The field of competitors at the upcoming Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has been reduced by one. The sponsoring Van Cliburn Foundation announced Monday afternoon that Chinese pianist Yue Chu has pulled out because of a hand injury. Rather than bringing in an alternate, the foundation has decided to go with the remaining 29 competitors.

After preliminary events including the drawing for position and selection of piano by each entrant, the competition will get underway with the first preliminary performance at 1 p.m. Friday in Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. Each competitor will play a 50-minute program. Twelve will advance to the semifinals May 28-31 and six will play in the finals June 3-7. For further details, click here.

Fourteen countries will be represented: Australia (1), Bulgaria (1), Canada (1), China (6), Czech Republic (1), Germany (1),  Greece (1), Israel (2), Italy (2), Japan (3), Korea (4), Russia (2), Ukraine (1), and the United States (5). Two competitors have dual citizenship.