Alessandro Taverna of Italy

Taking place May 24-June 3, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition will have 30 contestants from 12 countries, including the US (eight), Italy (six) and Russia (four). They were chosen from a pool of 132. The oldest competitors — both 30 — are from the Russia (Alexey Chernov) and the US (Alex McDonald), while the youngest, 19, is Tomoki Sakata from Japan.

This, the 14th Van Cliburn International Competition, has been dedicated to the memory of the legendary pianist whose name it bears. Van Cliburn died February 27 in Forth Worth.

The full release follows:

30 COMPETITORS ANNOUNCED FOR FOURTEENTH VAN CLIBURN

INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Dedicated to Van Cliburn, the Competition takes place May 24-June 9, 2013, at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall

Contacts:

Maggie Estes, director of marketing and public relations, [email protected], 817.738.6536

Nikki Scandalios, national publicist, [email protected], 704.340.4094

Fort Worth, Texas, March 5, 2013-The Cliburn announces today the 30 competitors selected to participate in the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, taking place May 24-June 9, 2013, at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall. The pianists were chosen from a talented pool of 132 applicants who were invited to audition live in front of a five-member screening jury in Hong Kong, Hannover, Moscow, Milan, New York, and Fort Worth in January and February 2013.

Van Cliburn, the Competition’s inspiration and namesake, passed away on February 27, 2013. The Fourteenth Competition will be dedicated to Mr. Cliburn, as a tribute to his devotion to young artists, and his belief in the transformative powers of music.

Carla Thompson, chairman of the board for the Cliburn, said: “The Competition that bears his name captures the essence of Van’s passion for spreading the love of classical music. I join his many, many friends worldwide who will miss him dearly.  During this time of mourning and reflection, it is with a renewed commitment to Van’s ideals that we prepare for the upcoming Competition and will welcome these 30 immensely talented competitors to Fort Worth.”

The 2013 Cliburn Competition competitors hail from all over the world, representing 12 countries: the United States (8), Italy (6), Russia (4), China (3), Ukraine (2), Australia, Chile, France, Japan, South Korea, Poland, and Taiwan. They range in age from 19 to 30.

FOURTEENTH VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Competitors

Luca Buratto, Italy

Age during Competition: 20

Sean Chen, United States

Age during Competition: 24

Alexey Chernov, Russia

Age during Competition: 30

Sara Daneshpour, United States

Age during Competition: 26

Alessandro Deljavan, Italy

Age during Competition: 26

Fei-Fei Dong, China

Age during Competition: 22

François Dumont, France

Age during Competition: 27

Yury Favorin, Russia

Age during Competition: 26

Lindsay Garritson, United States

Age during Competition: 25

Jayson Gillham, Australia

Age during Competition: 26

Giuseppe Greco, Italy

Age during Competition: 23

Ruoyu Huang, China

Age during Competition: 24

Claire Huangci, United States

Age during Competition: 23

Vadym Kholodenko, Ukraine

Age during Competition: 26

Nikolay Khozyainov, Russia

Age during Competition: 20

Marcin Koziak, Poland

Age during Competition: 24

Kuan-Ting Lin, Taiwan

Age during Competition: 21

Steven Lin, United States

Age during Competition: 24

Alex McDonald, United States

Age during Competition: 30

Gustavo Miranda-Bernales, Chile

Age during Competition: 22

Nikita Mndoyants, Russia

Age during Competition: 24

Oleksandr Poliykov, Ukraine

Age during Competition: 25

Beatrice Rana, Italy

Age during Competition: 20

Tomoki Sakata, Japan

Age during Competition: 19

Scipione Sangiovanni, Italy

Age during Competition: 25

Hyung-Min Suh, South Korea

Age during Competition: 23

Alessandro Taverna, Italy

Age during Competition: 29

Jie Yuan, China

Age during Competition: 27

YouYou Zhang, United States

Age during Competition: 29

Eric Zuber, United States

Age during Competition: 28

TICKETS: For additional information about and to purchase tickets for the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, please visit http://www.cliburn.org/cliburn-competition/tickets/.

WEBCAST: For those who cannot attend the Competition, all performances will be streamed live in their entirety and available on-demand at Cliburn.org, making it possible for virtually anyone anywhere to experience the music.

The Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition will take place May 24-June 9, 2013, at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall and will welcome 30 of the world’s finest pianists to Texas. Continuing its longstanding commitment to new music, the Cliburn has selected composer Christopher Theofanidis to write the commissioned work that will be performed by all competitors during the Semifinal Round. Additionally, the competition has been dedicated to showcasing both the extraordinary talent of its competitors in recital performance as well as their ability to collaborate with other musicians. The Fourteenth Competition will mark the first Cliburn appearance by the world-renowned Brentano String Quartet performing a piano quintet with each of the 12 semifinalists. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, which has appeared at every Cliburn Competition, will perform two concerti with each of the six finalists, under the baton of Maestro Leonard Slatkin for the first time.

JURY:
Maestro John Giordano (United States) will serve as chairman of the jury for his eleventh competition since he assumed the post in 1973. Other jury members include: Dmitri Alexeev (Russia), Michel Beroff (France), Andrea Bonatta (Italy), Richard Dyer (United States), Joseph Kalichstein (Israel), Yoheved Kaplinsky (Israel), Liu Shih Kun (China), Minoru Nojima (Japan), Menahem Pressler (United States), Blanca Uribe (Colombia), Arie Vardi (Israel), and Xian Zhang (China).