Major, op. 109

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BACH Italian Concerto, BWV 971

CHOPIN Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, op. 23

KAPUSTIN Concert Etude in B-flat Major, op. 40, no. 6 “Pastoral”

FINAL ROUND

MOZART

Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 (I)

KEIKO KIRCHER

AGE 41 I CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS I JAPAN/UNITED STATES COLLEGE PHYSICS INSTRUCTOR

A physics instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Parkland College, Dr. Keiko Kircher’s area of study is astrophysics, and her long-term research goal is to understand the final moments of black-hole evaporation. She began learning music by playing the electric organ (called the “electone” in Japan) and switched to the piano at 19. After taking some time away from the instrument while her kids were young, Keiko returned and now enjoys taking part in amateur competitions—including the 2016 Cliburn—because they motivate her to learn new music to performance level, and she feels mentally refreshed after getting to know the other competitors. She also enjoys dog training and is currently trying to teach her puppy Neutrina to play the piano.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

ALBÉNIZ Asturias (Leyenda)

KORCHMAR Piano Cycles 1–3

BARGIEL “Präludium” from Suite No. 2 for Piano, op. 31

SEMIFINAL ROUND

ALBÉNIZ “Triana” from Iberia, Book II

RACHMANINOV Variations on a Theme of Corelli, op. 42

FINAL ROUND

SHOSTAKOVICH Concerto No. 2 in F Major, op. 102 (I)

SUZANNA LARAMEE

AGE 66 I NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND I UNITED STATES FINANCIAL ADVISOR (RETIRED)

Oklahoman Suzanna Laramee’s early commitment to music led her to earn both undergraduate (Oklahoma City University) and graduate (The University of Kansas) degrees in piano performance. After completing her DMA coursework and serving as an assistant professor at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, she began the professional development program at Merrill Lynch and went on to a 17-year career in the financial industry. Now retired, Suzanna calls spending time with her grandchildren a bit of an obsession, and she’s stayed active in the arts world, as board president for Newport Classical and as an amateur pianist studying with Boston pianist, Michael Lewin. Her many competition appearances include two semifinalist finishes at the Cliburn Amateur, including the first in 1999, which she recalls brought her the warmth, support, and inspiration to “get back to the piano in earnest.” She’s also placed in a number of amateur contests, including in Paris, Boston, Salt Lake City, and Washington, D.C.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

HANDEL

“Air and Variations” from Suite No. 5 in E Major, HWV 430

ALBÉNIZ “Evocación” and “El Puerto” from Iberia, Book I

SEMIFINAL ROUND

HAYDN Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:48

DEBUSSY Étude pour les cinq doigts

CHOPIN Etude in A-flat Major, op. 25, no. 1

LISZT Transcendental Etude No. 11 “Harmonies du soir”

FINAL ROUND

GRIEG Concerto in A Minor, op. 16 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

HANDEL

JON LEE

AGE 41 I SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA I

UNITED STATES SOFTWARE ENGINEER

A decade ago, Milwaukee-born Jon Lee moved to San Francisco from Boston, having completed both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and subsequently working as a software engineer for seven years. His cross-country relocation was to accept a new position at Apple, and he didn’t think that classical music—which he had studied privately throughout his youth—would reenter his life in any big way. But, he says, after sight reading chamber music in bars with freelance and amateur musicians, he was inspired to return to serious piano study. He’s since won or placed in competitions in San Diego, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C., and has had the opportunity to perform in California, Massachusetts, Texas, Washington, and the District of Columbia. The Cliburn Amateur, he says “is, in a big way, a pinnacle in my journey.”

