Glossary: k

Akilan Sankaran

Akilan Sankaran

United States  I  16

A sophomore at the Albuquerque Academy, Akilan Sankaran is a major award winner across several disciplines. In piano, he’s studied with Lawrence Blind at the New Mexico School of Music for nine years and regularly takes home first prize at state competitions; he has also performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Verbier Festival (which he attended last year on a full scholarship as the only junior pianist), and Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Akilan is equally as committed to mathematics: he has conducted two in-depth research projects on undergraduate-level topics in number theory, which won him national and international competitions and a feature on NPR. He has competed on the state level in MathCounts (first prize) and cross country (top 20 runner); is a team member in Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, and Speech and Debate Competitions; and writes for his school newspaper.

 

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Kayden Kelly

KAYDEN KELLY

United States / Costa Rica  I  16

Kayden Kelly studies piano with 1993 Cliburn Finalist Fabio Bidini at the Music Academy of The Colburn School; gave his recital debut at the National Theater of Costa Rica in 2018 and his orchestra debut in Italy three years later; and has given more than 20 public performances in the last seven years. The Santa Fe native currently attends the Albuquerque Academy, where is he is on the swim team and in the engineering club. And, when he was 11 years old, received an award for his musical talent and dedication from the Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Kayden recently appeared on NPR’s From the Top.

 

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Katia Skanavi

KATIA SKANAVI – GREECE/RUSSIA

Pianist Katia Skanavi’s combination of Greek-Russian cultural roots and Central European musical traditions results in music-making with a unique blend of spontaneity, intuition, and erudition.

Equally active as a soloist and chamber musician, Katia has appeared worldwide with conductors James Conlon, Kurt Masur, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and Jaap van Zweden, among others, in collaborations with the DSO Berlin, Salzburg Camerata, Kremerata Baltica, Orchestre National de France, and major orchestras of Russia, as well as with the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, San Francisco, and Tokyo. She has presented recitals in major venues across Europe, Asia, and North America, and partnered with violinists Gidon Kremer, Leonidas Kavakos, Maxim Vengerov, and Yuri Bashmet; cellist Truls Mørk; and the Rossetti String Quartet, in concert and recordings.

Katia’s wide range of interests is reflected in various projects: her development of theater works combining poetry, video projections, and dance with music has been presented in major theaters in Moscow, and she collaborates regularly with living composers, including Arvo Pärt, Alfred Schnittke, Jörg Widmann, Carl Vine, and John Corigliano. Her discography includes several live recitals released on Lyrinx label, as well as an all-Chopin recording, which was selected by Gramophone magazine as its record of the month.

Katia Skanavi began her musical studies in Moscow at the Gnessin School for Gifted Children, and at the age of 12 made her debut in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, performing Kabalevskyʼs Third Piano Concerto under the composerʼs direction. She has diplomas from the Conservatoire National de Paris, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, counting among her teachers Bruno Rigutto, Sergey Babayan, Vladimir Krainev, and Vera Gornostaev. She was provided early career support through her prizes at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud (Paris), Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Fort Worth), and the Grand Prix Maria Callas (Athens) Competitions.

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Kate Liu

Kate Liu

United States  I  Age 28

Born in Singapore, Kate Liu began playing the piano when she was 4 years old and moved to the United States when she was 8, where she studied at the Music Institute of Chicago. She made her orchestral debut in 2010, at age 16, with the Cleveland Orchestra, and a New York recital debut a year later. In 2015, she burst onto the international scene after winning the bronze medal and audience prize at the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw; her debut album was then released on the Institute’s label.

She maintains an active performance schedule in North America, Europe, and Asia, highlighted by performances at the Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, The Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and Warsaw Philharmonic Hall. Orchestral collaborations include those with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Polish Radio Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, and Rochester Philharmonic.

