At 18 years of age, the South Korean pianist is the youngest ever winner of the gold medal.
Silver medal awarded to Russian pianist Anna Geniushene.
Bronze medal awarded to Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Choni.
FORT WORTH, Texas, June 18, 2022— After two and half weeks of high-level competition and exceptional music-making, the winners of the Sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition were announced tonight by Jury Chair Marin Alsop at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas USA.
“Sixty years ago, inspired by Van Cliburn’s legacy, the first Cliburn Competition was held,” said Jacques Marquis, Cliburn president and CEO. “It had two main objectives: to discover and support young, exceptional artists, and to bring this beautiful music to the world. Today, we’re proud to say that these have both held true with this sixteenth edition. It brought us all together for a glorious 17 days that knew no boundaries, for a moving celebration of great music. These pianists have been truly inspirational.”
Commenting on his win Jury Chair Marin Alsop said, “It has been inspiring to witness a talent of Yunchan’s magnitude. All finalists showed exceptional musicality and artistry, yet Yunchan stood out among them. Throughout these last three weeks, but particularly his spectacular performance of Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto showed that even at the age of 18 he already exhibits exceptional depth and dazzling technique. I look forward to seeing him develop in the years to come and our future collaborations.”
Watch Yunchan’s full performance of Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto here.
The winner of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal and the Van Cliburn Winner’s Cup is Yunchan Lim, South Korea, 18
Yunchan Lim, the gold medalist, will receive a cash award of $100,000; three years individualized career management, including U.S. and international concert tours; Steinway Recording Prize Studio Album; promotional package including press kits, videos; website; performance attire provided by Neiman Marcus
Award made possible by a gift from Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bassd*
The silver medalist is Anna Geniushene, Russia, 31, who will receive a cash award of $50,000; three years individualized career management and U.S. concert tours; promotional package including press kits, videos, website; and performance attire
Awarded by Mr. and Mrs. Fuller French and Family in honor of Adelaide Polk Fuller
The bronze medalist is Dmytro Choni, Ukraine, 28, who will receive a cash award of $25,000; three years individualized career management and U.S. concert tours; promotional package including press kits, videos, website; performance attire.
Awarded by the Mollie and Garland Lasater Charitable Fund at the North Texas Community Foundation
The remaining three finalists will receive cash awards of $10,000 each. They are Uladzislau Khandohi, Belarus, 20; Ilya Shmukler, Russia, 27; Clayton Stephenson, United States, 23
Awards made possible by a gift from Mr. and Mrs. John B. Kleinheinz*, Janny and Warren Strickland Schwab Charitable, and Juana-Rosa and Rond Daniell
The Cliburn 2022 webcast broke previous Cliburn streaming records with a global online audience of over 9 million following the Competition in more than 170 countries.
As part of the Cliburn’s solidarity with the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian National Anthem was performed in the Awards Ceremony by Kyiv-born 2013 Cliburn Gold Medalist Vadym Kholodenko.
OTHER AWARDS
Award for the Best Performance of a Mozart Concerto, with a cash prize of $5,000, was awarded to Ilya Shmukler.
Awarded by Anton Nel
The Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work, with a cash prize of $5,000, was awarded to Yunchan Lim.
Award made possible by a gift from the Estate of Gordon William Smith*
The winner of the John Giordano Jury Chairman Discretionary Award, with a cash prize of $4,000, is Marcel Tadokoro, France/Japan, age 28.
Award made possible by a gift from Mary D. and F. Howard Walshd*
The winner of the Raymond E. Buck Jury Discretionary Award, with a cash prize of $4,000, is Andrew Li, United States, age 22.
Award made possible by a gift from the Raymond E. Buck Foundation*
The winner of the Patricia and Neal Steffen Family Jury Discretionary Award, with a cash prize of $4,000, is Changyong Shin, South Korea, age 28.
Award made possible by a gift from Patricia A. Steffen*
The Carla and Kelly Thompson Audience Award presented by medici.tv was determined by more than 13,400 votes from 84 countries to cliburn.medici.tv. The Audience Award winner, Yunchan Lim will receive a cash award of $2,500.
Award made possible by a gift from Carla and Kelly Thompson*
The semifinalists will receive cash awards of $5,000 each.
The quarterfinalists will receive cash awards of $2,500 each.
Preliminary Round competitors will receive cash awards of $1,000 each.
*Funded by a generous donation to the Cliburn Endowment
d Deceased
COMPETITION JURY
- Marin Alsop, jury chair (United States)
- Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (France)
- Alessio Bax (Italy)
- Rico Gulda (Austria)
- Andreas Haefliger (Switzerland)
- Wu Han (China Taiwan/United States)
- Stephen Hough (United Kingdom)
- Anne-Marie McDermott (United States)
- Orli Shaham (Israel/United States)
- Lilya Zilberstein (Germany)
It would be interesting to know details of the general repertoire – was it all the usual stuff? What was the New Work played by Yuchan Lim?
Hi Monica, the new work, played by every competitor, was by Stephen Hough, one of the Jury members.
The finalists chose these Concertos:
http://www.colinscolumn.com/finalists-announced-for-van-cliburn-international-piano-competition/
Colin
I’m delighted that there was apparently a worthy winner. My query was about repertoire. By sheer coincidence I was transcribing a letter from John to US composer Barney Childs this afternoon. In one paragraph he writes as follows:
‘Getting back here, I’ve been plunged into a pretty wide variety of work. I did 2 1/2 weeks on the jury of a new piano competition in London – very high-powered and rather enjoyable, with none of the traumas which reputedly occur within juries on such occasions. Rather a lot of Chopin, which I like very much when it lasts c.9 minutes, but not so much when it is either shorter or longer. Also quite a lot of Rachmaninov, which I love anyway except for the 2nd sonata, which, wouldn’t you know, we got more than any other major work. There was some good playing, and the thing got off to a good start. I’m still not convinced about such things, but in this case there was a real attempt to organise the repertoire so that people didn’t all play the same obvious pieces all the time and had to think about their programming. They still found ways round the list to do the usual things, but sooner or later they were FORCED to think, and this has to be good….’
I would add in my own words that John did inveigh on other occasions against pianists playing ever more polished performances of the same narrow repertoire, blaming not so much the young aspiring pianists as their teachers. Judging by Bob Matthew-Walker’s comments, the winner sounds exceptional. I would love to see him tackle the Corigliano Piano Concerto. Perhaps his teacher might suggest it to him.