FORT WORTH, Texas, September 16, 2015—The Cliburn announces today several important elements for the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, taking place May 25–June 10, 2017, at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas USA.

COMPETITION JURY
For biographies, please see below or click HERE.
To download hi-res images, click HERE.

• Leonard Slatkin, jury chairman (United States)
• Arnaldo Cohen (Brazil)
• Jean-Philippe Collard (France)
• Christopher Elton (United Kingdom)
• Marc-André Hamelin (Canada)
• Joseph Kalichstein (Israel)
• Mari Kodama (Japan)
• Anne-Marie McDermott (United States)
• Alexander Toradze (United States/Georgia)

Note: All 2017 jury members have not previously served on the jury for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, with the exception of Mr. Kalichstein.

SCREENING JURY
For biographies, please see below or click HERE.
To download hi-res images, click HERE.

• Dmitri Alexeev (Russia)
• Michel Beroff (France)
• Janina Fialkowska (Poland/Canada)
• James Parker (Canada)
• Pamela Mia Paul (United States)

Note: For the first time since 1993, the Screening Jury is comprised entirely of members who are not serving on the Competition Jury. Mr. Alexeev and Mr. Beroff have previously served on Cliburn Competition juries.

COMMISSIONED WORK
In addition to serving on the jury, renowned pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin has been commissioned to compose a new work for the 2017 Cliburn Competition, to be performed by all 30 competitors. This marks the first time that the composer of the commissioned work will also serve on the jury. Details on the piece will be released in early 2017, and competitors will receive it no later than March 25, 2017.

ARTISTIC COLLABORATORS
For biographies, please see below or click HERE.
To download hi-res images, click HERE.

• Leonard Slatkin, conductor – Final Round
• Nicholas McGegan, conductor – Semifinal Round
• Brentano String Quartet – Final Round
• Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra – Semifinal and Final Rounds

“We are pleased to welcome back Maestro Leonard Slatkin and the Brentano String Quartet to the Cliburn Competition after their successful collaborations with our competitors in 2013,” said Jacques Marquis, Cliburn president and CEO, “as well as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, which has performed in every Cliburn Competition since the beginning. With the addition of the Mozart concerto in the Semifinal Round, the 2017 Competition gives us the opportunity to add another prominent artistic collaborator: one of the world’s top Mozart conductors, Nicholas McGegan.”

IMPORTANT DATES
October 15, 2015           Applications Online
October 13, 2016           Applications Due
December 13, 2016        Screening Auditions Schedule Announced
March 7, 2017                Competitors Announced
May 25–June 10, 2017    Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

 
ROUNDS & REPERTOIRE

Screening Auditions (January/February 2017)
Approximately 125 applicants perform 40-minute recitals in Shanghai, Moscow, Hanover, Budapest, London, New York, Fort Worth

Preliminary Round (May 25–28, 2017)
30 competitors perform a 45-minute recital, to include commissioned work of 4-6 minutes by Marc-André Hamelin

Quarterfinal Round  (May 29–30, 2017)
20 competitors perform a 45-minute recital

Semifinal Round  (June 1–5, 2017): 12 competitors in two phases
I. Mozart concerto to be selected from a list with FWSO and conductor Nicholas McGegan
II. 60-minute recital

Final Round  (June 7–10, 2017): 6 competitors in two phases
I. Piano quintet selected from a list with Brentano String Quartet
II. Concerto with FWSO and Leonard Slatkin
Note: Mr. Slatkin will not be voting with the jury to rank medalists after the Final Round.

“We’re proud to announce the people and the structure that will define the next Cliburn Competition,” said Jacques Marquis. “The jury and the artistic collaborators represent some of the finest voices in classical music today—many of whom are new to the Cliburn family. It is our privilege to have them lend their wisdom and talent to the Competition. Additionally, we have made some tweaks to the Competition schedule. Forward momentum for this world class organization means constantly engaging inspired people from various realms of the music world, as well as keeping an eye on how we can improve any processes. We believe we are putting in place the right pieces to create a fantastic 2017 Competition.”

BIOGRAPHIES

2017 COMPETITION JURY

Leonard Slatkin, jury chairman (United States)
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He also maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

Mr. Slatkin’s more than 100 recordings have garnered seven Grammy^® Awards and 64 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz with the ONL and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Brzova, McTee, and John Williams with the DSO. He has also recorded the complete Beethoven and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO. A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, he also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received Austria’s Declaration of Honor in Silver, the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his book, Conducting Business.

Mr. Slatkin has conducted virtually all of the leading orchestras in the world. He has held posts as Music Director of the New Orleans, St. Louis, and National Symphony Orchestras. He was chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has served as principal guest conductor of London’s Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Arnaldo Cohen (Brazil)
Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen came to prominence after winning First Prize at the 1972 Busoni International Piano Competition and making his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Since then, he has been in demand internationally, appearing with such major orchestras as the Philadelphia, Philharmonia, and Cleveland Orchestras; Chicago Symphony; and Los Angeles and London Philharmonics. Recitals have taken him to important music centers around the world. Also dedicated to chamber music, he was a member of the acclaimed Amadeus Trio and has performed with many string quartets.

His recent recordings include the Liszt and Rachmaninov piano concertos with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, an all-Liszt solo disc, and his pioneering CD Three Centuries of Brazilian Music.

He currently holds a full professorship at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, having previously taught at the Royal Academy of Music. In October 2013, Mr. Cohen was appointed artistic director for the Portland International Piano Series.

Jean-Philippe Collard (France)
Pianist Jean-Philippe Collard is one of the most beloved and iconic of French pianists. In addition to recitals throughout Europe, North and South America, Russia, and Asia, Mr. Collard has appeared as soloist with the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota Orchestras; BBC, Los Angeles, and New York Philharmonics; and Detroit, London, NHK, and Vienna Symphony Orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, and Charles Dutoit.

A prolific recording artist with over 30 recordings released by EMI/Angel, Mr. Collard’s discography includes the complete Faure and Ravel piano solo and chamber music, the complete Saint-Saëns piano concertos, and the Ravel concertos.

To honor his significant contribution to French culture, Mr. Collard was named Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur in January 2003. He has also received several awards including the Grand Prix du Concours National des Artistes Soloistes, Prix Albert Roussel, Prix Gabriel Faure, Prix du Concours International Marguerite Long/Jacques Thibaud, and Grand Prix du Concours International Cziffra.

In addition to his concert activities, Mr. Collard is artistic director of the Flâneries Musicales de Reims and founder of Chemins de Musique.

Christopher Elton (United Kingdom)
Edinburgh native Christopher Elton is professor emeritus of the Royal Academy of Music in London—a position awarded him in 2011, following 24 years of service as head of keyboard. His international recognition has come largely as a result of his students’ successes. Many have won prizes in major international competitions, including the Cliburn, Tchaikovsky, Leeds, Shanghai, and Munich (ARD), and several are now recording artists with major concert careers.

Mr. Elton is in demand as a teacher and jury member internationally. He has given master classes in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia and served on the juries of Moscow Tchaikovsky, Leeds, and others. As an adjudicator, he has worked both in festivals and on television in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Hong Kong.

A competition prizewinner himself, Mr. Elton also studied at the Royal Academy, where he achieved the unusual distinction of the highest performing award, the Dip. RAM, on both piano and cello. More recent students include Yevgeny Sudbin and Benjamin Grosvenor.

Marc-André Hamelin (Canada)
Born in Montreal, Marc-André Hamelin is among the elite of world pianists for his unrivaled blend of musicianship and virtuosity in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the neglected music of the 19th and 20th centuries. An acclaimed recitalist and soloist, he has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras and in important venues throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

An exclusive Hyperion Records artist, Mr. Hamelin has released over 50 discs including concertos and solo piano works by such composers as Alkan, Godowsky, and Medtner as well as Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, and Shostakovich. For his recordings, Mr. Hamelin has been honored with nine Grammy^® nominations, and was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critic’s Association.

Although primarily a performer, Mr. Hamelin has composed music throughout his career; his works are published by Edition Peters. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1989, Mr. Hamelin was awarded the Virginia P. Moore Prize, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian Arts Council.

Joseph Kalichstein (Israel)
Born in Tel Aviv, pianist Joseph Kalichstein is acclaimed as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. With diverse repertoire ranging from Bach and Brahms to 20th-century works by Bartok, Prokofiev, and others, Mr. Kalichstein has collaborated with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Edo do Waart, and the late George Szell, among others, performing with the world’s most esteemed orchestras.

Mr. Kalichstein is a founding member of the famed Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2017. He also is a frequent guest with the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets. He serves as the chamber music advisor to the Kennedy Center and artistic director of the Center’s Fortas Chamber Music Concerts. He continues to hold the inaugural Chamber Music Chair at The Juilliard School, where he also teaches a limited number of advanced piano students.

His principal teachers included Joshua Shor in Israel and Edward Steuermann and Ilona Kabos at The Juilliard School. Prior to winning the 1969 Leventritt Award, Mr. Kalichstein had won the Young Concert Artists Auditions, resulting in a heralded New York recital debut, followed by an invitation from Leonard Bernstein to perform with the New York Philharmonic in a nationally televised concert. He served as a Cliburn juror during the 2005, 2009, and 2013 Competitions.

Mari Kodama (Japan)
Pianist Mari Kodama has established an international reputation for her profound musicality and articulate virtuosity in performances of a broad repertoire across Europe, North America, and Japan. She has appeared with the Berlin, London and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras, the NHK Symphony, and Vienna Symphony orchestras and at the Aspen, Montpellier, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia and Verbier festivals. In addition to solo and concerto appearances, Ms. Kodama performs in duo concerts both with her daughter Karin Kei Nagano, and her sister, Momo Kodama.

She marked a significant stage in her recording career in the fall of 2014 with the release of the complete Beethoven Sonatas box set on the Pentatone label, the culmination of a decade’s work. Her discography also features Carl Loewe's Second Piano Concerto with the Russian National Orchestra (PentaTone); and Beethoven’s Piano Concerti Nos. 1-5 and the Triple Concerto with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano. In addition to her performance activities, Ms. Kodama is the Artistic and Musical Director for the Musical Days in Forest Hill festival and curates a series for young musicians at the Bad Kissengen Festival.

Anne-Marie McDermott (United States)
For more than 25 years, Anne-Marie McDermott has balanced a versatile career as a soloist and collaborator, playing concertos, recitals, and chamber music in hundreds of cities throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The breadth of her repertoire spans from Bach and Haydn to Prokofiev and Scriabin, as well as works by today’s most influential composers.

Ms. McDermott has performed with many leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota and Philadelphia Orchestras, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis. She has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1995, and continues a longstanding collaboration with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. She also enjoys performing with OPUS ONE, a chamber group with Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley; together they have commissioned over 15 new works.

Her passions have recently coalesced in several important projects indicative both of her popularity and the range of her musical interests: the presentation of the complete Prokofiev piano sonatas and chamber music as part of the Lincoln Center Festival; the premier of Charles Wuorinen’s Piano Sonata No. 6; and the performance and recording of Gershwin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which was named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine.

Ms. McDermott also serves as artistic director of the Bravo! Vail Music, Ocean Reef Chamber Music, and Avila Chamber Music Festivals, as well as curator for chamber music at the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.

Alexander Toradze (United States/Georgia)
Alexander Toradze is universally recognized as a masterful virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. He appears with the leading orchestras of North America, and overseas performs with the BBC Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, La Scala Philharmonic, London Symphony, Mariinsky Orchestra, and Orchestre National de France, among others. Festival engagements include BBC Proms, Hollywood Bowl, and White Nights in St. Petersburg.

