FORT WORTH, Texas, February 27, 2015—A total of 160 pianists, age 13 to 17 and representing 26 countries, have submitted applications to compete in the inaugural Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival, taking place June 21–28, 2015, on the campus of TCU in Fort Worth, Texas. The 24 competitors selected for the Competition will be announced on March 12, 2015.
Tickets for Competition performances on sale now: Complete Junior Competition subscriptions are $110; tickets for individual concerts from $10 to $40 (complete schedule and details below). Tickets can be purchased online at Cliburn.org, by calling 817.212.4280,or in person at the Bass Hall Box Office (525 Commerce Street, Fort Worth, TX).
Also, Blanca Uribe will join the Junior Competition jury. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Blanca Uribe graduated magna cum laude from the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Vienna and from The Juilliard School in New York, where she completed her postgraduate studies with Martin Canin and Madame Rosinna Lhevinne. She enjoys a busy performance schedule and has served on the juries of the Cliburn, Gina Bachauer, Honens, Beethoven, Busoni, and Cleveland competitions, among others. She is the 1966 Cliburn bronze medalist. She replaces Choong Mo Kang, who withdrew from the Junior Competition jury for personal reasons. The remainder of the jury consists of: Jon Nakamatsu, United States (chairman); Fabio Bidini, Italy; Christopher Elton, United Kingdom; Mari Kodama, Japan; Jon Kimura Parker, Canada; and Orli Shaham, Israel/United States.
APPLICANT POOL
Countries represented by the 160 Junior Competition applicants include: Australia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Tajikistan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam. (The application period has now closed.)
A selection committee is now in the process of choosing 24 competitors from the impressive applicant pool, through online applications and video submissions, which are 15 to 20 minutes in length and include one étude, one movement of a Classical sonata, and one expressive Romantic work.
COMPETITION SCHEDULE AND TICKETS
The Junior Competition will consist of four rounds, and all seating is general admission:
Preliminary Round (4 concerts at PepsiCo Recital Hall)
June 21, 2015 (10 a.m. & 3 p.m.) & June 22, 2015 (2 p.m. & 7 p.m.)
24 pianists, each performing a 20-minute recital to include a movement of a Classical sonata and a virtuosic étude.
Tickets: free and open to the public; no tickets required
Quarterfinal Round (4 concerts at Ed Landreth Auditorium)
June 23, 2015 (3 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.) & June 24, 2015 (3 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.)
12 pianists, each performing a 30-minute recital to include a Bach Prelude and Fugue and a lyrical Romantic work.
Tickets: $10 per concert
Semifinal Round (3 concerts at Ed Landreth Auditorium)
June 25, 2015 (3 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.) & June 26, 2015 (7 p.m.)
6 pianists, each performing a 40-minute recital to include a modern/contemporary work, and one concerto movement with piano accompaniment.
Tickets: $20 per concert
Final Round (1 concert at Ed Landreth Auditorium)
June 28, 2015 (3 p.m.)
3 pianists, each performing one complete concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of dynamic conductor Mei-Ann Chen.
Tickets: $40 per concert
Specific repertoire requirements can be found HERE.
Complete rules and requirements can be found HERE.
In addition to the Competition rounds, the Cliburn will offer a variety of events aimed at the artistic advancement of the competitors and other pianists—seminars, symposia, chamber music collaborations, and more—as well as at sharing the gifts of elite young pianists with the community, through free recitals across Fort Worth. A full schedule of these festival activities can be found HERE.
All Competition performances will be webcast live at Cliburn.org.
OTHER JUNIOR COMPETITION INFORMATION
The prizes for the First Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival in 2015 will be:
FIRST PRIZE: $10,000 cash plus $2,000 scholarship
SECOND PRIZE: $5,000 cash plus $2,000 scholarship
THIRD PRIZE: $2,500 cash plus $2,000 scholarship
A portion of the prize ($2,000 for each of the three finalists, as noted above) is related to furthering musical advancement. If one or any of the top three prizewinners does not make a suitable proposal for the use of the scholarship money within one year of the Competition, that winner forfeits this portion of the prize, at the discretion of the president and CEO of the Cliburn. All three top prizes will also include community residency and mentorship opportunities with the Cliburn. Other special prizes will be announced closer to the Competition dates.
“This will be a competition that will help us establish relationships with the top international talent at an earlier age,” said Cliburn President and CEO Jacques Marquis, “but, just as importantly, this will be another means for the Cliburn to use its standing and expertise to encourage tomorrow’s great artists. We are providing a valuable forum for them to express themselves and an entrance to the next step of their journeys. The top international jurors, the media and webcast, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the festival atmosphere—which will include performance experience and professional career advice—all make the Competition and Festival significantly useful for a student who has aspirations of being a professional musician.”
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 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.
Sponsors of the First Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival are:
Ann L. & Carol Green Rhodes Charitable Trust, Bank of America, Trustee
Fifth Avenue Foundation
Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau
Fort Worth Piano Teachers Forum
Mercedes T. Bass Charitable Corporation
Pier 1 Imports
Texas Commission on the Arts
William E. Scott Foundation
Exclusive Print Media Sponsor:
Star-Telegram
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