Early on in her career, she won first prizes at the Asia-Pacific International Chopin and New York International Piano Competitions. She received a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a master’s degree and artist diploma from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert McDonald and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

kateliu.com

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

SCHUBERT Allegretto in C Minor, D. 915
HOUGH Fanfare Toccata
PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major, op. 84

Quarterfinal Round

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110
FRANCK Prélude, Choral et Fugue

Semifinal Round – Recital

SCHUMANN Arabeske in C Major, op. 18
BRAHMS Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, op. 5

Semifinal Round – Mozart concerto

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

Final Round – Concerto I

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, op. 21

Final Round – Concerto II

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

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KEIKO KIRCHER

KEIKO KIRCHER

AGE 41  I  CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS  I  JAPAN/UNITED STATES
COLLEGE PHYSICS INSTRUCTOR

A physics lecturer at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Parkland College, Dr. Keiko Kircher likes to make her physics lectures be full of music, one example being the use of Mussorgsky being pulled by a string that is wrapped around a rotatable solid sphere while he enjoys pictures at an exhibition in a museum. Keiko began learning music by playing electric organ (called the “electone” in Japan) and switched to the piano at 19. After taking some time away from the instrument while her kids were young and colicky, Keiko returned and now enjoys taking part in amateur competitions—including the 2016 Cliburn—because they motivate her to learn new music, to performance level (whether she is successful or not), and she enjoys getting to know other competitors. She also very much enjoys dog training. Now that her precious dog Neutrina knows how to play the piano, she is taking care of Neutrina extremely well with lots of love so that Neutrina can reach age 35 and enter Cliburn Amateur then.

 

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

ALBÉNIZ Asturias (Leyenda)
KORCHMAR Piano Cycles 1–3
BARGIEL “Präludium” from Suite No. 2 for Piano, op. 31

Semifinal Round 

ALBÉNIZ “Triana” from Iberia, Book II
RACHMANINOV Variations on a Theme of Corelli, op. 42

Final Round 

SHOSTAKOVICH Concerto No. 2 in F Major, op. 102 (I)

 

Kenny Broberg

KENNY BROBERG
2017 SILVER MEDALIST

Cliburn Competition Semifinal Round Recital (originally broadcast June 5, 2017)
SCHUBERT Four Impromptus, D. 899, op. 90
LISZT Sonata in B Minor

 

KENSUKE OTA

KENSUKE OTA

AGE 41  I  YOKOHAMA, JAPAN  I  JAPAN
RESEARCH SCIENTIST

Kensuke Ota has been dedicated to both science and music since very early in his life, having maintained an outstanding level of commitment to each. The former led him to earn B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo, after which he’s worked in semiconductor device research for the Toshiba Corporation and, now, emerging memory device science for the Kioxia Corporation. Meanwhile, Kensuke has studied with the same piano teacher for 32 years—since he was 6. He won or placed second in amateur competitions in Tokyo, St. Petersburg, Chicago, Paris, Colorado Springs, and Osaka. This marks his first appearance at the Cliburn, and he looks forward to gauging his current skill, to enjoying the performance, and to finding stimulation in fellow pianists. Outside of these passions, he likes to travel, and to play both soccer and table tennis.

 

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

HAYDN Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:50 (I)
BALAKIREV Islamey (Oriental Fantasy)

Semifinal Round 

SCARLATTI Sonata in G Major, K. 455
LISZT Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata
TOKUYAMA Musica NARA, op. 25
SOUSA–HOROWITZ “The Stars and Stripes Forever”

Final Round 

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

KEN IISAKA

KEN IISAKA

AGE 53  I  FOSTER CITY, CALIFORNIA  I  JAPAN/CANADA
SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Ken Iisaka has made the finals of the last three Cliburn Amateur Competitions. Since then, he’s taken the top prize in contests in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Washington, D.C. His activity in the amateur piano community has led to concert appearances in Germany, China, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. The Tokyo-born Canadian citizen has worked in software engineering since 1993, in California since 1999. He currently serves as lead software engineer for Indeed, a job search engine, in the artificial intelligence field. He also enjoys music criticism, writing regularly for the San Francisco Classical Voice. He finds competitions “necessary for bettering ourselves,” adding “it is a chance for me to become a better artist. Facing the challenges of a competition has always been a metaphor for my renewal.”

 

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

RAVEL Prelude in A Minor
CHOPIN Mazurka in A Minor, op. 17, no. 4
CHOPIN Mazurka in C Major, op. 24, no. 2
BACH Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Major, BWV 872

Semifinal Round 

MEDTNER Sonata in F Minor, op. 5 (I)
CHOPIN Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, op. 22

Final Round 

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

Kenny Broberg

2017 Cliburn Silver Medalist

American pianist Kenny Broberg continues to build a reputation for “blazing intellect, impeccable technical skills, and the ability to build a strikingly imaginative and intelligent program.” His fresh interpretations are complemented by a natural, honest stage presence and “an almost miraculous array of tone qualities” (Theater Jones). The Minneapolis native first came to international attention when he captured the silver medal at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; he followed this with a bronze medal win at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition, adding to his numerous competition prizes at the Hastings, Sydney, Seattle, and New Orleans International Piano Competitions.

He has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, Minnesota, Sydney, Seattle, and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, working with conductors Ludovic Morlot, Leonard Slatkin, Nicholas Milton, Nicholas McGegan, Kent Nagano, Vasily Petrenko, and Stilian Kirov. Recent and upcoming recital tours include his debuts in China and Japan, as well as across Australia and the United States. Universal Music Australia and Decca Gold have released albums featuring his live performances.

The first musician in his family, Kenny started piano lessons at age 6, when he was first fascinated by his mother’s upright—a wedding gift from her parents. He studied for nine years with Dr. Joseph Zins before entering the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music with Nancy Weems. He currently studies with 2001 Cliburn Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University. Alongside his teachers, he is influenced by the recordings of Alfred Cortot, William Kapell, and Claudio Arrau.

Kyle Orth

Internationally acclaimed pianist Kyle Orth has appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the Dallas, Fort Worth, Israel, Oaxaca, Minnesota, and Missouri Symphony Orchestras, performing under the batons of Jaap van Zweden, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and other renowned conductors. His performances have been hailed as “spine-tingling” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and “breathtaking” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). Most recently, Mr. Orth presented Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra on their subscription series, a performance which the Star Tribune described as being “thrillingly visceral.”

Mr. Orth has won prizes in several competitions, among them the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist, Dallas International Piano, Corpus Christi International Piano, and Wideman International Piano Competitions, among others. Festival participation includes the Perlman Music Program, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Prades Festival-Academie in France. Additionally, Mr. Orth was a founding member of the Caspian Quartet, a competitively selected honors ensemble at the New England Conservatory.

Born in Fountain Valley, California and raised in Richardson, Texas, Mr. Orth studied through high school with Marcy and Alex McDonald. He completed his undergraduate degree at TCU, and received his graduate degree from the New England Conservatory, where he continues his performance studies in the highly selective DMA program. At NEC, he was awarded the Presser Foundation Graduate Music Award in 2018 and a Presidential Scholarship from 2016–2018; he also won the piano department concerto competition and performed Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto in Jordan Hall.

 

Kasey Shao

Kasey Shao

United States I Age 15

A Louisville native who now lives in Cincinnati, Kasey Shao made her concerto debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center when she was 12 years old. She has 13 first-place finishes to her name at junior competitions across the Eastern United States and made her Carnegie Hall (Weill Hall) debut in 2013. A student of Ran Dank, she attends Walnut Hills High School, where she is a member of the Model UN Club, Science Olympiad team, French Club, and Student Congress. She has accompanied school choir, band, orchestra, and chamber groups since she was in third grade, and is interested in conducting and collaborations with other pianists.

“Music has the power to bring people together, no matter race, gender, sex, or religion, and it creates emotions unable to be felt in everyday life. It is important to me because it gives my life a new flavor, a new color, and a new spectrum.”

Competitor Profile

Repertoire

Preliminary Round
BACH Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 884
CHOPIN Etude in F Major, op. 10, no. 8
RACHMANINOV Prelude in D Major, op. 23, no. 4
ALBÉNIZ “Triana” from Iberia, Book II
SHOSTAKOVICH Prelude and Fugue in D-flat Major, op. 87, no. 15

Quarterfinal Round

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 7 in D Major, op. 10, no. 3 (I)

CHOPIN Nocturne in E-flat Major, op. 55, no. 2

WEBERN Variations for Piano, op. 27

SCRIABIN Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp Minor, op. 19 (Sonata-Fantasy)

 

Semifinal Round

BOLCOM Nine Bagatelles

SCHUBERT Piano Sonata in A Minor, D. 784

CHOPIN Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, op. 52

 

Final Round

CHOPIN Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, op. 21

Karen Hall

Karen Hall holds degrees in music performance from the University of Illinois and Texas Christian University. She has been a member of the cello section of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 1979 and received the American Airlines “Distinguished Musician of the Year” award in 2004. Karen has also held positions with the Dallas Opera Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony, and the Hawaii Symphony. Ms. Hall was the founder and artistic director of Hall Ensemble, a chamber music group specializing in intimate, small-venue, chamber-music concerts. An ardent proponent of historic performance practice, she also plays the Baroque cello and viola da gamba, and is a founding member of Texas Camerata.

Kenny Broberg

KENNY BROBERG
2017 CLIBURN SILVER MEDALIST

American pianist Kenny Broberg continues to build a reputation as “one of the most intelligent and intense artists on the concert stage today” (Theater Jones) with fresh interpretations complemented by a natural, honest stage presence. The Minneapolis native first came to international attention when he captured the silver medal at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with performances marked by “an imaginative shaping of themes, revelation of inner voices, and an unfailing sense of momentum” (Texas Classical Review). He followed this with a bronze medal win at the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition, adding to previous prizes at the Hastings, Sydney, Seattle, and New Orleans International Piano Competitions. 

Kenny has performed across Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America, and worked with such esteemed conductors as Ludovic Morlot, Kent Nagano, Leonard Slatkin, Vasily Petrenko, Nicholas Milton, John Storgårds, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Stilian Kirov. He has collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic, Minnesota, Kansas City Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestras, among others. 

Lauded for “the ability to build a strikingly imaginative and intelligent program… [leading] his audience through a superbly conceived, brilliantly executed journey” (Theater Jones), Kenny enjoys juxtaposing the novel and familiar, bringing light to lesser-known works alongside classic repertoire. Recent and upcoming highlights include his Spivey Hall debut; a tour of rural Australian communities, along with a return to Sydney; residencies at the Mariinsky International Piano, Stars on the Baikal, Strings, and Sunriver Music Festivals; and recitals in Yokohama, Nagoya, Moscow, New York, and Los Angeles.

He has been featured on NPR, WQXR, APM’s Performance Today, MPR, and ABC (Australia) radio. In 2019, Kenny appeared at the Texas Medal of Arts Awards Gala, performing for honorees including Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Holliday; he is also a finalist for the 2021 American Pianists Awards. Several of his performances at the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition were included on CDs released on the Universal Music Australia label. His solo debut album was released in August 2017 on the Decca Gold label, featuring one of his signature pieces, the Barber Piano Sonata, as well as works by Bach, Schubert, Chopin, and Franck. 

The first musician in his family, Kenny started piano lessons at age 6, when he was first fascinated by his mother’s upright—a wedding gift from her parents. He studied for nine years with Dr. Joseph Zins before entering the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree with Nancy Weems in 2016. He currently resides in Kansas City, Missouri, where he continues to be mentored by 2001 Cliburn Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at the International Center for Music at Park University. Alongside his teachers, he is influenced by the recordings of Alfred Cortot, William Kapell, and Claudio Arrau. 

A hockey and baseball athlete in high school, Kenny enjoys watching and playing sports; he’s even known to catch a livestream of a game while warming up for a performance.

Contact Sandra Doan at [email protected] if you are interested in engaging Kenny Broberg.

Kenneth Broberg

Kenneth Broberg

United States | Age 23

A native of Minneapolis, Kenneth Broberg studied piano from age 6 through high school under Dr. Joseph Zins. He continued his studies with Nancy Weems at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree. He is now a graduate student working with 2001 Cliburn gold medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University in Parkville, Missouri. Mr. Broberg has won first prizes at the Hastings and Dallas international piano competitions, in addition to medals at the Sydney, Seattle, New Orleans, and Wideman (Shreveport) competitions. Several of his performances at last year’s Sydney International Piano Competition were released on CD on the Universal Music label. He has performed as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Chamber Symphony, and the Louisiana Philharmonic, among others. Mr. Broberg has had solo, chamber, and concerto performances broadcast on NPR and ABC (Australia) radio. His passions include hockey, baseball, books, and movies.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Recital
FRANCK-BAUER Prélude, Fugue et Variation, op. 18
HAMELIN Toccata on “L’homme armé”
BACH Toccata in C Minor, BWV 911
BARBER Sonata for Piano, op. 26