Mr. Toradze has made lauded recordings for EMI/Angel, Philips, and Pan, including the complete Prokofiev piano concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra.

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Mr. Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and soon became a professor there. He moved to the United States in 1983, and was appointed as the Martin Endowed Chair Professor of Piano at Indiana University South Bend in 1991. The Toradze Piano Studio has developed into a worldwide touring ensemble that has gathered critical acclaim for their performance projects in Europe and the United States.

Mr. Toradze is the 1997 Cliburn silver medalist.

2017 SCREENING JURY

Dmitri Alexeev (Russia)
Dmitri Alexeev was born in Moscow and began to play the piano at the age of 5. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Dmitri Bashkirov, he was unanimously awarded first prize at the 1975 Leeds International Competition. Mr. Alexeev has performed with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Munich Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, and all five London orchestras, and has appeared in many of the world’s most esteemed venues.

He has worked with such eminent conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pierre Boulez, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov, and Michael Tilson Thomas, to name a few. Also in demand as a chamber musician, he has worked with Yuri Bashmet, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Barbara Hendricks, and Mstislav Rostropovich, among other noted artists.

Mr. Alexeev has recorded for EMI, BMG, Hyperion, several Russian labels, and Virgin Classics, which released his complete Rachmaninov Preludes, winning the Edison Award in the Netherlands.

Dmitri Alexeev has served as a juror for many prestigious international piano competitions, including the Beethoven, Geneva, Leeds, Santander, and Tchaikovsky, among others. He served on the Cliburn jury in 2009 and 2013.

Michel Beroff (France)
Michel Beroff graduated from the Paris Conservatory in 1966, and the following year won first prize at the first Olivier Messiaen International Piano Competition. He then went on to perform with the world’s most prestigious orchestras, under the direction of such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur, André Previn, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Georg Solti, and Michael Tilson Thomas, among others. As a chamber musician, he has partnered with Martha Argerich, Barbara Hendricks, Lynn Harrell, Jean-Philippe Collard, Augustin Dumay, and Pierre Amoyal.

An exclusive EMI artist for over 20 years, Mr. Beroff has published more than 50 recordings, among them the complete works for piano and orchestra by Liszt, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky, conducted by Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur. For Deutsche Grammophon, he has recorded Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand with the London Symphony Orchestra and Claudio Abbado. He has received the Grand Prix du Disque five times in recognition of his outstanding recording work.

Mr. Beroff currently teaches at the Paris Conservatory and recently expanded his professional activities to include conducting. He served as a Cliburn juror in 2009 and 2013.

Janina Fialkowska (Poland/Canada)
With a career spanning almost 40 years, pianist Janina Fialkowska is recognized for her sterling musicianship and profound sense of musical integrity. She is particularly distinguished as one of the great interpreters of Chopin and Mozart, and has won acclaim as a champion of Liszt as well as 20th-century Polish composers.

Her career was launched in 1974 after winning the Rubinstein Master Piano Competition in Israel. She has since performed with the foremost North American and European orchestras under the baton of such conductors as Lorin Maazel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Georg Solti, and Leonard Slatkin. In the 2015–2016 season, Ms. Fialkowska tours Japan, Germany, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom as part of her “Birthday Celebration Tour” on the occasion of her 65th birthday.

Her discography includes recordings for RCA Red Seal, Naxos, CBC Records, and Opening Day, and since 2008 she has worked exclusively with ATMA Classique, which has released 11 successful discs so far. She is the subject of two acclaimed documentaries produced by the CBC (1992 and 2013).

She founded the International Piano Academy held at the Bavarian Music Academy, which commences its fourth edition in May 2016, and is sought after for master classes worldwide.

Ms. Fialkowska is an Officer of the Order of Canada and is the first woman instrumentalist to be honored with the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement in Classical Music, Canada’s foremost honor for excellence in the performing arts.

