6 Russians, 1 Ukrainian in 2022 Van Cliburn showdown
NewsThe Van Cliburn Competition has selected 30 contestants:
Tianxu An, China, age 23
Yangrui Cai, China, 21
Albert Cano Smit, Spain/Netherlands, 25
Dmytro Choni, Ukraine, 28
Federico Gad Crema, Italy, 23
Anna Geniushene, Russia, 31 (pictured)
Francesco Granata, Italy, 23
Arseniy Gusev, Russia, 23
Masaya Kamei, Japan, 20
Uladzislau Khandohi, Belarus, 20
Honggi Kim, South Korea, 30
Elizaveta Kliuchereva, Russia, 23
Shuan Hern Lee, Australia, 19
Andrew Li, United States, 22
Yunchan Lim, South Korea, 18
Denis Linnik, Belarus, 26
Kate Liu, United States, 28
Ziyu Liu, China, 24
Jonathan Mak, Canada, 25
Georgijs Osokins, Latvia, 27
Jinhyung Park, South Korea, 26
Changyong Shin, South Korea, 28
Ilya Shmukler, Russia, 27
Vitaly Starikov, Russia, 27
Clayton Stephenson, United States, 23
Yutong Sun, China, 26
Marcel Tadokoro, France/Japan, 28
Sergey Tanin, Russia, 26
Yuki Yoshimi, Japan, 22
Xiaolu Zang, China, 22
Yunchan Lim is a young Korean artist of the first order. A real poet!
Hardly any Western Europeans. Have they been eaten up by 4-5 daily hours on social media? Or don’t they care about competitions anymore?
Where are you getting your information from Peter? Or are you just making ridiculous accusations to fit your own moody agenda?
And a Russian will likely win.
Fei Fei Dong will always be the greatest talent that this competition ever saw… but one would need someone in the jury with actual integrity, such as Kaplinski, to push someone of that caliber through again.
Ridiculous comment. Ms. Dong has a weak grasp of the keyboard, and would never have progressed in the Cliburn had her teacher Kaplinsky not been on the jury. And if you call a teacher voting for her students “integrity” then perhaps you should get out the dictionary…
Dear Norman, Can you please stop this Russian vs Ukraine thing? Sorry, but it is getting a little annoying. The Van Cliburn is clear on this, quote: The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is reprehensible and heartbreaking. The Cliburn stands firmly against and condemns this tyranny. The Russian-born pianists who have applied for the Sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition are not officials of their government, nor is their participation in the Cliburn state-sponsored. Therefore, in the vision of our namesake and inspiration, Van Cliburn, and our mandate to support young artists—which is the very core of our mission—the Russian-born pianists will be allowed to audition for the Cliburn Competition.
Okay Norman, why should this be news? You want this to be upset about russians being admitted to competitions? What do you want to achieve with this kind of headline?
But, but no British pianists? Ah well – there aren’t any good young ones anyway.
Except Benjamin Grosvenor.
Do you have an opinion of Martin James Bartlett, who is even younger?
I do and it’s not very complimentary I’m afraid.
That sole Ukranian contestant happens to be the only one of the 30 I’ve ever heard of before.
One Black student and only three females in the 30. What is going on?
Unfortunately our music education systems are built to favour white men. Hopefully we can change this in the future!
Easy to change that: start evaluating them based on race and gender instead of merit.
It’s the diversity, silly!!
The organisers put out a good statement regarding the Russian competitors and fairness.
Still, it’s going to be hard to choose a Russian as the winner (unless one person is clearly outstanding — unlikely at this level).
Yep, next to impossible. But, I must say, the rest of the list no less UNIMPRESSIVE!
Oh so you think the jury will say “He’s the best but we can’t give him first prize because he’s Russian”?
Most Western Europeans and Americans do not care much about the corrupt competition circle. Youngsters from Asia and former Soviet block somehow still inclined to try, but the numbers are falling. Soon the circuit will survive only due to Asians.
If you can find an international piano competition without at least 6 Russian contestants in it ..
I find it interesting that Andrew Li is listed here. He is the younger brother of the much more famous George Li.
We (Steinway Society – The Bay Area) presented Andrew in a video recital during the COVID lock-down, and he was fantastic (playing among other things Stravinsky Three Movements from Petrouchka and the Brahms Paganini Variations): an astounding performance, particularly in one so young. In the last few years we’ve also presented Albert Cano Smit, Changyong Shin, and Kate Liu. Looking forward to the results. There are so many wonderful young talents in the list!