Composers: Felix Mendelssohn

Evelyn Mo – Cliburn Junior 2015 Semifinal Round Recital

EVELYN MO
United States |  Age 16

2015 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival
June 21–28, 2015  I  TCU
Fort Worth, TX, USA

Program:
MENDELSSOHN Variations sérieuses, op. 54
CHOPIN Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, op. 52
LIEBERMANN Gargoyles, op. 29: I. Presto
LISZT Concert Paraphrase on Waltz from Gounod’s Faust

Evelyn Mo made her orchestra debut at age 13 with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, and has since performed with the Orchestra of Northern New York, Camerata New York, and Shenandoah University Symphonic Orchestra. Currently under the guidance of John O’Conor, she has previously studied with Thomas Mastroianni, and attended the Lee University and Southeastern Piano Festivals and the International Institute for Young Musicians. In addition to piano, Evelyn plays the violin and is active at her school as member of the yearbook staff, writer for the newspaper, and coordinator for Tomorrow’s Women in Science and Technology.

Yukine Kuroki – Cliburn Junior 2015 Quarterfinal Round Recital

YUKINE KUROKI
Japan  |  Age 16

2015 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival
June 21–28, 2015  I  TCU
Fort Worth, TX, USA

Program:
BACH Prelude and Fugue in G Major, Book II, BWV 884
MENDELSSOHN-RACHMANINOV Scherzo from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
SCHUBERT Impromptu in G-flat Major, op. 90, no. 3
BARTOK Out of Doors

Yukine Kuroki has performed with the Astana State Philharmonic, Tatarstan National Symphony, Lithuanian National Symphony, and Polish Silesian Philharmonic Orchestras. She has appeared at the International Music Festival “Stars on Baikal” in Irkusk, Russia at the invitation of Denis Matsuev, as well as the Vilnius Piano Festival and in recitals throughout her native Japan. Competition credits include top prizes at the International Balys Dvarionas, Hanoi International Piano, and International Festival “Astana Piano Passion” Competitions. Yukine studies with Fumiko Eguchi at the Showa Music University Piano Art Academy since 2008. She delights in spreading joy through music, and her hobbies include calligraphy and monochrome drawing.

Gavin Bala – Cliburn Junior 2015 Preliminary Round Recital

GAVIN BALA
Singapore  |  Age 16

2015 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival
June 21–28, 2015  I  TCU
Fort Worth, TX, USA

Program:
HAYDN Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:51
MENDELSSOHN Rondo capriccioso in E Major, op. 14
LIZST Concert etude No. 3 “Un sospiro”

Born in Singapore, Gavin Bala has won top prizes at the Malta International Music, Thailand Mozart International, and Singapore Steinway Youth Piano Competitions. Top prize winner of the 2015 American Protégé International Concerto Competition, he will make his Carnegie Hall debut in December 2015. He has performed with the Torun Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Alicante, and in recitals in Perugia. Gavin currently studies with Rita Sze in Singapore and Stefano Miceli, the music director and piano chair of the Milano Metropolitan Orchestra. An avid chess player—including international, Chinese (xiangqi), and Japanese (shogi) chess—Gavin is also active in the school choir, has won many prizes for mathematics, and is fluent in English, Chinese, and French.

Matthias Fischer – Cliburn Amateur 2016 Quarterfinal Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Quarterfinal Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Matthias Fischer, 42
Physician
Würzburg, Germany
Germany

Born in 1973, in Bad Kissingen, Germany, Matthias Fischer received his first piano lessons from his parents at age 5. Throughout his childhood, he won prizes in the German youth competition, Jugend Musiziert, and briefly studied the piano at Munich Musikhochschule with Karl-Hermann Mrongovius from 1993–1994. One year later, he began his career in medicine as a student at the University of Würzburg. He finished his medical thesis in 2000 and pursued an M.D./Ph.D. thesis on mental retardation. Since 2007, he has been an assistant doctor and researcher at the university hospital for psychiatry in Würzburg. Throughout his work in medicine, however, Dr. Fischer continued to hone his piano skills. In 1996, he placed second at the first amateur competition in which he participated, in Utrecht, Netherlands, and he looks forward to this Competition and the possibility of playing with an orchestra.

Program:
CHOPIN, Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, op. 47
MENDELSSOHN, Variations sérieuses, op. 54

Joseph Mercuri – Cliburn Amateur 2016 Quarterfinal Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Quarterfinal Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Joseph Mercuri, M.D., 56
Hospitalist physician
Saint Joseph, Minnesota
United States

Born in Washington, D.C., Joseph Mercuri came to Texas for his schooling, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 and 1986. He turned his attention to medicine, however, graduating from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1994, and then completing a residency in internal medicine in Wisconsin. Since 2001, he was been a hospitalist in St. Cloud, Minnesota. In the many years since he stepped away from music, Dr. Mercuri has come to realize how intrinsic it is in his life and he began practicing again six years ago. A 2011 Cliburn Amateur semifinalist, he looks forward to the chance to grow artistically and personally. When he is not practicing his repertoire, Dr. Mercuri is an avid amateur golfer who enjoys road biking and all that Minnesota has to offer—especially in the summer.

Program:
LISZT, Sonnetto 104 del Petrarca
MENDELSSOHN, Fantasy in F-sharp Minor, op. 28

Hajime Kobayashi – Cliburn Amateur 2016 Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Hajime Kobayashi, 50
Management consultant
Niiza, Japan
Japan

Hajime Kobayashi, a 2011 Cliburn Amateur competitor, did not receive any formal music education, but was exposed to classical music as a child. He majored in architecture at the University of Tokyo, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. Later, he received an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. After a long interval away from the piano, he resumed playing in 2007 and has since won the Piano Teachers National Association Competition as well as the audition for the Artus Music Society. Mr. Kobayashi is looking forward to reuniting with competition friends this year, as well as brushing up on his piano skills. In his free time, he is interested in a broad array of academic concerns, from mathematics to Western history, and he likes to work out at his local gym, watch American television series, and garden.

Program:
MENDELSSOHN, Variations sérieuses, op. 54

Chung Yue Tien – Cliburn Junior 2019 Quarterfinal Round Recital

Chung Yue Tien
Hong Kong  | Age 13

Quarterfinal Round Recital – Monday, June 3, 2019 – 3:02 p.m. CDT
Caruth Auditorium, SMU  I  Dallas, Texas, USA

Program:
HAYDN Sonata in A-flat Major, Hob. XVI:43
CHOPIN Etude in C-sharp Minor, op. 25, no. 7
MENDELSSOHN Fantasy in F-sharp Minor, op. 28

Born in Hong Kong, Chung Yue Tien started playing piano at the age of 3 and gave his recital debut at Hong Kong’s Citibank Plaza when he was 8. The current Edmond, Oklahoma resident made his concerto debut two years later at the Eisemann Center in Dallas with the Plano Symphony Orchestra as a result of a grand-prize win at their Young Artist contest. He studies piano with Pamela Mia Paul and has twice participated in the International Keyboard Odyssiad, which yielded a 2016 gold medal in Solo Level A (13 and under) and a 2017 bronze medal in Concerto Division (all ages). Chung Yue currently attends Heritage Hall Middle School in Oklahoma City where he is active in the debate club and sings in the choir; he also enjoys hiking, fishing, cycling, jogging, swimming, reading, and table tennis.

“I think of music as my best friend. Not only have I been working hard to nurture it in my mind, but I feel it is also growing stronger in my heart by the day.”

Chun Lam U – Cliburn Junior 2019 Preliminary Round Recital

Chun Lam U
Hong Kong  | Age 16

Preliminary Round Recital – Saturday, June 1, 2019 – 3:54 p.m.

Program:
BACH Prelude and Fugue in A Major, BWV 888
CHOPIN Etude in A Minor, op. 10, no. 2
MENDELSSOHN Variations sérieuses, op. 54

Chun Lam U’s competition credits include first-prize finishes in the Chopin International Piano Competition Asia, Japan Hamamatsu PIARA International Piano Competition, and Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition, as well as second-place prizes at the Hanoi International Piano Competition, Shenzhen Piano Open Competition, and Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Artists. He has performed in his native Hong Kong, with the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Virtus String Quartet; in Vietnam with the VNAM Symphony Orchestra; and in China, with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, with which he made his concerto debut in 2017. A student of Rizzo Chung at the GMC Music Academy, Chun Lam also enjoys playing basketball and solving math problems.

“One of the reasons I truly love music is because I feel a sense of belonging when I play the piano, and this allows me to freely showcase my personality without fear.”

Hao Rao – Cliburn Junior 2019 Preliminary Round Recital

Hao Rao
China | Age 15

Preliminary Round Recital – Friday, May 31, 2019 – 4:16 p.m.
Caruth Auditorium, SMU I Dallas, Texas, USA

Program:
MENDELSSOHN Songs without Words, op. 67, nos. 1 & 5
BACH Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 870
CHOPIN Etude in G-sharp Minor, op. 25, no. 6
LISZT Valse de l’opéra Faust (after Gounod)

Hao Rao grew up in the mountainside town of Jishou, China. Every week, his mother would take him on a 16-hour train ride to his piano lesson; he never tired of the trip and instead saw it as “departing for a great music journey with unknown surprises.” He now attends the Middle School of Xinghai Conservatory of Music in the sprawling city of Guangzhou, but still studies with his teacher of almost seven years, Vivian Li (Suirong). He has won three major national competitions in China, received prizes at the 2018 Ettlingen Competition and the 2019 Aarhus Competition, and—at the age of 13—presented the complete Chopin etudes in recital. He listens to opera and enjoys reading fiction, playing sports, and sampling desserts.

“I’ve been to several competitions or festivals abroad, and every time it was a life-changing inspiration with unforgettable memories, but the Cliburn Fort Worth… that’s almost like the Vatican for pianists. For me, it almost seems like a fairy tale, and I will treasure every moment of this journey.”

Ryan Zhu – Cliburn Junior 2019 Preliminary Round Recital

Ryan Zhu
Canada | Age 15

Preliminary Round Recital – Friday, May 31, 2019 – 2:30 p.m.
Caruth Auditorium, SMU

Program:
BACH Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 875
LISZT La leggierezza from Three Concert Etudes
MENDELSSOHN Variations sérieuses, op. 54

In January 2014, Ryan Zhu made both his recital and concerto debuts in his hometown of Vancouver—just one week apart from each other. In addition to performances in Canada since, he was recently featured in the Mariinsky International Piano Festival in St. Petersburg and at the Oberlin School of Music as a prize-winner in the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition. A winner of several other competitions, Ryan attends Magee Secondary School and studies piano with Mira Yevtich and Michelle Mares. He enjoys reading and writing—especially poetry and history—as well as swimming and badminton.

“Music provides a means for humans to reach deep into the profundities of the soul. However, to do so requires the utmost precision, attention, and perseverance. Only by developing one’s intellectual ability and mental maturity can the highest level of artistry be attained.”

Steven Lin- Cliburn 2013 Preliminary Recital I

STEVEN LIN
United States| Age 24

Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Preliminary Recital I
Bass Performance Hall

Program:
BACH     Overture in the French Style
MENDELSSOHN     Fantasy in F-Sharp Minor, op. 28 (“Scottish Sonata”)
VINE     Sonata No.1

Steven Lin made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in Avery Fisher Hall at the age of thirteen. Additional concerto appearances include those with the Baltimore Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Sendai Symphony, and Tulsa Symphony Orchestras. He has made recital, chamber, and concerto appearances around the world at major venues, including the Louvre and Salle Cortot in France, National Dublin Hall in Ireland, Seoul Arts Center in South Korea, and Sendai Cultural Center in Japan, as well as at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall. At the age of ten, he entered the pre-college division of The Juilliard School, where he continues his studies today.

Alessandro Deljavan- Cliburn 2013 Semifinal Recital

ALESSANDRO DELJAVAN
Italy | Age 26

Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Semifinal Round Recital
Bass Performance Hall

Program:

SOLER Sonata in F-sharp Major, R. 90 I Sonata in F Major, R. 89
MENDELSSOHN Variations serieuses, op. 54
THEOFANIDIS Birichino
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, op. 57 (“Appassionata”)

Alessandro Deljavan began studying piano before he was two years old, and went on to win top prizes at national and international competitions as a child and teenager. He has since performed in the major cities of Italy, as well as in Argentina, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United States, and with the Haydn Orchester, as well as the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. He has recorded the works of Alkan, Brahms, Busoni, Cramer, Rubinstein, Satie, Schubert, and Schumann for the Naxos, Brilliant, OnClassical, Piano Classics, and Stradivarius labels. He will also be featured alongside Evgeny Kissin, Antonio Pappano, and Charles Rosen in a film about Liszt, produced and broadcast by Italian RAI TV. An avid chamber musician, he has performed with the Sine Nomine Quartet, the Takács Quartet, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Verdi, with which he also conducted. He plays regularly with his violinist partner Daniela Cammarano as well. Mr. Deljavan makes his home in Pescara, Italy, and is currently a Theo Lieven Scholar at the Conservatory of Lugano.

Alessandro Taverna- Cliburn 2013 Preliminary Recital II

ALESSANDRO TAVERNA
Italy | Age 29

Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Preliminary Round  Recital II
Bass Performance Hall

Program:
MENDELSSOHN Sonata No.3 in B-flat Major, op.106
MEDTNER Sonata in F Minor, op. 53, no.2 (“Sonata minacciosa”)
LIGETI Etude No. 13: L’escalier du diable
MESSIAEN Regard de l’esprit de joie (from Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus)

Alessandro Taverna has performed throughout Africa, Europe, and North America, in such venues as Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica, Fazioli Concert Hall, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Salle Cortot in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York. He has also appeared with the Hallé, London Philharmonic, Minnesota, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. In 2009, Mr. Taverna was chosen by the Keyboard Charitable Trust in London to perform at Steinway Halls in Berlin, London, Hamburg, Munich, and New York, and to open the season of Lorin Maazel’s Châteauville Foundation in Castleton—a performance that led to an invitation to tour with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2012–2013 season. A native of Venice, Mr. Taverna received his master’s degree from the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola. He currently attends the International Piano Academy Lake Como and the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.

Dasol Kim – Cliburn 2017 Semifinal Recital

DASOL KIM
South Korea | Age 28

Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Semifinal Round Recital – Thursday, June 1, 2017 – 8:50 p.m.
Bass Performance Hall

Program:

MENDELSSOHN Fantasie in F-sharp Minor, op. 28 (“Scottish Sonata”)
KAPUSTIN Intermezzo in D-flat Major, op. 40, no. 7
SCHUBERT Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960

Dasol Kim has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and many more, and with notable conductors including Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, and David Zinman. He was a first-prize winner of the 2015 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, 2010 Young Concert Artists European Auditions, and 2011 Epinal International Piano Competition. Mr. Kim has appeared at festivals including La Roque-d’Anthéron in France, the Kissinger Sommer in Germany, and the PyeongChang Music Festival in Korea. His chamber-music collaborators include cellists Gautier Capuçon and Myung-wha Chung, violinist Svetlin Roussev, and violist Maxim Rysanov, among others. His debut CD, Dasol Kim Plays Schumann, was released on Deutsche Grammophon in 2015. He currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Arie Vardi. Away from the piano, Mr. Kim loves literature, movies, and running, as well as restaurants and wine.