James Parker (Canada)
One of Canada’s most sought-after pianists, James Parker’s musical roots can be traced to the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia. He then went on to receive his master’s and doctoral degrees at The Juilliard School, and continues the teaching tradition as the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance at the University of Toronto.

Prizewinner of several awards early in his career, Mr. Parker is recognized as a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist. He is pianist for Canada’s foremost chamber ensemble, the Gryphon Trio, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. He has appeared as soloist with most of the major Canadian orchestras, and has performed throughout North America and Europe. He has received three JUNO recording awards and many other nominations from his vast discography, and makes frequent appearances on CBC Radio Canada, the CanWest Global Network, and on myriad stations across the globe. 

Pamela Mia Paul (United States)
Pianist Pamela Mia Paul has garnered praise both for standard repertoire and her interpretations of 20th century piano concertos. A champion of new work, she has commissioned and premiered several works for piano, including Robert Beaser’s Piano Concerto, which had its world premiere with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin. On stage, she has performed with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Detroit, Dutch Radio, Houston, Minnesota, New York Philharmonic, and Vienna Symphony. In both orchestral performances and recitals, she has appeared in such important venues as Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

As a chamber musician, she has been invited as a guest artist at the Aspen, Bregenz, Salzburg, and Music Mountain Festivals. Quartets with which she has collaborated include the Borromeo, Miró, and St. Petersburg.

Internationally sought after as a pedagogue, Ms. Paul has taught and presented master classes throughout Europe, China, South Korea, and the United States. Her students have won prizes in several major competitions and hold teaching positions throughout the United States and Asia. She is currently Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas.

 

ARTISTIC COLLABORATORS

Leonard Slatkin, conductor – Final Round
Please see above.

Nicholas McGegan, conductor – Semifinal Round
Described by The New Yorker as “an expert in 18th century style,” Nicholas McGegan has served as music director of San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque, artistic director at the International Handel Festival Göttingen, and principal guest conductor of the Pasadena Symphony.

Active in opera as well as the concert hall, he has been principal guest conductor of the Scottish Opera and principal conductor of Sweden’s 18th Century theatre in Drottingholm, running the annual festival there. He has been a pioneer in the process of exporting historically informed practice beyond the world of period instruments to wider conventional symphonic forces, guest-conducting with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Houston Symphony, Concertgebouw, Royal Scottish National, BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Chamber, Royal Northern Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony, Hallé and the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Montreal and Sydney. Opera companies he works with include Royal Opera House Covent Garden, San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Washington. He has broken new ground in experimental dance-collaborations with Mark Morris, notably at festivals like Edinburgh International and Ravinia.

His discography of over 100 releases includes the world premiere recording of Handel’s Susanna, which attracted both a Gramophone Award and Grammy nomination. Among his other rediscoveries is the first performance in modern times of Handel’s masterly but mislaid Gloria.

Born in England, he was educated at Cambridge and Oxford universities. His awards include an honorary professorship at Georg-August University, Göttingen, the Hallé Handel Prize, an order of merit of the state of Lower Saxony, a medal of Honour of the City of Goettingen, and an official Nicholas McGegan Day, declared by the Mayor of San Francisco for two decades of distinguished work with the Philharmonia Baroque. He was made an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2010.

Brentano String Quartet – Final Round
Mark Steinberg, violin
Serena Canin, violin
Misha Amory, viola
Nina Lee, cello

Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. "Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding," raves the London Independent; the New York Times extols its "luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism"; the Philadelphia Inquirer praises its “seemingly infallible instincts for finding the center of gravity in every phrase and musical gesture”; and the Times (London) opines, "the Brentanos are a magnificent string quartet...This was wonderful, selfless music-making." 

