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In this concert, 2 of 12 competitors will each perform a 60-minute recital.

2025 Cliburn Competitor Piotr Alexewicz

Kenny Broberg, jury member for the 2027 Cliburn International Competition for Young Pianists

Passionate about collaboration, pianist Michael Bukhman is active internationally as a chamber musician, adjudicator, and pedagogue. An award-winning pianist, he has been a top-prize winner and medalist in several international piano competitions.

Shields-Collins “Buddy” Bray has been artistic consultant for the Cliburn since 2003. For the last 20 years he has shown his longstanding commitment to new music, hosting concerts spotlighting living American composers such as William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Ricky Ian Gordon, Jennifer Higdon, Jake Heggie, Kevin Puts, Ned Rorem, and Ben Moore. With music educator John Feierabend, Buddy created the Cliburn in the Classroom curriculum for second-, third-, and fourth-graders; now, after almost two decades of serving as writer, narrator, host, and sometimes-pianist at these uniquely interactive programs, he continues to be heavily involved in an advisory role.

He’s chairing the jury for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2025, then will make his Cliburn Concerts debut at the Kimbell Art Museum.

Actor Georgia Fender is happy to be based back in her hometown of Fort Worth after spending several years in New York City. A graduate of the acting program at Oklahoma City University and the Professional Musical Theatre Workshop at Circle in the Square Theatre School, she is excited to be working with the Cliburn after watching her grandmother’s lifelong volunteer efforts on behalf of this incredible organization!

The Houston Symphony is a key partner is the 2028 Cliburn International Competition for Conductors

2025 Cliburn Competitor Mikhail Kambarov

When Arseniy Gusev was 5 years old, an upright piano was brought into his St. Petersburg home, and he immediately started playing and experimenting with it. He wrote his first piece—a romance on a Pushkin poem—shortly thereafter, and his grandmother asked him if he would like to go to music school. He went on to study both composition and piano performance at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Upon graduation in 2018, he moved to the United States, where he attends the Cleveland Institute of Music, under the tutelage of Sergei Babayan (piano) and Keith Fitch (composition).