FORT WORTH, Texas, March 3, 2015—Cliburn President and CEO Jacques Marquis announces today that 2013 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition winner Ko-Eun Yi will now be added to the line-up of the 2015 Cliburn Festival: the works of Chopin held March 5–8, 2015 at the Kimbell Art Museum’s Piano Pavilion. Ms. Yi will perform Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in replacement of Di Wu, who cancelled her appearance due to a minor injury. The evening’s program will remain the same.
FULL FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Thursday, March 5 – 7:30 p.m.
Mariangela Vacatello, piano
with Allan Steele, cello
Program: Four Ballades; Selected etudes; Cello Sonata in G Minor, op. 65
Friday, March 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Tomoki Sakata, piano
Program: Nocturne in G Major, op. 37, no. 2; Polonaise No. 1 in C-sharp Minor, op. 26, no. 1; Valse No. 5 in A-flat Major, op. 42; Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, op. 23; Etudes, op. 10, nos. 3, 4, 6, & 11;
Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, op. 58
Saturday, March 7 – 2 p.m.
Fei-Fei Dong, piano
with Michael Shih, violin and Allan Steele, cello
Program: Nocturne in D-flat Major, op. 27, no. 2; Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, op. 54; Three Mazurkas, op. 50; Grande valse in A-flat Major, op. 42; Polonaise No. 6 in A-flat Major, op. 53 (“Heroic”); Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in G Minor, op. 8
Saturday, March 7 – 7:30 p.m.
Ko-Eun Yi, piano
with Amphion String Quartet and Brian Perry, bass
Program: 24 Preludes, op. 28; Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, op. 11
Sunday, March 8 – 2 p.m.
Adam Golka, piano
with Amphion String Quartet and Brian Perry, bass
Program: Selected nocturnes; Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, op. 47; Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, op. 21
Complete details at http://www.cliburn.org/concerts/cliburn-festival/
All artists and programs are subject to change.
ABOUT KO-EUN YI
Korean pianist Ko-Eun Yi, a winner of the 2013 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition, has earned praise for playing with “élan and fire and a surplus of bravura technique” (Cincinnati Enquirer). She has garnered numerous top prizes in her young career, with recent successes at the 2010 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati and the 2011 Wideman International Piano Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. The Washington Post applauded her recent debut recital in DC: “a masterful technician…Her finger-work was immaculate, inner voices were keenly drawn out, and there was no lack of power when needed.”
At the October 2013 CAG competition, Ko-Eun was also awarded the Victor & Sono Elmaleh Piano Prize, and her 2014–2015 itinerary includes her February 2015 New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on the CAG New York Series. Other upcoming engagements resulting from her CAG victory include concerto engagements with the Dupage Symphony Orchestra near Chicago and the Roswell Symphony in New Mexico, as well as recitals for Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Recital series (simulcast live on WFMT radio), the Trust Performing Arts Center in Harrisburg, PA, and the Art Trail Gallery in South Carolina.
The Cincinnati Enquirer praised her Gold medal-winning concerto performance at the World Piano Competition: “…a fantasy world of shimmering sounds and colors. Her playing was at once flawless and dazzling…” Additional recent concerto highlights for Ko-Eun include performances with the Barcelona, Jerusalem, and Boston Symphony Orchestras, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Aspen Concert Orchestra, working with such conductors as Lawrence Foster, Leon Fleisher, and Christopher Wilkins. She toured South America playing Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 2 with the New England Youth Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Zander.
A compelling recitalist, Ms. Yi has given solo concerts around the United States at Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Bossier ‘Jam’n Bread’ Chamber Series in Shreveport, LA, and at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, as well as internationally in Spain and Korea.
Born in Seoul, Korea, Ko-Eun Yi began her piano studies at the age of 3. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School studying with Jerome Lowenthal and completed her Professional Studies degree with André-Michel Schub at Manhattan School of Music. She is now pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University with Christina Dahl. http://www.concertartists.org/artist/ko-eun-yi
ABOUT THE CLIBURN FESTIVAL
The Cliburn Festival is a new annual initiative designed to examine different perspectives in music—such as the work of a singular composer, the music of a particular moment in history, or a significant stylistic movement. This inaugural year will focus on the works of Chopin and be comprised of five concerts. General admission tickets for individual performances are $35. Festival subscription packages are $150 for general admission tickets to all performances. Festival Circle subscriptions are also available at $300 and include reserved seating and other amenities. Individual tickets and subscriptions are on sale now online at Cliburn.org, by calling 817.212.4280, or in person at the Bass Hall Box Office (525 Commerce Street, Fort Worth, TX).
“Chopin is one of the great contributors of all time to the piano literature,” said Marquis. “We asked five amazing pianists to take a fresh look at his vast repertoire and mold programs that showcase his genius perhaps in a different light than what we normally may see. The result will be five compelling concerts of solo pieces, as well as his lesser-known chamber works and the two concertos in piano quintet form.”
The inaugural festival will be dedicated to the memory of Nancy Lee Bass, who gave of her time and resources to the Cliburn so generously since its inception. The Collection of Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass, a selection of paintings and sculptures amassed by the two pillars of Texas philanthropy and business, will be on exhibit in the Kimbell’s Piano Pavilion galleries from March 1 through May 24, 2015. Important works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Pissaro, Renoir, Matisse, Rothko, and many other major artists will be on view—most of which have never been seen in a public forum.
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” and remains committed to its original ideals of supporting and launching the careers of young pianists, age 18 to 30. It shares the transformative powers of music with a wide global audience, through a fully-produced webcast and by providing commission-free, comprehensive career management and concert bookings to its winners. Rounding out its mission, the Cliburn also produces the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs™ for non-professional pianists 35 and older, and will hold its inaugural Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival in June 2015, for exceptional 13 to 17-year-old pianists.
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’s Piano Pavilion, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It presents 1,000 in-school, interactive music education programs for 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.
Official Sponsors of the Cliburn are:
Amon G. Carter Foundation
Ann L. & Carol Green Rhodes Charitable Trust, Bank of America, Trustee
Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County
BNSF Railway Foundation
Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust
Edith Winther Grace Charitable Trust, J.P. Morgan, Trustee
ExxonMobil / XTO Energy
Jane and John Justin Foundation
Mercedes T. Bass Charitable Corporation
Sid W. Richardson Foundation
Steinway & Sons – North Texas / Houston
The Burnett Foundation
Exclusive Print Media Sponsor:
Star-Telegram
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