Suite No. 2 in F Major, HWV 427

SCHUMANN Toccata in C Major, op. 7

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BACH–RACHMANINOV

Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006

SCHUBERT–LISZT “Gretchen am Spinnrade”

CHOPIN Etude in F Major, op. 10, no. 8

SCRIABIN Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp Minor, op. 19 (“Sonata-Fantasy”)

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV

Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)

SEUNG-YEOP LEE

AGE 47 I TAMPA, FLORIDA I SOUTH KOREA MATHEMATICS PROFESSOR

After initial piano training in his native Korea from age 8 to 14, Seung-Yeop Lee says his passion for the instrument was reignited when he started taking lessons from his son’s piano teacher in 2018. His career has followed his other love, math. After earning a B.S. in physics from Seoul National University, Seung-Yeop moved to the United States, completing his master’s at Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He’s lived in Tampa since 2013, currently serving as associate professor in mathematics at the University of South Florida. He sees the Cliburn Amateur as a chance to grow as a musician through learning and performance.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCRIABIN Etude in D-sharp Minor, op. 8, no. 12

SCHUBERT–LISZT “Auf dem Wasser zu Singen”

CHOPIN Polonaise in A-flat Major, op. 53 (“Héroïque”)

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, op. 57 (“Appassionata”) (I)

MOZART–VOLODOS Rondo alla turca

RAVEL La valse

FINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

VINCENT LETOURMY

AGE 51 I TOKYO, JAPAN I FRANCE OPERATIONS

DIRECTOR

Vincent Letourmy’s academic credentials include degrees in mathematics from Paris VI University, and from one of the leading French engineering schools, “Telecom Sud Paris,” with special emphasis on signals theory. Those studies propelled him to take different operational and management positions at THALES (French international company)—work that has, over the past two decades, stationed him in France, Italy, Malaysia, and currently Japan. He has also almost continuously maintained piano studies throughout his lifetime, since age 5, and earned a piano diploma from l’Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris while at university. As an amateur pianist, he’s won prizes at competitions in France, Austria, and Italy, and—as a result of friendships with Japanese pianists made during the 2011 Cliburn Amateur—he helped develop and organize a piano marathon in different cities across Japan for the last nine years. A frequent traveler, Vincent is fluent in four languages.

LISZT “Vallée d’Obermann” from Années de pèlerinage

SEMIFINAL ROUND

MESSAIEN “Première communion de la Vierge” from Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus

LISZT Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

FINAL ROUND

SCHUMANN Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 (I)

IRENE LONGACRE-WHITESIDE

AGE 67 I ARLINGTON, TEXAS I UNITED STATES/CANADA EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

PRELIMINARY ROUND

MOZART

PROKOFIEV

SCRIABIN

SEMIFINAL ROUND

CHOPIN

“Music is the one medium that we know is happening in heaven and on earth.” Irene LongacreWhiteside believes that with age, for her, has come a “fresh awareness of the beauty and meaning in the complexities of the music I play and hear.” Over the last 23 years, she has developed a career as a high-level administrator, most recently working at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport as an executive assistant. In her formative years, Irene studied piano formally at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, the University of Calgary, and the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She then worked at The Conservatory at Mount Royal University, in her hometown of Calgary, before making the career transition away from music. And other passions abound: she enjoys the study of systematic theology, participating in international pistol shooting competitions, and scuba diving.

Sonata No. 13 in B-flat Major, K. 333 (I)

Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, op. 14 (IV)

Etude in D-sharp Minor, op. 8, no. 12

Rondo in E-flat Major, op. 16

VILLA-LOBOS “Negrinha,” “A probrezinha,” and “Branquinha” from A prole do bebê

RAVEL “Alborada del gracioso” from Miroirs

RACHMANINOV–GRYAZONOV Italian Polka

FINAL ROUND

SAINT-SAËNS

Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22 (III)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

AARON MILLER

AGE 42 I LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA I UNITED STATES ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATOR

Aaron Miller is a scholar of East Asia, focusing on the modern history of Korea. This concentration has directed much of his life: his undergraduate and graduate studies at Harvard University; a year teaching English in Korea as a Fulbright Scholar; and now a decade in academic administration (primarily in Asian studies) in positions at the University of California Berkeley, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and, currently, the University of California Los Angeles. In addition to his piano performance training, which includes two years of private lessons at the New England Conservatory, Aaron’s music studies include theory, history, and ethnomusicology—particularly the music of China, Korea, and Southeast Asia. The National YoungArts Foundation is playing a key role in his musical journey; a 1998 finalist, he’s recently been helping facilitate YoungArts programs for young musicians in Los Angeles and Miami.

HAYDN Sonata in A-flat Major, Hob. XVI:46 (I)

JANÁČEK In the Mists (IV)

SCHUMANN Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22 (I)

SEMIFINAL ROUND

ESMAIL Crystal Preludes BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 30 in E Major, op. 109

FINAL ROUND

SCHUMANN Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 (I)

RIE MOORE

AGE 47 I LEXINGTON PARK, MARYLAND I JAPAN TRANSLATOR

After earning her B.A. in international politics, economics, and business from Tokyo’s Aoyama Gakuin University, Rie Moore spent a decade working in Japan in various marketing, translation, and executive assistant positions at major international companies, including Microsoft, Starbucks, and Nissan. During that time, she also returned to piano lessons after a 10-year hiatus—but the nature of her career made dedication to music extremely difficult. When her husband’s job moved their family to Maryland in 2007, she came across the Piano Festival by the River at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She credits this experience with leading her back to the path of serious piano studies; in 2019, she completed a degree in music through the college’s second bachelor’s degree program, an accomplishment that took six years, while also raising a small child and working as a freelance translator. Rie loves hiking, as well as rediscovering various Japanese art forms such as noh, ukiyo-e, and sado.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCRIABIN Prelude in B Major, op. 16, no. 1

PROKOFIEV “Lento irrealmente” from Visions fugitives, op. 22

VIERNE “La lumière rayonnait des astres de la nuit, le rossignol chantait…” from Trois Nocturnes, op. 34

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BERIO Wasserklavier

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110

FINAL ROUND

MOZART Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

MASANORI MURAKAMI

AGE 38 I TOKYO, JAPAN I JAPAN

CLINICAL PROJECT MANAGER

Masanori Murakami has had three piano teachers in his life: the first taught him “the pleasure of music;” the second, technical prowess and repertoire building; and the third, artistry and the connection with the audience. He won first prize at the 2007 International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Paris, as well as in two Japanese competitions around the same time; he says he’s been waiting a long time—eight years—to be eligible for the Cliburn Amateur and is looking forward to making the audience happy with his music and to meeting new friends from around the world. An alumnus of the Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Masanori has worked in research since 2009, developing various new medicines through clinical trials in the fields of orthopedics, respiratory, cancer pain, and cancer. He enjoys cooking, and drinking wine and Japanese sake, as well as listening to jazz music—he’s a big Bill Evans fan.

GODOWSKY Alt Wien

GINASTERA Danzas Argentinas, op. 2

SCRIABIN Etude in C-sharp Minor, op. 42, no. 5

SEMIFINAL ROUND

RAVEL Sonatine

LISZT Rhapsodie espagnole

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)

KENSUKE OTA

AGE 41 I YOKOHAMA, JAPAN I JAPAN RESEARCH SCIENTIST

Kensuke Ota has been dedicated to both science and music since very early in his life, having maintained an outstanding level of commitment to each. The former led him to earn B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo, after which he’s worked in semiconductor device research for the Toshiba Corporation and, now, emerging memory device science for the Kioxia Corporation. Meanwhile, Kensuke has studied with the same piano teacher for 32 years—since he was 6. He won or placed second in amateur competitions in Tokyo, St. Petersburg, Chicago, Paris, Colorado Springs, and Osaka. This marks his first appearance at the Cliburn, and he looks forward to gauging his current skill, to enjoying the performance, and to finding stimulation in fellow pianists. Outside of these passions, he likes to travel, and to play both soccer and table tennis.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

HAYDN

Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:50 (I)

BALAKIREV Islamey (Oriental Fantasy)

SEMIFINAL ROUND

SCARLATTI

LISZT

TOKUYAMA

SOUSA–HOROWITZ

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV

Sonata in G Major, K. 455

Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

Musica NARA, op. 25

“The Stars and Stripes Forever”

Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26

YUKA OTOHATA

AGE 51 I TOKYO, JAPAN I JAPAN MARKETING OPERATIONS PROFESSIONAL

Yuka Otohata’s education—B.A. in law from Tokyo’s Keio University, followed by a B.A. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in international studies—well prepared her for her career at IBM Japan, where she worked 13 years as a strategy consultant before moving to its marketing and communications department in 2010. In 2017, she had recently resumed the serious piano study that had been an important part of her earlier life, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The resulting surgery and treatment put her music studies on hold; nerve damage encroached on her limbs—she couldn’t feel her fingertips. As the side effects subsided, she recommitted to the piano once again. She says she’s entering this competition because: “I now know what it is like not being able to do what you want to do—to play music, to express yourself through the music you love, and to meet people who share the same love; I want to see how far I can reach.”

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BACH Italian Concerto, BWV 971

SEMIFINAL ROUND

RACHMANINOV

Moments musicaux, op. 16, nos. 1 and 4

FRANCK Prélude, Fugue et Variation, op. 18

CHASINS Three Chinese Pieces, op. 5

FINAL ROUND

TCHAIKOVSKY

Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23 (III)

ALLEN RACHO

AGE 49 I BOLINGBROOK, ILLINOIS I UNITED STATES SOFTWARE ARCHITECT

PRELIMINARY ROUND

KAPUSTIN

Allen Racho completed two undergraduate degrees at Amherst College: one in biology and the other in composition with a thesis in—appropriately— electronic music. He has been a software engineer and architect for the past 20 years, in fields as diverse as medical technology and the retail sector. Spending the earliest part of his childhood in Asia and Europe, Allen’s formative musical experience was at the Jakarta Intercultural School in Indonesia. He is currently a technology lead for Ulta Beauty’s IT Marketing group, a primary driver of sales for the major U.S. retailer. Allen and his father consider Van Cliburn one of their idols; participating in a competition named in honor of the great pianist is “icing on the cake—very nice icing on a very nice cake.” At this pivotal time in his musical journey, before new paths make their demands on the time he can devote to piano, Allen competes “for the sheer joy of playing alongside and being measured against the most dedicated and talented musicians out there, who just happen to not be doing this for a living.”

Concert Etude, op. 40, no. 3 “Toccatina”

LISZT Transcendental Etude No. 11 “Harmonies du soir”

CHOPIN Etude in C Major, op. 10, no. 1

SEMIFINAL ROUND

KAPUSTIN

Concert Etude, op. 40, no. 6 “Pastoral”

CHOPIN Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, op. 52

GERSHWIN–WILD “Embraceable You”

CHOPIN Polonaise in A-flat Major, op. 53 (“Héroïque”)

FINAL ROUND

GRIEG Concerto in A Minor, op. 16 (III)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BEETHOVEN

RICHARD REID

AGE 71 I CARY, NORTH CAROLINA I UNITED STATES SOFTWARE ENGINEER

In the summer of 1970, Richard Reid was a student at the Chautauqua School of Music and Arts in upstate New York, when his winning of a major award—combined with a happy coincidence— afforded him the opportunity to meet Van Cliburn in person after the legend’s recital appearance. He complimented Van on his performance of Beethoven, and, in turn, Van complimented him on his compliment, an encounter the 19-year-old would never forget. Richard went on to earn music degrees from Oberlin College (B.M.) and The Juilliard School (M.M.) before transitioning to computer science with a graduate degree from the University of South Carolina. He’s worked in software engineering for more than 30 years, the last 13 with SNAP Appliance. His other interests include breadmaking, photography, and coin collecting.

Sonata No. 7 in D Major, op. 10, no. 3 (I)

GRANADOS “Los requiebros” from Goyescas, op. 11

SEMIFINAL ROUND

CHOPIN Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, op. 58

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BACH

CHOPIN

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BACH

MENDELSSOHN

JAMES ROSENBLUM

AGE 41 I HARWICH, MASSACHUSETTS I UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

Currently an associate at Senie & Associates—a law firm specializing in land use and environmental matters—James Rosenblum’s academic credits include a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from Columbia University. After serious private piano study as a child and teenager, he’s kept musically active in adulthood through masterclasses and summer programs, and made the finals of two amateur competitions, both Chicago’s and WQXR’s Classical Moonlighter’s in New York. With his wife, GeorgianAmerican pianist Ana Glig, he has recently made select duo piano and chamber appearances in Massachusetts, and in May 2019, the couple sponsored their first competition for young classical pianists in Gurjaani, Georgia. They’ve also toured Georgia three times, giving masterclasses and performances. James seasonally serves as pianist/organist at First Church of Truro, Massachusetts.

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Major, BWV 848

Prelude and Fugue in B Major, BWV 892

Etudes, op. 10, nos. 6, 5, 1

English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808

Lieder ohne Worte in F-sharp Minor, op. 67, no. 2

RAVEL “Ondine” from Gaspard de la nuit

CHOPIN Polonaise in A-flat Major, op. 53 (“Héroïque”)

FINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCRIABIN

DOMINIQUE SALLOUM

AGE 53 I CORMONTREUIL, FRANCE I FRANCE / LEBANON CEO – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INDUSTRY

When he was young, Dominique Salloum aspired to become a concert artist. “I was born for music and cannot live without it. It’s the air I breathe.” He credits listening to recordings of the greatest pianists as his earliest training. He competed at a high level in his native Lebanon, then studied in France with Abdel Rahman El Bacha, François-René Duchâble, and Plamena Mangova. For personal reasons, his career took a different path. After finishing his music degree from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, he worked for the French Territorial Public Service. He then founded the artificial intelligence company BIOptimize, where he’s now spent nine years serving as CEO. Dominique says that the Cliburn Amateur allows him to realize his dream of participating in an international piano competition.

Prelude in E-flat Minor, op. 11, no. 14

BACH Italian Concerto, BWV 971 (II)

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, op. 13 (“Pathétique”) (III)

CHOPIN Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, op. posth.

SEMIFINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV

Suggestion diabolique, op. 4, no. 4

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, op. 31, no. 2 (“Tempest”)

BRAHMS Intermezzo in B-flat Minor, op. 117, no. 2

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)

ELADIO SANTIAGO

AGE 58 I WEST FRIENDSHIP, MARYLAND I UNITED STATES PRESIDENT & CEO – ADVISORY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Eladio Santiago’s lifetime love of music is directly intertwined with his admiration for Van Cliburn. His first RCA album in the 1970s was Van’s groundbreaking recording Chopin’s Greatest Hits and the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2; he fell in love, very young, with the sweeping Romantic interpretations, and much of the repertoire he developed through the years was under that influence. He had the opportunity to meet Van Cliburn twice: first, backstage in the 90s, while studying with 1981 Cliburn Silver Medalist Santiago Rodriguez at the University of Maryland (where he earned a B.M. and M.M. in music); and again in 2004 at the Kennedy Center, after a career in Wall Street had taken him away from music—that encounter helped bring him to the piano with encouragement from his wife, a pianist and teacher. In 2018, he founded Strategic Investments Corp, an investment portfolio management and advisory firm where he serves as president & CEO.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

RACHMANINOV Étude-tableau in E-flat Minor, op. 39, no. 5

DEBUSSY La plus que lente

PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, op. 83 (III)

SEMIFINAL ROUND

GLUCK–SGAMBATI

“Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from Orfeo ed Euridice

SCRIABIN Etude in D-sharp Minor, op. 8, no. 12

RACHMANINOV Prelude in D Major, op. 23, no. 4

CHOPIN

FINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60 Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, op. 58 (IV)

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

MICHAEL SLAVIN

AGE 71 I MANHASSET, NEW YORK I UNITED STATES NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGIST (RETIRED)

A graduate of the Albert Einstein Medical School, Michael Slavin practiced ophthalmology for 25 years, serving as professor and program director at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. His retirement several years ago has allowed him to refocus on playing the piano, a study he began at age 5 and continued through 10 years at Juilliard pre-college. His commitment to amateur pianism is strong: he’s recently recorded all four Chopin Scherzos and all 21 Chopin Nocturnes; he was the first prize winner in competitions in Chicago, Paris, Warsaw, and Washington, D.C.; and recitals have taken him to New York City, Fort Worth, and Washington, D.C., as well as abroad to Japan, Poland, and Germany—which also provide opportunities for him and his wife to enjoy visiting the world’s greatest art and history museums. His proudest musical accomplishment, he says, is his secondprize win in the 2016 Cliburn Amateur. “The amateur world is made up of those that put in a lot of time to perform for one reason and one reason only: their love of the art.”

RAVEL Jeux d’eau

LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 in A Minor

SEMIFINAL ROUND

JANÁČEK

In the Mists

CHOPIN Fantasie in F Minor, op. 49

FINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15 (I)

MICHAEL STEFANAKIS

AGE 40 I ATHENS, GREECE I GREECE TAX ATTORNEY

Michael Stefanakis’s piano studies began when he was 7 and carried on through his first two years of law school in Athens. After a break from the instrument and the start of his career, he enrolled in the Athens Conservatory in 2014, going on to earn a diploma in piano performance and now doing post-diploma work. Now a senior manager of international tax with Deloitte Business Solutions, Michael advises some of the world’s largest private equity firms on their dealings with Greece. He sees the Cliburn Amateur as “an inspiration for people all over the world who—like me—believe that the development of their musical skills does not stop at a certain age… this development ultimately means facing one’s weaknesses and fears and becoming a better person overall.”

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCHUMANN

Variations on the Name “Abegg,” op. 1 CHOPIN Etude in A Minor, op. 25, no. 11 (“Winter Wind”)

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major, op. 26 RACHMANINOV Prelude in C Minor, op. 23, no. 7

FINAL ROUND

GRIEG

Concerto in A Minor, op. 16 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

CHOPIN

SEAN SUTHERLAND

AGE 45 I TORONTO, CANADA I SAINT VINCENT

AND THE GRENADINES / CANADA PRODUCT MANAGER

Sean Sutherland has a passion for innovation in education, a natural commitment given his own academic endeavors: he simultaneously earned bachelor’s degrees in music, and electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then went on to earn a master’s at MIT, an M.B.A. from McGill University, and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University. He’s an entrepreneur at heart who loves finding solutions to pain points, particularly of students, teachers, and administrators; he ran a niche tutorial test prep service for a number of years. Now working as a product manager for TradeCafe in Toronto, Sean is helping to develop a trading platform for protein commodities. He’s an active amateur pianist, performing in the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland, Italy, and throughout the Caribbean, including his native St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This year, he returns to the Cliburn after a semifinalist finish in 2016, and winning first prize at the Chopin Amateur Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Mazurka in F Minor, op. 63, no. 2

RAVEL La valse

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BONTEMPS

Prelude No. 11 in B Major, op. 28 (“Onirico”)

GRANADOS “Quejas, o La Maja y el Ruiseñor” from Goyescas, op. 11

KAPUSTIN

FINAL ROUND

PROKOFIEV

Sonata No. 1, op. 39 (“Sonata-Fantasia”)

Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)

FERDY TALAN

AGE 38 I WEST NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY I INDONESIA REALTOR

Music changed Ferdy Talan’s life when he was growing up in Jakarta; it led him to New York, where he’s embarked on a decade-long journey of self-discovery, breaking through societal and self-imposed boundaries and limitations. While working fulltime as an agent for Alf Naman Real Estate Advisors, he’s developing his artistic craft, taking regular lessons with Prof. Zitta Zohar and competing in amateur piano competitions: in 2017, he won in St. Petersburg and Boston, and placed second in Washington, D.C. As to why he’s entered the 2022 Cliburn: “Music is my inner language that I deeply understood from a very young age. A bridge for my soul and spirit to the world. Today, more than ever before, we are in dire need for Artists to connect to humanity at large.” His interests outside of real estate and the piano include international cuisine, architecture, and interior design.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

GUBAIDULINA Chaconne MOSZKOWSKI Étincelles, op. 36, no. 6

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BOWEN Toccata, op. 155

SCARLATTI Sonata in F Minor, K. 466

JANÁČEK Piano Sonata 1.X.1905 “From the Street”

RACHMANINOV Moment musical in E Minor, op. 16, no. 4

FINAL ROUND

SAINT-SAËNS

Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22 (I)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

HIROKO TOYA

AGE 65 I TOKYO, JAPAN I JAPAN

ATTORNEY

After a commitment to the piano in her childhood, which included a performance with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra when she was 12, Hiroko Toya decided to pursue a career in law. After passing the National Bar Exam, she worked as a public prosecutor in Japan for many years, dealing with criminal cases. More recently, she taught for three years at Meiji University’s School of Law, transitioning in 2016 to become an attorney for the government of Japan. She recommitted to the piano in 2008, and finished third in the Osaka Amateur Competition in 2015 and won a prize at Warsaw’s Chopin Amateur Competition in 2018. It was at the latter that she heard of the Cliburn Amateur from other participants and decided to apply; Hiroko’s goals for the Competition include sharing joy with the audience and meeting and learning from fellow pianists.

HAYDN Sonata in G Minor, Hob. XVI:44 (I)

MOMPOU Prelude No. 7 “Palmier d’étoiles”

DEBUSSY “La Puerta del vino” and "Ondine" from Préludes, Book II

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BACH Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903

CHOPIN Mazurkas, op. 24, no. 1 and 4

GRANADOS Allegro de concierto, op. 46

FINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15 (I)

DMYTRO VYNOGRADOV

AGE 52 I KYIV, UKRAINE I UKRAINE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Born in Kyiv to a family of musicians—in his words, “a dynasty dedicated to art, music, and literature”—Dmytro Vynogradov received classical piano training at his country’s leading conservatories, including the Kyiv Specialized Secondary Music School and the National Musical Academy of Ukraine. Rather than building a career as a musician, he went into business, specializing in the aviation, cargo, and tourism sector. Over the years, he’s served as manager, general manager, and investor for a number of projects in Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. As an amateur pianist, he performs regularly in festivals in Germany, Italy, and France, and has won prizes at competitions in Paris, Sicily, and Colorado Springs.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

BACH–BUSONI

LISZT

SCRIABIN

RACHMANINOV

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BACH–RUMMELL

“Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland,” BWV 659

Transcendental Etude No. 12 “Chasse-neige”

Etude in C-sharp Minor, op. 2, no. 1

Prelude in E-flat Minor, op. 23, no. 9

“Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn,” BWV 4

CHOPIN Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, op. 52

LISZT–BUSONI La campanella

LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No. 8 in F-sharp Minor

CHOPIN Etude in G-flat Major, op. 10, no. 5 (“Black Key”)

FINAL ROUND

TCHAIKOVSKY

Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23 (III)

PRELIMINARY ROUND

SCARLATTI

EIJI YOSHIMURA

AGE 50 I TOKYO, JAPAN I JAPAN BUSINESS PLANNING DIRECTOR

This 2022 Cliburn appearance marks the first time that Eiji Yoshimura will perform outside of Japan. A student of the piano from an early age, he’s been with his current teacher for 12 years, but has no formal music training. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Geophysics and initially worked as a system engineer. In 2009, he joined his current company, Avnet K.K, where he works in the distribution of semiconductors and electronic components, now as director of business planning. He spends his limited amount of non-work time at the piano. The 2011 winner of Tokyo’s amateur competition, Eiji comes to the Cliburn in hopes of sharing the “pleasure of music,” of “getting stimulation from excellent performances by other competitors,” and of confirming his love of piano music with new friends; he believes that “this is the best place for company with the same mind to come together.”

