SEAN SUTHERLAND

AGE 45  I  TORONTO, CANADA  I  SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES / CANADA
PRODUCT MANAGER

Sean Sutherland has a passion for innovation in education, a natural commitment given his own academic endeavors: he simultaneously earned bachelor’s degrees in music, and electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; one year later, he completed a master’s in the latter, again at MIT; nine years after that, an M.B.A. from McGill University; and another seven years later, an M.A. in Education, specializing in learning and design technology from Stanford University. He’s an entrepreneur at heart who loves finding solutions to pain points, particularly of students, teachers, and administrators; he ran a niche tutorial test prep service for a number of years. Now working as a product manager for TradeCafe in Toronto, Sean is helping to develop a trading platform for protein commodities. He’s an active amateur pianist, performing in the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland, Italy, and throughout the Caribbean, including his native St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This year, he returns to the Cliburn after a semifinalist finish in 2016, and winning first prize at the Chopin Amateur Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

CHOPIN Mazurka in F Minor, op. 63, no. 2
RAVEL La valse

Semifinal Round 

BONTEMPS Prelude No. 11 “Onirico”
GRANADOS “Quejas, o La Maja y el Ruiseñor” from Goyescas, op. 11
KAPUSTIN Sonata No. 1, op. 39 (“Sonata-Fantasia”)

Final Round 

PROKOFIEV Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)