Yunchan Lim was named the winner of the sixteenth Van Cliburn Worldwide Piano Competitors in Fort Price, Texas on the weekend. The 18-year-old pianist triumphed in performances of Beethoven’s and Rachmaninov’s third piano concertos to take the competitors’s Gold Medal, value $100,000.
The $50,000 Silver Medal went to 31-year-old Russian Anna Geniushene, whereas the $25,000 bronze medal was awarded to 28-year-old Dmytro Choni from Ukraine.
The closing featured six rivals, hailing from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, South Korea and the USA, whittled down from 30 rivals chosen from 388 candidates to compete in reside rounds in Texas. Within the Last, every pianist carried out two piano concertos with the Fort Price Symphony Orchestra carried out by Marin Alsop, who additionally served as Jury Chair this yr.
Winner of second prize on the Cleveland Worldwide Piano Competitors for Younger Artists in 2018, Yunchan Lim was the youngest winner of Korea’s IsangYun Worldwide Competitors on the age of 15 in 2019. He’s presently a pupil on the Korea Nationwide College of Arts underneath Minsoo Sohn.
Earlier this yr the quadrennial Van Cliburn competitors introduced that it might welcome individuals from Russia, regardless of the nation’s army motion in Ukraine.
In an announcement, Jacques Marquis, president and CEO of the competitors mentioned: ‘The Cliburn should and can stay true to its mission as an artist-supporting cultural establishment, and we’re devoted to the ability of this artform to transcend boundaries. We make no distinction between non-political artists primarily based on their nationality, gender, or ethnicity. We stand firmly with the music neighborhood across the globe in its dedication to those beliefs. The hearts of the folks of the Cliburn are with the valiant Ukrainians as they courageously defend their homeland from the Russian regime. What is occurring goes in opposition to every thing that humankind ought to stand for.’
In latest months two main piano competitions – the Honens Worldwide Piano Competitors in Canada and the Dublin Worldwide Piano Competitors – have introduced that they won’t be open to Russian pianists this yr. The Honens, nevertheless, subsequently reinstated its Russian rivals following protests from the worldwide music neighborhood and a petition from main musicians in opposition to the ‘blanket boycott’ of Russian artists.
Sitting on the jury of this yr’s Cliburn have been conductor Marin Alsop, and pianists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Alessio Bax, Rico Gulda, Andreas Haefliger, Wu Han, Stephen Hough, Anne-Marie McDermott, Orli Shaham and Lilya Zilberstein.
Viewers world wide can watch the complete Competitors on demand at Cliburn.org, cliburn.medici.television, and youtube.com/thecliburn.
Photograph: Yunchan Lim performs within the Last of the 2022 Van Cliburn Worldwide Piano Competitors
