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Van Cliburn's Legacy

A guide for concert-goers to the Cliburn's 2025–2026 Season

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Cliburn in the Classroom is an interactive concert experience designed specifically for elementary audiences. We bring our own Steinway baby grand piano into every school, along with a virtuoso pianist to perform impressive music. A teaching-artist leads students through activities and bridges connections between the music and theme of the program.

2025 Cliburn Gold Medalist Aristo Sham

In June 2022, Yunchan Lim 임윤찬 became the youngest person ever to win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; his performances throughout showcased a “magical ability” and a “natural, instinctive quality” (La Scena) that astounded listeners around the world. As Jury Chair Marin Alsop expressed: “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.” The depth of his artistry and connection to listeners also secured him the Audience Award and Best Performance of a New Work.

As in competitions past, the three medalists receive a comprehensive and personalized career management package, including three years of concert bookings, artistic planning mentorship, traditional and social media training, logistics support, and tax and financial planning guidance, as well as commercial recording releases and a complete promotional package.

Purchase your tickets to attend the 2025 Cliburn Competition in person. See the world's best pianists live in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Junior Competition and Festival was established in 2015 as another means for the Cliburn to use its standing and expertise to encourage tomorrow’s great artists, to provide a valuable forum for them to express themselves, and to give them an entrance to the next step of their journeys. Key ingredients are top international jurors, the media and webcast, Final Round performances with orchestra, and the festival atmosphere, which included performance experience and artistic workshops.

The Screening Auditions determine which pianists will compete in the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. For one week in March, 77 pianists arrived in Fort Worth to perform 25-minute recitals for a public audience and members of the Screening Jury. The screening jurors—comprised of five internationally recognized artists—will then select 30 to return in May for the 2025 Cliburn Competition.