Fort Worth, Texas, June 25, 2016—At the end of seven days of inspiring performances from 68 of the finest amateur pianists from around the world, Olga Kern, chairman of the jury for the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition (June 19–25, 2016), at Van Cliburn Recital Hall and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, announced the winners from the Bass Hall stage.
The Richard Rodzinski First Prize winner is Thomas Yu, 38 (Canada), a periodontist who lives in Calgary, Alberta.
The Second Prize winner is Michael Slavin, 65 (United States), a retired ophthalmologist from Manhasset, New York.
The Third Prize winner is Xavier Aymonod, 40 (France), a strategy consultant from Paris, France.
Thomas Yu, the First Prize winner, received a cash award of $2,000 cash plus a pair of tickets and Official Guest status for the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
(Funded by a generous gift to the Cliburn Endowment by Scott Cutler).
Michael Slavin, the Second Prize winner, received a cash award of $1,500 cash*.
Xavier Aymonod, the Third Prize winner, received a cash award of $1,000 cash*.
Special Awards
No competitor who received a first, second, third, or jury discretionary award was eligible to receive a special prize, or was eligible to win more than one of the special prizes.
JURY DISCRETIONARY AWARDS (2)*: Deirbhile Brennan, 46, accountant (Ireland) and Lana C. Marina, 47, stay-at-home mother (United States)
$500 cash each
CREATIVE PROGRAMMING AWARD*: Gregory Knight, 53, software engineer (United States)
$500 cash
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF A WORK FROM THE BAROQUE ERA*: Clark Vann Griffith, 52, retired database programmer (United States)
$500 cash
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF A WORK FROM THE CLASSICAL ERA*: Ken Iisaka, 47, software engineer (Japan/Canada)
$500 cash
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF A WORK FROM THE ROMANTIC ERA*: Matthias Fischer, 42, physician (Germany)
$500 cash
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF A POST-ROMANTIC WORK*: Jasmin Tiodang, 44, stay-at-home mother (Indonesia)
$500 cash
AUDIENCE AWARD**: Thomas Yu
Pair of tickets to the Final Round of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
PRESS AWARD***: Thomas Yu
Western Prize Package (Cowboy hat provided by Overland Sheepskin Co.; tickets from Billy Bob’s Texas; and coffee-table book from the Sid Richardson Museum Shop)
*Cash awards generously provided by Eugenie Guynn.
**The winner of the Audience Award was determined by online audience vote. The public was able to vote at Cliburn.org once per day for any competitor still active in the Competition.
*** The winner of the Press Award was determined by a vote by classical music journalists based in Dallas-Fort Worth, including: Star-Telegram, TheaterJones, Clavier Companion, and WRR 101.1.
During the Final Round, each of the six pianists performed one movement of a concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Damon Gupton. Orchestra performances of the Final Round will be available online, and on demand for one year.
For downloadable press photos of the winners, performance images, and behind-the-scenes shots, click here.
For the winners' bios, click here.
ABOUT DAMON GUPTON, conductor
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Damon Gupton received his bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Michigan. He studied conducting with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin at the Aspen Music Festival and with Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C. He served as American conducting fellow of the Houston Symphony for the 2004–2005 season, and his conducting appearances include the Detroit Symphony, The Cincinnati Pops, National Symphony Orchestra, NHK Orchestra of Tokyo, and Sphinx Symphony, as part of the 12th annual Sphinx Competition. He led the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra on a national tour which included performances at Carnegie Hall; a well-reviewed recording is available at White Pine Music. He is a winner of the Third International Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition, held in Mexico City. Musical collaborations include work with Marcus Miller, Kenn Hicks, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Byron Stripling, Tony DeSare, The Midtown Men, Kathleen Battle, and Jamie Cullum. Mr. Gupton held the post of assistant conductor of the Kansas City Symphony from 2006–2008.
An accomplished actor, Mr. Gupton graduated from the drama division of The Juilliard School. He is currently working with Billy Bob Thornton and William Hurt on Goliath, which premieres on Amazon in October. Other television credits include starring roles in The Player, The Divide, and Prime Suspect, as well as guest appearances on A&E’s Bates Motel, The Newsroom, Suits, Empire, Rake, Law & Order, Law & Order Criminal Intent, Conviction, The Unusuals, Third Watch, Hack, Drift, and Deadline. He appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Whiplash, as well as This is Forty, The Last Airbender, Helen at Risk, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, Unfaithful, and The Loretta Claiborne Story. Stage appearances include the Broadway production of Bruce Norris’ Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning Clybourne Park, Carter’s Way, Superior Donuts, Inked Baby, The Story, Meg’s New Friend, An American Daughter, True History and Real Adventures, Treason, and Othello.
Mr. Gupton merged his love of acting and conducting in a January 2016 appearance with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, when he conducted "A Night at the Oscars" at Bass Performance Hall.
ABOUT THE FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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 its 15th 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 SEVENTH CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR PIANO COMPETITION
The Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition took place June 19–25, 2016, in Fort Worth, Texas, in Van Cliburn Recital Hall and Bass Performance Hall.
The Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition is open to non-professional pianists age 35 and older who do not derive their principal source of income through piano performance or instruction. Established in 1999 as the first of its kind in the United States, the quadrennial festival promotes lifelong music making as a vital part of daily life and has drawn 68 competitors this year. (Click here for competitor bios.) Cliburn Live featured 40 hours of live performances, interviews, and an awards ceremony over the seven-day period at Cliburn.org.
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 (Fifteenth edition, May 25–June 10, 2017) is widely-recognized as “one of the world’s highest-visibility classical-music contests” (The Dallas Morning News) 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 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition for outstanding non-professional pianists 35 and older, and held its inaugural Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival in June 2015, for exceptional 13 to 17-year-old pianists (Second edition, June 2019).
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 Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition are:
Alcon Foundation
BNSF Railway Foundation
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Dennett Construction
Fifth Avenue Foundation
Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau
The Garvey Texas Foundation, Inc.
Junior League of Fort Worth, Inc.
Pinnacle Bank
Southwest Bank
Star-Telegram
Steinway Hall-North Texas/Houston
Sundance Square
Texas Commission on the Arts
Cliburn Sponsors are:
Arts Council of Fort Worth
Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust
The Edith Winther Grace Charitable Trust, J.P. Morgan, Trustee
Sid W. Richardson Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation
William E. Scott 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
# # #