Sonata in E Major, K. 531

CHOPIN Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 31

SEMIFINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”) (I)

RAVEL “Oiseaux tristes” from Miroirs

STRAVINSKY–AGOSTI Three Movements from The Firebird

FINAL ROUND

SCHUMANN Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 (I)

JORGE ZAMORA

AGE 49 I HUIXQUILUCAN, MEXICO I MEXICO BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Jorge Zamora graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey with a degree in electronics and communications engineering, and quickly began work in telecommunications in Mexico City. He had studied piano seriously in his formative years, and that love for music led him, at age 25, to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music for three years. Though he’d return to Mexico to build a successful career in technology sales management (he’s currently director of business development for Qualcomm), Jorge’s concertizing days were far from over. After a 10-year break, he came back to performance for the 2011 Cliburn Amateur; he says that, since then, he has witnessed “a chain reaction of positive things” in his life, not only at the piano, but also in the development of a well-balanced life without compromise. For 2022, he is also “much more conscious of how this process also shapes the way my children and the people around me witness how hard work, discipline, and—more importantly—the love of music provide me such encouragement and motivation to do this wonderful Competition.”

PRELIMINARY ROUND

LISZT Ballade No. 2 in B Minor

SEMIFINAL ROUND

MUSSORGSKY Selections from Pictures at an Exhibition

FINAL ROUND

BEETHOVEN

Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 73 “Emperor” (III)

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12

2:30–4:45 p.m. PRELIMINARY ROUND CONCERT 1

Van Cliburn Recital Hall 6:00–7:00 p.m. CLIBURN AMATEUR IN THE COMMUNITY FW Public Library - Ridglea 7:00–9:00 p.m. PRELIMINARY ROUND CONCERT 2 Van Cliburn Recital Hall

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13

2:30–4:45 p.m. PRELIMINARY ROUND CONCERT 3

Van Cliburn Recital Hall 6:00–7:00 p.m. CLIBURN AMATEUR IN THE COMMUNITY FW Public Library - East Regional 7:00–9:00 p.m. PRELIMINARY ROUND CONCERT 4 Van Cliburn Recital Hall

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14

2:30–4:45 p.m. PRELIMINARY ROUND CONCERT 5

Van Cliburn Recital Hall 7:00–9:00 p.m. PRELIMINARY ROUND CONCERT 6 Van Cliburn Recital Hall ANNOUNCEMENT OF SEMIFINALISTS Van Cliburn Recital Hall

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15

10:00 a.m.–12:20 p.m. FESTIVAL CONCERT 1

Van Cliburn Recital Hall 2:30–5:20 p.m. SEMIFINAL ROUND CONCERT 1

Van Cliburn Recital Hall 7:00–9:50 p.m. SEMIFINAL ROUND CONCERT 2 Van Cliburn Recital Hall

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16

10:00 a.m.–12:35 p.m. FESTIVAL CONCERT 2

Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Van Cliburn Recital Hall 2:00–3:00 p.m. CLIBURN AMATEUR IN THE COMMUNITY FW Public Library - SW Regional 2:30–5:20 p.m. SEMIFINAL ROUND CONCERT 3 Van Cliburn Recital Hall 7:00–9:50 p.m. SEMIFINAL ROUND CONCERT 4 Van Cliburn Recital Hall ANNOUNCEMENT OF FINALISTS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17

12:00–1:00 p.m. CLIBURN AMATEUR IN THE COMMUNITY 203 Café 4:00–5:00 p.m. JURY SYMPOSIUM

Van Cliburn Recital Hall 6:00–7:00 p.m. CLIBURN AMATEUR IN THE COMMUNITY FW Public Library - Summerglen 6:30–10:00 p.m. OPEN PIANO NIGHT The Post at River East

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18

7:00–~9:00 p.m. FINAL ROUND CONCERT Bass Performance Hall AWARDS CEREMONY Bass Performance Hall

Study Piano at SMU

PIANO FACULTY: David Karp, Carol Leone, Catharine Lysinger, Andrey Ponochevny

PEDAGOGY & COLLABORATIVE STUDIES: Liudmila Georgievskaya, Kevin Gunter, Hyae-jin Hwang, Wu Qian, Jason Smith

At SMU Meadows, students benefit from passionate and dedicated educators, challenging programs and generous scholarship support in the heart of culturally vibrant Dallas. Our award-winning students perform on and off campus, double major, study abroad, start their own ensembles and piano studios, and engage with the community. Careers are created when artistry meets opportunity. Learn more at smu.edu/music.