May 30, 2008
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, May 30, 2008--The Van Cliburn Foundation has
announced the winner of its first-ever YouTube Contest for amateur
pianists. Christopher Shih, a gastroenterologist from Maryland, won
the contest by popular vote. He will receive an automatic entry to
the sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs,
to be held in the spring of 2011 in Fort Worth, and his application
fee will be waived.
Dr. Shih's winning video entry featured him performing "Los
requiebros" from Goyescas by Enrique Granados.
Forty-one amateur pianists, ages thirty-five and older, took
part in the Cliburn's YouTube Contest. To compete, each contestant
uploaded a five- to ten-minute performance video. The Foundation
received entries from a number of countries, including Italy,
Mexico, Romania, and the United States. Many contestants filmed
themselves at home. More than half created new YouTube accounts and
learned the intricacies of uploading a video to the Internet.
The YouTube amateur contest videos received thousands of views,
generating scores of comments, YouTube star ratings, and written
exchanges between pianists and viewers. At the close of the
two-week voting period (May 1-15), 2,389 registered ballots had
been cast, and Dr. Shih had received 701 votes.
"One doesn't usually associate YouTube with classical music or
users older than twenty," says Sevan Melikyan, director of
marketing at the Van Cliburn Foundation. "We were truly gratified
to see so many entries and receive so much positive feedback about
this initiative. We congratulate Dr. Shih and look forward to
welcoming him on stage at the International Piano Competition for
Outstanding Amateurs in 2011."
The International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs is
a weeklong festival of music making. Competitors perform a wide
variety of repertoire in solo recitals, competing for cash prizes
and gifts awarded by both a regular and press jury. Social events
and symposia are organized during the competition to provide
opportunities for participants to meet and play for one another
informally.
The sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding
Amateurs will take place in June 2011 at Texas Christian
University's Ed Landreth Auditorium, in Fort Worth.
The Cliburn's second YouTube Contest will be held in the summer
of 2009.
CHRISTOPHER SHIH
Christopher Shih, 35, graduated from Harvard University cum laude
with a B.A. in biochemistry and received his medical degree from
the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is currently a
board-certified gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the Maryland
Digestive Disease Center.
As a pianist, he competed in the Tenth Van Cliburn International
Piano Competition in 1997, and was a winner of both the 2006
Washington International Piano Artists Competition and the 2007
Boston International Piano Competition for Exceptional
Amateurs.
Contact: Sevan Melikyan Dir. of P.R.
email: sevan@cliburn.org
phone: 817.738.6536
web:
