Over ten different countries will be represented at the competition, which takes place from 2-18 June at Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, USA
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has announced the 30 finalists that will take part in its 16th edition this year. 388 pianists initially applied.
There are some familiar names in the line-up, with a number of competitors having featured in other piano competitions in recent years. Tianxu An (China, 23) grabbed the headlines in the final of the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition when the accompanying orchestra started playing a piece he wasn't expecting – a fault not of his own. He eventually finished fourth and received a special medal for heroism.
Elsewhere, competitor Dmytro Choni (Ukraine, 28) placed Fourth at the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition. Anna Geniushene (Russia, 31) reached the finals of the 2018 Leeds.
Jacques Marquis, Cliburn president and CEO, comments: "The 30 competitors we announce today were selected solely on their artistry. We know that their extraordinary ability to communicate through music will touch the world when they take the Cliburn stage this June.
The Cliburn must and will remain true to its mission as an artist-supporting cultural institution, and we are dedicated to the power of this artform to transcend boundaries. We make no distinction between non-political artists based on their nationality, gender, or ethnicity. We stand firmly with the music community around the globe in its commitment to these ideals.
The hearts of the people of the Cliburn are with the valiant Ukrainians as they courageously defend their homeland from the Russian regime. What is happening goes against everything that humankind should stand for.”
A full list of competitors:
Ages listed as of Competition
- Tianxu An, China, 23
- Yangrui Cai, China, 21
- Albert Cano Smit, Spain/Netherlands, 25
- Dmytro Choni, Ukraine, 28
- Federico Gad Crema, Italy, 23
- Anna Geniushene, Russia, 31
- Francesco Granata, Italy, 23
- Arseniy Gusev, Russia, 23
- Masaya Kamei, Japan, 20
- Uladzislau Khandohi, Belarus, 20
- Honggi Kim, South Korea, 30
- Elizaveta Kliuchereva, Russia, 23
- Shuan Hern Lee, Australia, 19
- Andrew Li, United States, 22
- Yunchan Lim, South Korea, 18
- Denis Linnik, Belarus, 26
- Kate Liu, United States, 28
- Ziyu Liu, China, 24
- Jonathan Mak, Canada, 25
- Georgijs Osokins, Latvia, 27
- Jinhyung Park, South Korea, 26
- Changyong Shin, South Korea, 28
- Ilya Shmukler, Russia, 27
- Vitaly Starikov, Russia, 27
- Clayton Stephenson, United States, 23
- Yutong Sun, China, 26
- Marcel Tadokoro, France/Japan, 28
- Sergey Tanin, Russia, 26
- Yuki Yoshimi, Japan, 22
- Xiaolu Zang, China, 22
More information about the finalists can be found here.
