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2025 Cliburn Competitor Xiaofu Ju

Jury for the 2028 Cliburn International Competition for Conductors

Pianist Daria Kiseleva debuted with orchestra at age 10. She has since won top prizes at some of the world’s most renowned music competitions and performed at famous concert halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Salle Cortot in Paris. She has brought her music to Europe, North, and South America and looks forward to visiting even more continents.

Violist Danny Jordan recently returned to the Dallas area after completing their Master of Music Degree in Viola Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Prior to that, Danny graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in music from Southern Methodist University. Lauded by critics as “outstanding, with a sound that enraptures,” they have been a prizewinner and finalist at several solo and chamber music competitions, and performed as soloist and in ensembles across the United States.

Clarinetist Rodolfo "Rudy" Mireles-Manzano, a South Texas native, is an active performer and educator in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. He holds a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of North Texas and a master’s in clarinet performance from Boston University. His principal teachers include Dr. Phillip Paglialonga, Greg Raden, Rob Patterson, and Calvin Falwell.

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.

Born into a family of pianists in Riga, Latvia, Georgijs Osokins began his studies at the age of 5 with his father, Sergejs Osokins. After 12 years at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School, he studied with Sergei Babayan at The Juilliard School in 2015, then moved to Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf to study with Georg Friedrich Schenck. He finds “consistent development” to be the hallmark of a great musician: “only when an artist fully embraces his responsibility of being the linking element between the creator and the recipient, can he start to generate art himself.”

Sponsorships

Born in Qinhuangdao, Xiaolu Zang was 4 years old when an electric keyboard caught his attention. He eventually attended the Beijing Central Music Conservatory Middle School for seven years under Professor Ye Lin and won first prizes in several major Chinese competitions. It was during that time, at the age of 15, that he recalls a singular day when he determined himself to become a professional musician. That commitment took him to Germany in 2017, where he studies with Arie Vardi at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.

The 2009 Cliburn Gold Medalist releases his second collaboration with BIS Records, featuring Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Liszt's Sonata in B Minor.