The Cliburn releases candidate details

The Cliburn has released details of the 30 competitors who will take part in its fifteenth edition, which runs 25 May – 10 June, 2017.

Almost 300 pianists applied to the quadrennial competition, with 141 of those taking part in live auditions. The auditions were held in front of a five-member jury in London, Hannover, Budapest, Moscow, Seoul, New York, and Fort Worth across January and February 2017.

‘After an exhilarating and quite thorough process, I am extremely happy with the 30 pianists who will come to The Cliburn in Fort Worth this May,’ commented CEO and president Jacques Marquis. ‘They are engaging and skilled, and – most important – will inspire and move you.’

In total, sixteen countries are represented, with Russia (six candidates) and South Korea (five candidates) heading the field. Male candidates outnumber women, with 21 men and 9 women making the finals.

Finalists will compete across four rounds, with their performances assessed by a jury made up of Leonard Slatkin (chair of the jury), Arnaldo Cohen, Christopher Elton, Marc-André Hamelin, Joseph Kalichstein, Mari Kodama, Anne-Marie McDermott and Alexander Toradze.

This year’s winner will take home USD50,000 (€47,300) and the gold medal. Beyond the competition they will be supported with a comprehensive career development package.

Here is the full list of successful applicants:

Martin James Bartlett, United Kingdom, age 20
Sergey Belyavskiy, Russia, 23
Alina Bercu, Romania, 27
Kenneth Broberg, United States, 23
Luigi Carroccia, Italy, 25
Han Chen, Taiwan, 25
Rachel Cheung, Hong Kong, 25
Yury Favorin, Russia, 30
Madoka Fukami, Japan, 28
Mehdi Ghazi, Algeria/Canada, 28
Caterina Grewe, Germany, 29
Daniel Hsu, United States, 19
Alyosha Jurinic, Croatia, 28
Nikolay Khozyainov, Russia, 24
Dasol Kim, South Korea, 28
Honggi Kim, South Korea, 25
Su Yeon Kim, South Korea, 23
Julia Kociuban, Poland, 25
Rachel Kudo, United States, 30
EunAe Lee, South Korea, 29
Ilya Maximov, Russia, 30

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