Quarterfinal Recital
SCRIABIN Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp Major, op. 30
CHOPIN Three Mazurkas, op. 59
CHOPIN Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, op. 52
LISZT Après une lecture de Dante (Fantasia quasi sonata)

Semifinal Recital
SCHUBERT Four Impromptus, D. 899, op. 90
LISZT Sonata in B Minor

Semifinal Concerto
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503

Final Round Piano Quintet
DVOŘÁK Piano Quintet in A Major, op. 81

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

 

Kuan-Chuen Wu

Kuan-Chuen Wu, 42
Mechanical engineering Ph.D. student
Ames, Iowa
Taiwan/United States

Kuan-Chuen Wu was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1973, and nine years of piano lessons constitute his musical studies. Mr. Wu has excelled in academia, receiving his bachelor’s degree in electrical computer systems engineering from Harvard University in a five-year honors program, an MBA from Iowa State University, and a master’s degree in computational and mathematical engineering from Stanford University. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Iowa State. (After graduating from Harvard, he spent five years surfing the dot-com wave before returning to school.) Mr. Wu competed in university-wide competitions at Iowa State. In 2014, he placed third in the American Protégé International Concerto Competition and in December 2015, performed at Carnegie Hall as part of a winner’s recital. Besides classical piano, Mr. Wu counts chess, mathematics, engineering, and physics among his interests.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
CHOPIN   Prelude in B-flat Minor, op. 28, op. 16
LISZT   Transcendental Etude No. 4 in D Minor “Mazeppa”

Quarterfinal Round
CHOPIN   Prelude in D Minor, op. 28, no. 24
BEETHOVEN   Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, op. 27, no. 2: III. Presto agitato
CHOPIN   Etude in C Minor, op. 25, no. 12 (“Ocean”)
CHOPIN   Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, op. 47

Semifinal Round
LISZT   Liebesträum No. 3
BEETHOVEN   Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, op. 57 (“Appassionata”)

Final Round
MOZART   Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467           I. Allegro maestoso

Kazuyuki Ohmura

Kazuyuki Ohmura, 49
Software engineering manager
Tokyo, Japan
Japan

Kazuyuki Ohmura began studying the piano at age 3. Upon entering college in 1985, he began studying viola and joined an amateur orchestra where he gained valuable experience in chamber music performance. In 1991, he joined GE Healthcare as a software engineer. His passion for chamber music led him to begin studying piano again under the guidance of Utami Kaneko in 2006. One year later, Mr. Ohmura performed the complete Beethoven cello sonatas, and in 2009, he recorded the piano trios of Fauré, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel. In 2011, he won the top prize in the amateur division of the Chopin International Competition in Asia. He was a participant at the Cliburn Amateur Competition in 2011.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
CHOPIN   Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60

Quarterfinal Round
BEETHOVEN   Sonata No. 28 in A Major, op. 101

Semifinal Round
BACH   “Overture” from Partita No.4 in D Major, BWV 828
RAVEL   Le Tombeau de Couperin, op. 68

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

Keiko Kircher

Keiko Kircher, 35
College physics instructor
Champaign, Illinois
Japan

A physics instructor at Parkland College, Dr. Keiko Kircher’s area of study is astrophysics, and her long-term research goal is to understand the final moments of black-hole evaporation. Her goal for participating in the Amateur Competition is to increase the enjoyment in her life. Dr. Kircher began learning music by playing the organ (called the “electone” in Japan), and she switched to the piano at 19. After having children, she put her practice on hold, finding she did not have the time. She recently returned to playing because she “had forgotten how satisfying it is to practice an instrument,” and her kids are older. Not lost on Dr. Kircher is the effect her playing has on her brain, she says. Other hobbies she finds equally stimulating are composing music for her family and practicing magic tricks.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
RAVEL   “Fugue” from Le Tombeau de Couperin
RAVEL   Jeux d’eau 

Quarterfinal Round
RACHMANINOV   Prelude in G-sharp Minor, op. 32, no. 12
TAKEMITSU   Rain Tree Sketch
CHOPIN   Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, op. 23

Semifinal Round
BEETHOVEN    Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, op. 57 (“Appassionata”)

Final Round
SAINT-SAËNS   Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, op. 103 (“Egyptian”): I. Allegro animato

Ken Iisaka

Ken Iisaka, 47
Software engineer
Foster City, California
Japan/Canada

Ken Iisaka, a Cliburn Amateur finalist in 2007 and 2011, says his previous participation was during “the most tumultuous time of my life.” But he views competing as a necessary vehicle for his musical improvement, and for his soul. Born in Tokyo, he immigrated to Canada with his family and took private lessons while studying computer science at the University of Ottawa. In recent years, he has appeared at Fullerton College Piano Ensemble Festival (2014) and at the Newport Music Festival (2015). Most recently, he performed in an ensemble concert in Tokyo with his partner, Yvonne Liu, whom he met at the Amateur Competition in 2011. Currently, he is a lead engineer for a software company whose clients are advertisers and publishers, in Sunnyvale, California. Mr. Iisaka enjoys writing concert reviews, photography, cooking, and wines from Northern California.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
RAVEL   Sonatine

Quarterfinal Round
MESSIAEN   “La colombe” from Preludes
SCRIABIN   Sonata No. 5, op. 53
MEDTNER   “Danza rustica“ from Vergessene Weisen, op. 38

Semifinal Round
BEETHOVEN   Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, op. 111

Final Round
MOZART   Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271 (“Jeunhomme”): III. Rondo (presto)

Kuei-Ling (Christine) Hsu

Kuei-Ling (Christine) Hsu, 39
Pediatric dentist/assistant professor
Columbia, Maryland
Taiwan/United States

Kuei-Ling “Christine” Hsu’s Cliburn connection began even before she was accepted into this Competition. After starting piano lessons at age 10, she continued them at a “casual pace”—her words—until dental school. A few years later, she resumed while doing her dental residency at the University of Alabama Birmingham, as the pupil of Tatiana Kasman—who happens to be the wife of Yakov Kasman, the silver medalist of the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Dr. Hsu, who is now an assistant pediatric dentistry professor at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, credits Ms. Kasman with renewing her passion for the instrument. A Baltimore Ravens and Orioles fan, she also loves exploring new restaurants with her husband, as well as cooking and knitting.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
CHOPIN   Etude in E Major, op. 10, no. 3
MOZART   Sonata No. 8 in A Minor, K. 310: III. Presto

Quarterfinal Round
RACHMANINOV   “Elegie” from Morceaux de fantaisie, op.3
BACH   Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, WTC I, BWV 861
MOZART   Sonata No. 18 in D Major, K. 576: II. Adagio

Semifinal Round
SCHUBERT   Sonata in A Minor, D. 845: I. Moderato
RACHMANINOV   Prelude in E-flat Major, op. 23, no. 6
HAYDN   Sonata in F Major, Hob. XVI:23

Final Round
MOZART   Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488: I. Allegro

Kevin Grigsby

Kevin Grigsby, 41
Marketing executive
Trussville, Alabama
United States

Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1975, Kevin Grigsby studied piano from a young age. He received a master’s degree in music from the University of Oklahoma in 1998, and then went on to become a member of the adjunct faculty as a keyboard harmony/theory professor at Birmingham Southern College for four years, as well as serve as an orchestral pianist for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. A career in marketing followed—Mr. Grigsby is currently a market specialist at Alabama Power Co.—but he still makes plenty of time to practice the piano and to serve as a role model to his musically inclined son (10) and daughter (9). “Ultimately,” he says, “I hope that whatever the outcome for me [in this Competition], my children can appreciate the preparation, the experience, and the fact that one is always, always practicing the piano to improve.”

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
MOZART   Sonata No. 12 in F Major, K. 332: I. Allegro
BARBER   Sonata for Piano, op. 26: IV. Fuga: Allegro con spirito

Quarterfinal Round
MOZART   Sonata No. 12 in F Major, K. 332: III. Allegro assai
LISZT   Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11 in A Minor
PROKOFIEV   Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, op. 14: IV. Vivace

Semifinal Round
BEETHOVEN   Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, op. 57 (“Appassionata”): I. Allegro assai
BRAHMS   Intermezzo in A Major, op. 118, no. 2
CHOPIN   Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor, op. 39
RACHMANINOV   Etude-Tableau in D Major, op. 39, no. 9

Final Round
BEETHOVEN   Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15: III. Rondo (allegro scherzando)