Glossary: c

Caleb De La Torre

Caleb De La Torre

Program host Caleb De La Torre recently graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a bachelor’s degree in acting. A native of South Texas, Caleb is currently based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and is active in the local theater scene. He can be seen on stage at the Shakespeare Dallas, Amphibian Stage, and Theatre Arlington, and is a resident actor in the film production company Fluidity Films. The Mexican-American actor is dedicated to education and community engagement, and teaches bilingual theater workshops for students at Dallas Theater Center.

When he isn’t acting, Caleb plays the drums, collects comic books and action figures (mostly Star Wars and superheroes), and likes to produce his own short films. He can’t wait to join Cliburn in the Classroom as a host for the first time in the 2024–2025 school year!

Carlos Miguel Prieto

Carlos Miguel Prieto
Semifinal Round Conductor

Known for his charisma and expressive interpretations, Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto has established himself not just as a major figure in the orchestra world but also as an influential cultural leader, educator, and a champion of new music. In a significant career development, he will start his tenure as Music Director of the North Carolina Symphony at the beginning of the 2023–24 season.

From 2007 to 2022, he was the Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, the country’s leading ensemble, and significantly raised the caliber of the orchestra. He was also Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra from 2006 to 2023, where he helped lead the cultural renewal of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, he was appointed Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, an orchestra with great tradition in Mexico now in its 45th season.

Recent highlights include engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Spanish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Strasbourg Philharmonic, and Auckland Philharmonia.

Prieto is in demand as a guest conductor with many of the top North American orchestras, including Cleveland, Dallas, Toronto, Minnesota, Washington, New World, and Houston Symphony, and has enjoyed a particularly successful relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the North Carolina Symphony.

Prieto made his hugely successful BBC Proms debut at Royal Albert Hall on August 5, 2023.

Since 2002, alongside Gustavo Dudamel, Prieto has conducted the Orchestra of the Americas, which draws young musicians from the entire American continent. A staunch proponent of music education, Prieto served as Principal Conductor of the YOA from its inception until 2011 when he was appointed Music Director. In 2018 he conducted the orchestra on a tour of European summer festivals, which included performances at the Rheingau and Edinburgh festivals as well as Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. He has also worked regularly with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the NYO2 in New York.

Prieto is renowned for championing Latin American music as well as his dedication to new music. He has conducted over 100 world premieres of works by Mexican and American composers, many of which were commissioned by him. Prieto places equal importance on championing works by Black and African American composers such as Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and Courtney Bryan, among others.

Prieto has an extensive discography that includes Deutsche Gramophone (nominated for three Grammys) Naxos and Sony labels. Prieto was recognized by Musical America as the 2019 Conductor of the Year. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard universities, Prieto studied conducting with Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Charles Bruck, and Michael Jinbo.

Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao

Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao

Taiwanese pianist Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao is a dynamic performer who is in demand as a chamber musician. She has collaborated with several internationally known artists such as Lynn Harrell and Robert McDuffie, and members of the Tokyo, Emerson, and Juilliard String Quartets, among many others. She has performed at Carnegie Weill Hall and can be heard with cellist Bion Tsang on his album The Blue Rock Sessions.

Cecilia is an assistant professor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and travels across the country as a faculty member of prestigious chamber music festivals. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to her move to the United States, she was one of the first pianists to receive the Master of Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, where she also received her bachelor’s degree.

Cecelia is excited to join the team at Cliburn in the Classroom and looks forward to sharing fun music with area elementary students!

Can Sarac

Can Sarac

Turkey  I  15

Can Sarac began piano lessons at the age of 5 and won Istanbul University State Conservatory exams that same year, where he went on to study with Fulya Tezer and Melina Kuyumcu. In June 2021, he has been in Michael Schäfer’s studio at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich Pre-College program, and he is a scholarship holder of the Liechtenstein International Music Academy. He has won prizes in solo, duo, and accompaniment competitions around the globe and has performed in renowned venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Liederhalle Stuttgart, The State Hermitage Museum St.Petersburg, and “GES-2” (Moscow). Can is a tutoring member of Care-to-Share, a charity initiative to support underprivileged children in their music education. A student at Ugur High School, he enjoys reading and watching sci-fi and fantasy, and is a huge fan of the Fenerbahçe SK sports club.

 

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Casey Li

CASEY LI

Singapore  I  14

Casey Li performed as soloist with the Emmanuel Symphony Orchestra in Singapore in July 2017 when she was 8 years old. Since then, she has won prizes at many competitions in her country, as well as in Korea, Japan, and the United States, and has studied piano with Benjamin Loh for five years. She is a student at the Raffles Girls’ School, where she is in the Guitar Ensemble. Outside of piano and school, she has a number of hobbies and interests: Chinese Dance (which she’s studied diligently since she was 5), figure skating, reading, bullet journaling, and hand lettering.

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Chengcheng Yao

CHENGCHENG YAO 姚承承

China  I  14

“Reading books gives me a lot of information and drive for the development of my artistry. Reading books often brings me a lot of inspiration and arouses various sentiments from the bottom of my heart. It is really a big harvest. I expect I will convey my inner world to the audience through my performances.”

When Chengcheng Yao was 4 years old, he saw someone playing the piano in the lobby of a hotel; he was transfixed, and a seed took root. He began lessons soon thereafter, where his rare tenacity and persistence led him to practice for five hours a day when he was in the first grade. His mother began taking him on the train to Shanghai from their home in Fuzhou once or twice a week—around seven hours round trip—for lessons. In 2019, he was admitted to the Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studies with Xie Jia; his previous teachers were Yang Yifu and Zhou Ting. He made both his recital and concerto debuts in Shanghai as well, in 2021 and 2020, respectively. With five early competition victories to his name, he notes that the Cliburn Junior will be his first in-person contest in three years, due to the pandemic. “I hope the world will link together again by such a big music event.” He believes deeply in the life-long benefits of learning classical music: it “helps a person to develop intelligence;” “helps strengthen the mathematical thinking;” “improves a person’s mental capacity and temperament;” and “cultivates the learners’ aesthetic judgment.” Outside of the piano, he enjoys reading books.

 

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

BACH Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Major, BWV 858
RACHMANINOV Étude-tableau in A Minor, op. 39, no. 6
CHOPIN Waltz in A-flat Major, op. 42
PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, op. 1

Quarterfinal Round

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 2 in A Major, op. 2, no. 2
CHOPIN Nocturne in C Minor, op. 48, no. 1

Semifinal Round – Recital

ZHAO XIAOXIANG When a Dancer Emerges from Clouds
RAVEL Jeux d’eau
SCHUMANN Symphonic Etudes, op. 13

Final Round – Concerto 

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37

 

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Chihiro Sugawara

CHIHIRO SUGAWARA 菅原千尋

Japan  I  16

“Music transcends the barriers of religion, ethnicity, and language to move people and connect them.”

A student at the Music High School Attached to the Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, Chihiro Sugawara has studied piano with Kaai Sugano for the past nine years and Kei Itoh for the last two. She’s won five piano competitions in Japan, including, most recently, the Beethoven International Piano Competition Asia and the Yamaha Junior Piano Competition. She comes now to the Cliburn Junior “to experience a world stage that I had never experienced before.” She hopes “to convey the wonder and excitement of music and spread it to many people.” Chihiro has performed with the Ashikaga Symphony Orchestra in Tochigi and the Geidai Philharmonia Orchestra in Tokyo, as well as the Yamaha Rising Pianists Concert. In her free time, she enjoys looking at paintings in museums.

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

BACH Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 874
SCRIABIN Fantasie in B Minor, op. 28
RACHMANINOV Étude-tableau in D Major, op. 39, no. 9

Quarterfinal Round

BRAHMS Intermezzo in E-flat Minor, op. 118, no. 6
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 7 in D Major, op. 10, no. 3 (I)
LISZT Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

Semifinal Round – Recital

TOKUYAMA Musica Nara, op. 25
BRAHMS Sonata No. 1 in C Major, op. 1

Final Round – Concerto 

LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124

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Chenxi Chu

CHENXI CHU 褚晨熙

China  I  14

“Classical music is our closest companion on the road of progress. In the future, I hope more children will be exposed to classical music at an early age, which will help them to explore and pursue beauty.”

Music has been intrinsic to Chenxi Chu’s life since the beginning: “From the first tune my mother hummed to me when I was a kid to the first piece I learned to play, classical music accompanies me to sleep and brings me much happiness. It cultivates my aesthetic appreciation and develops my rational thinking. For me, music is as indispensable as air.” A student at the Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he has studied with Zhe Tang and Fan Zhou for five years. A prizewinner of several competitions in China, the Cliburn Junior marks his first international piano contest. In addition to taking on the performance challenge and the benefits he hopes that will bring, he also looks forward to building many friendships while in Dallas, “exchanging our interpretations of music and our ideas with each other, and through them experiencing the diversity of the world.” His curiosity about the world has fostered a love of travel; he enjoys the scenery and architecture of other cultures, and experiencing their local lifestyles and delicacies. His other interests include cooking for friends and family, listening to all kinds of music, and playing video games—which feel like a new world to him.

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

BACH  Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Major, BWV 858
CHOPIN Etude in F Major, op. 10, no. 8
CHOPIN Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60
HAMELIN The Minute Waltz, in Seconds

Quarterfinal Round

MOZART Sonata No. 15 in F Major, K. 533 (I)
MENDELSSOHN Lieder ohne Worte, op. 30, no. 6
MENDELSSOHN Variations sérieuses, op. 54
WAGNER–LISZT “Isoldens Liebestod” from Tristan and Isolde

Semifinal Round – Recital

VINE Bagatelles Nos. 2 and 3
SCHUMANN Davidsbündlertänze, op. 6

Final Round – Concerto 

GRIEG Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 16

 

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Clayton Stephenson

Clayton Stephenson

United States  I  Age 23

Growing up in New York City, Clayton Stephenson found musical inspiration in community programs. As he describes it, the “3rd Street Music School jump-started my music education; the Young People’s Choir taught me phrasing and voicing; the Juilliard Outreach Music Advancement Program introduced me to formal and rigorous piano training, which enabled me to get into Juilliard Pre-College; the Morningside Music Bridge validated my talent and elevated my self-confidence; and the Boy’s Club of New York exposed me to jazz; and the Lang Lang Foundation brought me to stages worldwide and transformed me from a piano student to a young artist.”

Clayton now studies in the Harvard-NEC Dual Degree Program, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in economics at Harvard and a master’s degree in piano performance at the New England Conservatory under Wha Kyung Byun. And his accolades along the way have been bountiful: 2022 Gilmore Young Artist; 2017 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts; Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award; Gheens Young Artist; Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation; and a jury discretionary award at the 2015 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival.

Highlights of Clayton’s burgeoning career include recitals at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Kissinger Sommer Festival in Bad Kissinger, BeethovenFest in Bonn, Stars and Rising Stars in Munich, Swiss Alps Classics at Switzerland, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has been featured on NPR, WUOL, and WQXR, and appeared in the “GRAMMY® Salute to Classical Music” Concert at Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium.

He has performed as a guest artist with orchestras including the Calgary Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, Louisville Symphony, Augusta Symphony, Colour of Music Festival, and Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestras. On the 69th U.N. Day, Clayton played with the International Youth Orchestra at the United Nations General Assembly Hall.

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

HAYDN Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:37
HOUGH Fanfare Toccata
STRAVINSKY–AGOSTI Suite from The Firebird
STRAUSS–GODOWSKY Symphonic Metamorphosis on Die Fledermaus

Quarterfinal Round

RAVEL “Prélude” from Le tombeau de Couperin
LISZT Ballade No. 2 in B Minor
PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, op. 83

Semifinal Round – Recital

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”)
LIEBERMANN Gargoyles, op. 29
BRAHMS Sonata No. 1 in C Major, op. 1

Semifinal Round – Mozart concerto

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467

Final Round – Concerto I

GERSHWIN Piano Concerto in F Major

Final Round – Concerto II

RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, op. 30

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Changyong Shin

Changyong Shin

South Korea  I  Age 28

Anyang native Changyong Shin has garnered international attention with first-prize wins at the Gina Bachauer, Seoul, and Hilton Head International Piano Competitions. He has studied in the United States since 2016, earning a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and master’s degree and artist diploma from The Juilliard School under the guidance of Robert McDonald. He is currently studying with Wha Kyung Byun at New England Conservatory as an artist diploma student.

He has performed throughout Asia, North America, and Europe, including recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel and Weill Recital Halls, WQXR’s The Greene Space, and Salle Cortot and the Louvre in Paris, as well as festival appearances for the Barletta Piano Festival (Italy), Klavier-Festival Ruhr (Germany), and Newport and Green Lake Festivals in the United States. Concerto appearances include those with the Utah Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Symphony, Sendai Philharmonic, and Hilton Head Symphony Orchestras.

A rising star in his native country, recent highlights include a sold-out recital at Seoul Art Center’s IBK Chamber Hall, followed by a sold-out recital tour, and multiple performances as part of Lotte Concert Hall’s highly selective “In-House Artist Series.” He was invited to give a special performance of a new work by Korean composer Young-jo Lee as a member of the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts, and has performed at the Kumho Art Hall, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and other major venues.

Changyong has released three professional recordings; his debut CD was named one of the “Best New Recordings of 2018” by WQXR, and subsequent albums received rave reviews from ClassicsToday and Pizzicato. He has a passion for speaking to his audiences during concerts, to create a more meaningful connection between the music, artists, and attendees—to “share the music from heart to heart.”

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

HAYDN Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:50
HOUGH Fanfare Toccata
CHOPIN Nocturne in B Major, op. 62, no. 1
GRANADOS “Los requiebros” from Goyescas, op. 11

Quarterfinal Round

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 28 in A Major, op. 101
RACHMANINOV Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 36 (1931)

Semifinal Round – Recital

BACH Toccata in D Major, BWV 912
SCHUMANN Humoreske in B-flat Major, op. 20
PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, op. 83

Semifinal Round – Mozart concerto

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466

Final Round – Concerto I

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, op. 11

Final Round – Concerto II

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 16

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Claire Huangci

CLAIRE HUANGCI
2013 CLIBURN COMPETITION JURY DISCRETIONARY AWARD
Preliminary II recital

PROGRAM
SCHUBERT Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946
TCHAIKOVSKY-PLETNEV Excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty

ABOUT CLAIRE
Claire has established a reputation for “radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity,” and “superior focus [and] imaginative abilities.” Her solo recordings for Berlin Classics are deep dives, including a double album of Scarlatti sonatas (German Record Critics’ Award and Gramophone Editor’s Choice), complete Rachmaninov preludes, and complete Chopin nocturnes, and her first orchestral album with the Deutsche Radiophilharmonic Saarbrücken was released in fall 2019. Her growing career spans Europe, Asia, and North and Latin America. In recent months at home, she has hosted “Conversations with Claire” for streaming service IDAGIO and returns to the concert stage this month in Switzerland. clairehuangci.com

Christopher Elton

Christopher Elton – United Kingdom

Christopher Elton was born in Edinburgh and received most of his musical education at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he achieved the unusual distinction of gaining the Academy’s highest performing award – the Dip. RAM – on both piano and cello.

He was a prizewinner in several British and international piano competitions, playing and broadcasting regularly both as a soloist and in chamber music. At the same time he worked as a freelance cellist with the major London orchestras.

Christopher Elton’s international recognition has come as a result of the many successes of his students at the Royal Academy of Music. Many have won international awards, including first prizes in the Van Cliburn ,London “World” International Piano and “Top of the World” Competitions  as well as in the 2014 Shenzen International Piano Competition and the 2014 Montreal International Piano Competition. Further recent successes include prizewinners in four recent Leeds International Piano Competition finals as well as in earlier Tchaikovsky, Leipzig Bach, Dublin, Shanghai and many other such competitions. Many of his students are now recording artists, including Freddy Kempf, Yevgeny Sudbin, Joanna MacGregor, Inon Barnatan  and Benjamin Grosvenor.

While his priority is to his work at the Royal Academy, London, Christopher Elton has also been much in demand overseas both as a teacher and as a jury member for international competitions. Within the last few years he has given masterclasses in the USA, Japan, Israel, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Spain, Germany and Ireland and Vietnam. He has also been invited as a jury member at many important international competitions – Moscow (Tchaikovsky), Dublin, Leeds, Busoni (Bolzano),Vienna Beethoven, Shenzen and China International, Santander, etc..  In 2017 he was a jury member for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, USA. During recent years he has also given recitals in the UK, USA, Ireland, Spain, Australia and Vietnam.

Christopher Elton was Head of Keyboard at the Royal Academy of Music, London, for 24 years, until 2011, when he left that position to focus on his teaching. He was elected a Fellow in 1983, In 2002 the title of Professor of the University of London was conferred on him.

In 2018 he also acted as Visiting Professor of Piano at the University of Yale.

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Carol Leone

CAROL LEONE – UNITED STATES

American pianist Carol Leone is active as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A successful recording artist, she can be heard on MSR Classics, Gasparo, Crystal, and Augusta Read Thomas labels. Her recording, Change of Keys on MSR Classics garnered two 2016 Silver Global Awards. Carol has been a top prize-winner in piano competitions, including the National Beethoven Sonata Piano competition. She has performed regularly with the Grammy®-nominated contemporary music ensemble Voices of Change.

Considered one of the world’s leading advocates and presenters for alternatively-sized piano keyboards, Dr. Leone has energized a worldwide movement to transform pianists’ artistry and wellness.

Carol’s professional training included study with legendary Polish pianist Mieczysław Horszowski at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she received a performance certificate. She was a private student of Guido Agosti in Rome following a summer at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, where she earned the coveted Honors Diploma. She received her doctorate from the UNT College of Music.

Carol Leone is Chair of Piano Studies and Professor of Piano at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas. At SMU, she performs regularly as concerto soloist with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra and as part of a faculty piano trio with violinist Aaron Boyd and cellist Andres Diaz. She is also on the piano faculty of the Siena International Music Programs at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy and is co-director and co-founder of the International Stretto Piano Festival.

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CHUN LAM U

CHUN LAM U

Hong Kong I Age 16

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.”

Competitor Profile

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

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

Quarterfinal Round
HAYDN Sonata in B Minor, Hob. XVI:32
CHOPIN Nocturne in B Major, op. 9, no. 3
BARTÓK Sonata for Piano, Sz. 80

Semifinal Round
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major, op. 31, no. 3
CHOPIN Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60
FRANK Nocturno Nazqueño

Final Round

CHOPIN Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, op. 11

Chung Yue Tien

Chung Yue Tien

Hong Kong I Age 13

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.”

Competitor Profile

Repertoire

Preliminary Round
BACH Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 861
CHOPIN Etude in G-flat Major, op. 10, no. 5 (“Black Key”)
CHOPIN Etude in G-sharp Minor, op. 25, no. 6
LISZT Chasse-Neige from Transcendental Etudes
LISZT La campanella from Paganini Etudes

Quarterfinal Round
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

Semifinal Round

CZERNY Variations on a Theme by Rode “La Ricordanza”, op. 33

CHOPIN Etude in A Minor, op. 25, no. 11 (“Winter Wind”)

CHOPIN Etude in A-flat Major, op. 25, no. 1

CHOPIN Etude in C Major, op. 10, no. 1

AUERBACH Chorale, Fugue, and Postlude (I)

BACH-BUSONI Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564

 

Final Round

LISZT Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124

Candace Bawcombe

Pianist Candace Bawcombe has performed as a soloist, recitalist, chamber, and orchestral musician in the DFW area since her return to Texas in 1991. The New York Times has hailed her as “…deeply talented; a beautiful pianist.” She has enjoyed collaborations with many artists including violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Erick Friedman, Peter Winograd, Eugene Drucker, and concertmasters of many orchestras. Metropolitan Opera star Renée Fleming and Ms. Bawcombe performed the world premiere of Three Persian Songs by Bezhad Ranjbaran in Alice Tully Hall. She has performed and taught in festivals in the United States, Southeast Asia, and the United Kingdom. Ms. Bawcombe was an integral part of Dallas Chamber Music Society for 10 years beginning as the first executive director and later as artistic director. She hosted “Spotlight on Chamber Music” on WRR Classical 101.1FM for several years.

Ms. Bawcombe holds a master’s degree in music from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Abbey Simon and Herbert Stessin. She was 11 years old when she was accepted into the piano studio of concert pianist Lili Kraus. Ms. Kraus, who studied with Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, and Artur Schnabel, mentored her for 14 years. Ms. Bawcombe is currently a featured artist for the Cliburn in the Classroom education program for elementary school students in North Texas. She is founder and managing director of the Children’s Community Chorus of Johnson County and teaches piano in Colleyville and North Arlington. Ms. Bawcombe is married to Dallas Symphony Orchestra violinist Andrew Schast.

CHRISTOPHER ELTON

Edinburgh native Christopher Elton is professor emeritus of the Royal Academy of Music in London—a position awarded him in 2011, following 24 years of service as head of keyboard. His international recognition has come largely as a result of his students’ successes. Many have won prizes in major international competitions, including the Cliburn, Tchaikovsky, Leeds, Shanghai, and Munich (ARD), and several are now recording artists with major concert careers.

Mr. Elton is in demand as a teacher and jury member internationally. He has given master classes in the Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia and served on the juries of Moscow Tchaikovsky, Leeds, and others. As an adjudicator, he has worked both in festivals and on television in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Hong Kong.

A competitor prizewinner himself, Mr. Elton also studied at the Royal Academy, where he achieved the unusual distinction of the highest performing award, the Dip. RAM, on both piano and cello.

Caterina Grewe

Caterina Grewe

Germany | Age 29

Born in Tokyo, German-Japanese pianist Caterina Grewe is a Steinway Artist who has given recitals at Royal Albert Hall, at Steinway Halls in London and Hamburg, and at venues in Dublin, Barcelona, and Moscow. Her recitals have been broadcast by the BBC, NDR in Hamburg, and Radio France in Paris. She has made concerto appearances with the Classic Philharmonic Orchestra Hamburg, Oldenburg State Orchestra, Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya (Barcelona), and RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland). She was a prize winner at the 2015 Maria Canals International Piano Competition and the 2015 Dublin International Piano Competition. Ms. Grewe was listed as “an artist to watch” by Gramophone after her debut CD (2016), which features Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze and his Sonata No. 3. Ms. Grewe studied at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal College of Music, where she was awarded the HRH Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Rose Bowl by the Prince of Wales for her achievements. She is completing her Konzertexamen under the tutelage of Alfredo Perl at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold. Ms. Grewe enjoys travel and all forms of art, from painting to fashion, and is a big tennis fan.

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COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Recital
HAYDN Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:33
HAMELIN Toccata on “L’homme armé”
SCRIABIN Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp Minor, op. 23
LISZT Trübe Wolken (Nuages gris)
LISZT Transcendental Etude No. 8 “Wilde Jagd”

Quarterfinal Recital
PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, op. 14
SCHUMANN Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, op. 14 (1836)

Semifinal Recital
TAKEMITSU Rain Tree Sketch II
SCHUMANN Davidsbündlertänze, op. 6
LISZT Après une lecture de Dante (Fantasia quasi sonata)

Semifinal Concerto
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466

Final Round Piano Quintet
SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, op. 44

Final Round Concerto
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, op. 43

Clark Vann Griffith

Clark Vann Griffith, 52
Retired database programmer
Fort Worth, Texas
United States

Clark Vann Griffith was the third-prize winner here in 2007 and took second prize in 2011. The Fort Worth resident’s Cliburn connection doesn’t end there: As a child in Phoenix, he was a student of 1977 Cliburn Gold Medalist Steven De Groote. Mr. Vann Griffith was a composition major at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and in ensuing years, has worked as a programmer, website developer, classical music announcer, and orchestral pianist. A chamber-music aficionado, Mr. Vann Griffith is motivated to compete again this year because he enjoys being a performing conduit for the audience, enjoying helping “someone I’ve never met hear something familiar in an utterly new way.” When he’s not playing piano, Mr. Vann Griffith enjoys watching movies, solving puzzles, and the perks of being married and owning cats.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
BACH   Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Minor, WTC I, BWV 859
BRAHMS   Intermezzo in A Major, op. 76, no. 6

Quarterfinal Round
CHOPIN   Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, op. 47
SCHUMANN   Arabeske in C Major, op. 18

Semifinal Round
WAGNER-GOULD   Siegfried-Idyll
VANN GRIFFITH   Largo, after Chopin (2016)
MENDELSSOHN   Rondo capriccioso, op. 14

Final Round
SHOSTAKOVICH   Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, op. 102: I. Allegro

Colleen Adent

Colleen Adent, 54
Homemaker
Vancouver, Washington
United States

A self-professed explorer, Colleen Adent enjoys “finding out how things were made, where they came from, and what I can learn that I didn’t know about before.” She received a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Biola University (La Mirada, California) in 1983. After several years as a stay-at-home mom, Ms. Adent now dedicates her time to leading her church’s music program, where she schedules musicians for services and helps lead band rehearsals as director of music. In addition, she gives piano lessons. For the last two years, Ms. Adent has appeared in “Ten Grands,” an evening showcase featuring 10 grand pianos and 10 pianists, in Portland, Oregon, and in Seattle. In her free time, Ms. Adent likes to wander through used bookstores for treasure—usually biographies of composers, statesmen, and inventors—and enjoys quilting.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
BARBER   Excursions, op. 20: III. Allegretto
DEBUSSY   L’Isle joyeuse

Quarterfinal Round
BEETHOVEN   Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major, op. 7: I. Allegro
CHOPIN   Nocturne in E-flat Major, op. 9, no. 2
GOTTSCHALK   Pasquinade, op. 59

Semifinal Round
SCHUBERT-LISZT   Ständchen
CHOPIN   Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60
SCARLATTI   Sonata in D Major, K. 29
BARBER   Excursions, op. 20: I. Un poco allegro; IV. Allegro molto

Final Round
SCHUMANN   Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54: I. Allegro affetuoso