The 29-year-old Hong Kong pianist ARISTO SHAM has been admitted into the Grand Finals and Piano Concerto round of the 17th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition!
28 pianists from around the world were invited to Fort Worth, Texas to take part in this most prestigious of piano concours. After three grueling rounds of solo recitals and a Mozart piano concerto, the six finalists selected by the jury were:
ARISTO SHAM (Hong Kong)
ANGEL STANISLAV WANG (USA)
EVREN OZEL (USA)
PHILIPP LYNOV (Russia)
VITALY STARIKOV (Israel / Russia) and
CARTER JOHNSON (Canada / USA)
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| Top row: Sham, Wang & Ozel Bottom row: Lynov, Starikov & Johnson. |
Incidentally, Aristo Sham is the first Hong Kong pianist to make the grand finals since Rachel Cheung in 2017. Both of them had been students of Eleanor Wong at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. In both editions of the competition, no mainland Chinese pianists were admitted to the finals. The last two PRC pianists to be finalists were Zhang Haochen (joint winner) and Di Wu in 2009.
The concertos they will be performing are:
3 June 2025 (Tuesday)
MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No.1 (Sham)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.4 (Wang)
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1 (Ozel)
4 June 2025 (Wednesday)
LISZT Piano Concerto No.2 (Lynov)
BARTOK Piano Concerto No.2 (Starikov)
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.2 (Johnson)
6 June 2025 (Friday)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.4 (Ozel)
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.3 (Wang)
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.2 (Sham)
7 June 2025 (Saturday)
SCHUMANN Piano Concerto (Starikov)
RAVEL Left Hand Piano Concerto (Johnson)
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.2 (Lynov)
The performances can be viewed at the Van Cliburn Competition website (www.cliburn.org) and YouTube channels.
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| The Semifinalists |
