FOURTEENTH VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION
MAY 24–JUNE 9, 2013
NANCY LEE AND PERRY R. BASS PERFORMANCE HALL
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, USA
John Giordano, jury chairman
AWARDS AND PRIZES
Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work: Vadym Kholodenko ($5,000)
Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music: Vadym Kholodenko ($6,000)
John Giordano Jury Chairman Discretionary Award: Steven Lin ($4,000)
Raymond E. Buck Jury Discretionary Award*: Alessandro Deljavan ($4,000)
Jury Discretionary Award: Claire Huangci ($4,000)
Audience Award: Beatrice Rana ($2,500)
WINNERS’ UPDATES
VADYM KHOLODENKO The Ukrainian gold medalist quickly emerged as one of the most gifted performers of his generation. Amongst his touring activities, he has been artist-in-residence with the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, Filarmonica Toscanini, and Fort Worth Symphony. His solo album of Scriabin received the Diapason d’Or de l’Année in 2018, which was followed by acclaimed recordings of Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky; future plans include works of Chopin and Godovsky.
BEATRICE RANA The Italian pianist has made waves on the international music scene since her Cliburn appearance. She was named Young Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Awards, “Discovery of the Year” at the Edison Awards, and Female Artist of the Year at the Classic BRIT Awards, and her 2019 release of Stravinsky and Ravel received the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. In 2017, she founded the Classiche Forme music festival in her hometown of Lecce; she has also taken on artistic directorship of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Beneveto. She records exclusively for Warner Classics and was named artist-in-residence at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in the 2022–2023 season.
SEAN CHEN The charismatic American continues to grow his career, adding debuts with major orchestras and in prestigious venues every year. He is an advocate of new music who also writes and performs his own transcriptions and compositions. He is in demand as a juror and for residencies that combine educational with concert activities. He is currently Millsap Artist in Residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory.
FEI-FEI DONG The Chinese finalist performs widely as a concert pianist, also deeply involved in community and educational activities. In recent years, she has toured with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic (Germany) and New York Youth Symphony (Spain), and formed the Aletheia Piano Trio and a chamber project “The Inner Voices.”
NIKITA MNDOYANTS He balances a career of concertizing, teaching, and composing. Recent highlight include performances for Radio France Musique and the International Piano Series in Fribourg, Switzerland, and his 2017 album release of Beethoven, Prokofiev, and Schumann. His solo and chamber compositions are published by Composers, Muzyka, and Jurgenson. He continues his long association with the Festival International de Musique de Wissembourg as artistic director; he recently moved to Wissembourg with his wife and daughter.
TOMOKI SAKATA 2022 was a year of firsts for the Japanese pianist: Tomoki made his conducting debut with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra and published his own piano transcriptions. He has recently won major prizes at the 2021 Queen Elisabeth (4th, 2021) and Kissinger Klavierolymp (1st and Audience, 2019), and received the Vendome Prize in 2017. He continues to grow his performance career throughout Europe and Asia.
JURY
John Giordano, chairman (United States)
Dmitri Alexeev (Russia)
Michel Beroff (France)
Andrea Bonatta (Italy)
Richard Dyer (United States)
Joseph Kalichstein (Israel/United States)
Yoheved Kaplinsky (Israel)
Liu Shi Kun (China)
Minoru Nojima (Japan)
Menahem Pressler (United States)
Blanca Uribe (Colombia)
Arie Vardi (Israel)
Xian Zhang (China)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Conductor: Leonard Slatkin
Chamber Music: Brentano String Quartet
Orchestra: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Commissioned Work: Christopher Theofanidis, Birichino
Master of Ceremonies: Fred Child
Official Artwork: Untitled (Cliburn Competition) by Ed Ruscha
Documentary: Virtuosity: The Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, directed by Christopher Wilkinson