NINTH VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION
MAY 22–JUNE 6, 1993
ED LANDRETH AUDITORIUM AT TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY •  TARRANT COUNTY CONVENTION CENTER THEATRE
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, USA
John Giordano, jury chairman

AWARDS AND PRIZES

Best Performance of Commissioned Work: Valery Kuleshov (gold watch)
Steven De Groote Memorial Award for Best Performances of Chamber Music: Richard Raymond and Simone Pedroni ($1,000 each)
Highest Ranking Pianist of the United States: Christopher Taylor ($1,000)
Jury Discretionary Scholarship Award: Andrew Armstrong ($4,000)

WINNERS’ UPDATES

SIMONE PEDRONI  After winning the gold medal, the Italian went on to a busy performing and recording career. A champion of film music in the concert hall, he made his conducting debut in 2015 leading John Williams’ music for Star Wars in a series of sold-out performances in Italy. He will soon release a recording of his own Williams piano transcriptions. 

VALERY KULESHOV  The Russian silver medalist has served as artist-in-residence at the University of Central Oklahoma’s College of Fine Arts and Design since 1998. 

CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR  The American bronze medalist has earned a reputation for his advocacy of music from the past 100 years—Messiaen, Ligeti, and Bolcom—and for his performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on a double-manual Steinway. He has actively promoted the rediscovery and refurbishment of that instrument, and over the past five years has also been building a modernized version of it.

JOHAN SCHMIDT  Mr. Schmidt maintains a busy schedule performing with Belgium’s leading orchestras and others, teaching at the Royal Brussels Conservatory, and giving master classes. 

ARMEN BABAKHANIAN  The Armenian finalist has directed the Yerevan International Piano Competition and the Armenian Legacy International Piano Competition in Yerevan. In 2011, he was named dean of the piano department at Yerevan State University. 

FABIO BIDINI  A Steinway artist, Mr. Bidini has recorded 13 CDs. He continues to tour Europe and North America as a soloist and recitalist, and is the new pianist of Trio Solisti. In 2015, he became the first occupant of the Carol Grigor Piano Chair at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, and he is professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

JURY

John Giordano, Chairman (United States)
Joaquín Achúcarro (Spain)
Philippe Entremont (France)
Claude Frank (United States)
Nelson Freire (Brazil)
Edward Gordon (United States)
Moura Lympany (England)
Lev Naumov (Russia)
Cécile Ousset (France)
John F. Pfeiffer (United States)
Menahem Pressler (United States)
Abbey Simon (United States)
Takahiro Sonoda (Japan)
Ralph Votapek (United States)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Conductor: Jerzy Semkow
Chamber Music: American String Quartet
Orchestras: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra
Commissioned Work: Morton Gould, Ghost Waltzes
Master of ceremonies: Paul Harvey
Official Artwork: Ivan Chermayeff
Documentary: The Ninth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition: A Life in Music, directed by Peter Rosen

COMPETITION PROGRAM BOOK