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Milan native Francesco Granata’s journey with music began when he was 5 and has not stopped since. He graduated from the Milan Conservatory in 2016, with the highest evaluation and special mention. He then had the opportunity to study under two distinguished Cliburn laureates: Benedetto Lupo at the St. Cecilia Academy in Rome, where he obtained the Master Course Diploma, and—now—Roberto Plano at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

2025 Cliburn Competitor Ryota Yamazaki

2025 Cliburn Competitor  Federico Gad Crema

2025 Cliburn Competitor Pedro López Salas

Pianist Igor Parshin graduated with the highest marks from the famous Gnessin State Musical College and Russian Academy of Music. In 2015, he received a scholarship to the TCU School of Music, where he completed his Artist Diploma. He also earned a Master of Music with Dr. Michael Bukhman, a fellow Cliburn in the Classroom artist.

Pianist Nathan Ryland, a native of Richardson, Texas, has been a winner in competitions across the United States, from the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition to the Brevard Music Center Piano Competition in North Carolina. Most recently, he was selected as the winner of the Texas State International Piano Competition and will be performing with the Central Texas Philharmonic later this season. He has performed with the Mid-Texas Symphony and UNT Symphony Orchestra. He was also chosen as a winner of the Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition, playing with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra in 2014.

A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety, and brilliance, Orli Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today’s most gifted pianists. Hailed by critics on four continents, Ms. Shaham is in demand for her prodigious skills and admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire. The New York Times called her a “brilliant pianist,” the Chicago Tribune recently referred to her as “a first-rate Mozartean” in a performance with the Chicago Symphony, and London’s Guardian said her playing at the Proms was “perfection.”

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.

Award-winning pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet enjoys a prolific recording and international concert career. He regularly works with orchestras such as The Cleveland, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Symphony, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony orchestras, and collaborates with conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, Gianandrea Noseda, François-Xavier Roth, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Vasily Petrenko, Ludovic Morlot, Edward Gardner, and Sir Andrew Davis, among others.

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).