As of July 2014, the Brentano Quartet succeeded the Tokyo Quartet as Artists in Residence at Yale University, departing from their 14-year residency at Princeton University. The quartet also currently served as the collaborative ensemble for the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and will again in 2017. In recent seasons, the Quartet has traveled widely, appearing all over the United States and Canada, and in Europe, Japan, and Australia. It has performed in the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. The Quartet has participated in summer festivals such as Aspen, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Edinburgh Festival, the Kuhmo Festival in Finland, the Taos School of Music, and the Caramoor Festival.

In addition to performing the entire two-century range of the standard quartet repertoire, the Brentano Quartet has a strong interest in both very old and very new music. It has performed many musical works pre-dating the string quartet as a medium, among them Madrigals of Gesualdo, Fantasias of Purcell, and secular vocal works of Josquin. Also, the quartet has worked closely with some of the most important composers of our time, among them Elliot Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Chou Wen-chung, Steven Mackey, Bruce Adolphe, and György Kurtág. The Quartet has commissioned works from Wuorinen, Adolphe, Mackey, David Horne, and Gabriela Frank.  

Among the Quartet’s latest collaborations with contemporary composers is a new work by Steven Mackey, “One Red Rose,” which was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Other new commissions include a piano quintet by Vijay Iyer, a work by Eric Moe (with Christine Brandes, soprano), and a new viola quintet by Felipe Lara (performed with violist Hsin-Yun Huang).

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra – Semifinal and Final Rounds
Since its beginnings in 1912, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra has been an essential thread in the city’s cultural fabric and the very foundation of Fort Worth’s performing arts. Today, the FWSO is one of the most successful orchestras in the United States, performing an impressive 200 concerts each year for an audience of 250,000 adults and children from all walks of life. Now in his 16th season, Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya has transformed the FWSO into an ensemble that is recognized and admired the world over for its artistic excellence and commitment to community engagement.

As the principal resident company of the acoustically superb Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, the orchestra performs a broad range of symphonic and pops concerts and is admired nationally for the strength and uniqueness of its collaborations with other organizations, including the Fort Worth Opera, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Children's Education Program of Bass Performance Hall, and various local professional choruses. The orchestra’s annual summer music festival, Concerts in the Garden, has grown to be one of the largest and most successful summer outdoor festivals of its kind in Texas, attracting an annual audience of nearly 45,000.

The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is also a national leader in music education. Adventures in Music, the orchestra’s education and outreach program, inspires, educates and entertains more than 65,000 children through more than 100 engaging programs each year in Fort Worth and across the state of Texas.

ABOUT THE CLIBURN
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 1962, the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is widely-recognized as “one of the world’s highest-visibility classical-music contests” (Dallas Morning News) and remains committed to its original ideals of supporting and launching the careers of young pianists, age 18 to 30 (fifteenth edition May 25–June 10, 2017). It shares the transformative powers of music with a wide global audience, through fully-produced webcasts and by providing commission-free, 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 for exceptional 13 to 17-year-old pianists (inaugural edition June 21–28, 2015), and the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition for outstanding non-professional pianists age 35 and older (seventh edition June 19–25, 2016).

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 at Bass Performance Hall, the Kimbell Art Museum Piano Pavilion, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It presents 1,000 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 over one million visits from 155 nations for live concert and competition webcasts; 300 concerts worldwide booked for competition winners; more than 5,000 news articles about the Cliburn and its winners; regular national radio broadcasts to 245 public radio stations; and a PBS documentary airing in a potential 105 million households. Detailed information about the Cliburn and its programs is available at Cliburn.org.

Cliburn Sponsors are:
Amon G. Carter Foundation
Arts Council of Fort Worth
Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust
The Pangburn Foundation, J.P. Morgan, Trustee
ExxonMobil / XTO Energy
Mercedes T. Bass Charitable Corporation
Sid W. Richardson Foundation

Exclusive Print Media Sponsor:
Star-Telegram

Official Piano of the Cliburn:
Steinway & Sons – North Texas / Houston

Official Hotel of the Cliburn:
Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel