Russians to the front at Van Cliburn Competition
NewsThe event has published a final list of 30 contestants, which includes six Russians.
In a year when most contests have excluded Russians in protest at that country’s invasion of Ukraine, the Cliburn has kept them in as tribute to its founder’s Moscow triumph.
The six competing Russians are all high-calibre front-runners. How Texas will cope with a Russian winner in 2022 remains to be seen.
Here’s the list:
1. Georgijs Osokins, Latvia, age 27
2. Elizaveta Kliuchereva, Russia, 23
3. Ziyu Liu, China, 24
4. Jonathan Mak, Canada, 25
5. Anna Geniushene, Russia, 31 (pictured)
6. Andrew Li, United States, 22
7. Denis Linnik, Belarus, 26
8. Tianxu An, China, 23
9. Arseniy Gusev, Russia, 23
10. Masaya Kamei, Japan, 20
11. Clayton Stephenson, United States, 23
12. Yangrui Cai, China, 21
13. Sergey Tanin, Russia, 26
14. Albert Cano Smit, Spain/Netherlands, 25
15. Yuki Yoshimi, Japan, 22
16. Vitaly Starikov, Russia, 27
17. Xiaolu Zang, China, 22
18. Uladzislau Khandohi, Belarus, 20
19. Francesco Granata, Italy, 23
20. Yutong Sun, China, 26
21. Shuan Hern Lee, Australia, 19
22. Marcel Tadokoro, France/Japan, 28
23. Federico Gad Crema, Italy, 23
24. Honggi Kim, South Korea, 30
25. Kate Liu, United States, 28
26. Jinhyung Park, South Korea, 26
27. Dmytro Choni, Ukraine, 28
28. Changyong Shin, South Korea, 28
29. Ilya Shmukler, Russia, 27
30. Yunchan Lim, South Korea, 18
The jury, chaired by Marin Alsop, is a fair panel that excludes conservatoire professors.
Unless a Russian artist has publicly supported Putin’s war on Ukraine, there’s no reason to disqualify someone simply because they are Russian. That does nothing to help the Ukrainian people.
I highly doubt that the current politicization of the arts will allow this year’s Cliburn to wind up with a winner from Russia.
But in a very unlikely case it happens, I imagine the competition that is honoring its founder’s Moscow triumph would have to find a way to embrace a Russian winner as wholeheartedly as Van Cliburn himself was in the USSR at the height of the Cold War. Otherwise, what was the point of not demonizing the Russians, unlike many other contests, and letting them compete?
The only name I know is #** thanks to a few 2019 SD articles on the pianist. Anyone else remember?
The best thing they can do for the competition is to judge on the merits and avoid being biased for whatever reason.
What exactly does keeping Russian artists out of a contest prove? What does it mean in the grand scheme of things? So tired of meaningless virtue signaling gestures.
It would be such an ordeal to ask musicians about their potential support for Putin, so how liberating to just boycott every Russian in sight.
Surely, this will also ensure every young musician embraces the Western values, and joins the merry band of the enlightened.
What could possibly go wrong?