August 24, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CLIBURN CONCERTS OPENS NEW SEASON WITH 2009 CLIBURN GOLD MEDALIST
NOBUYUKI TSUJII
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, August 24, 2009--Cliburn Concerts will launch
its 2009-2010 season with the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass gold
medalist of the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition, Nobuyuki Tsujii, on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at
7:30 p.m. The recital, to take place in Bass Performance Hall, is
sponsored by American Airlines.
This concert marks the Japanese pianist's first Metroplex
performance since receiving a gold medal at the age of twenty, in a
tie for first prize at the 2009 Cliburn Competition, where he also
won the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a
New Work. Mr. Tsujii's Cliburn at the Bass program will feature
compositions by Beethoven and Chopin. (See complete program listing
below.)
Mr. Tsujii's Cliburn Concerts debut is among the select engagements
he will perform in the United States and overseas during the next
three seasons as part of his Cliburn prize package. Also included
is a CD recording on the harmonia mundi label, which will be
available in September 2009 at the Cliburn Gift Shop and worldwide
in October.
Mr. Tsujii was an audience favorite at the 2009 Competition and is
the only blind person ever to win the competition. This triumph
confirms his belief that "there are no barriers in the field of
music."
TICKETS AND INFORMATION
Single ticket prices range from $15 to $90, and are available
online or by calling 817.335.9000. For more information, please
visit www.cliburn.org.
Widely regarded as the foremost performance series in the region,
Cliburn Concerts features the world's leading recitalists,
ensembles, and rising stars. Cliburn Concerts is presented at Bass
Performance Hall and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn
Foundation. American Airlines; Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust,
U.S. Trust; City of Fort Worth; J.P.Morgan; Star-Telegram; Steinway
& Sons; and XTO Energy Inc. are Official Corporate
Sponsors.Official Sponsors are the Amon G. Carter Foundation, Arts
Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Beaumont Foundation of
America, the Burnett Foundation, the Sid W. Richardson Foundation,
and the T. Boone Pickens Foundation. Star-Telegram is the principal
media partner and WRR 101.1 FM is the official radio station of
Cliburn Concerts.
NOBUYUKI TSUJII
The announcement of twenty-year-old Japanese pianist Nobuyuki
Tsujii as winner of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal at
the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition marked a
significant historic milestone for both this extraordinary artist
and the competition. Already known in his home country for his
refined and effortless playing, his spell-binding performances at
the 2009 Cliburn brought Mr. Tsujii to the attention of hundreds of
thousands of new fans throughout the world, while raising his
status in Japan to superstar. Along with the medal, he received
three years of international concert engagements coordinated by the
Van Cliburn Foundation in the United States and by IMG Artists in
Europe, as well as a CD recording of his award-winning Cliburn
Competition performances on the harmonia mundi usa label.
Blind since birth, "Nobu" began receiving awards at age seven, when
he was named first-prize winner at the All Japan Blind Students
Music Competition. At the age of twelve, he made noted recital
debuts at Tokyo's Suntory Hall and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital
Hall. In 2005 at the age of sixteen, he was presented the Critic's
Award at the Fifteenth Chopin Competition in Poland. Performance
credits include appearances with the Orchestre des Concerts
Lamoureux, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as with most of
Japan's leading orchestras. He has also performed in the Czech
Republic, Russia, and Taiwan. An acclaimed debut album released by
Avex classics in 2007 led to a fifteen-city tour of Japan and a
second recording featuring Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with
Berlin's Deutsche Sinfonie Orchestra, released in 2008.
Immediately following his success at the 2009 Cliburn
Competition, Mr. Tsujii made a recital debut in Germany at the
Klavier-Festival Ruhr and then returned to the United States for an
Aspen Festival debut. His 2009-2010 concert season is also
highlighted by performances with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra,
Orchestra Europa at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, and recitals in
Houston, Indianapolis, and Washington, D.C. Among engagements
offered for the 2010-2011 season are a Martin Theater recital debut
as part of the 2010 Ravinia Festival in Chicago, chamber music with
the Takács Quartet, and concerts in Japan led by Vladimir
Ashkenazy. In fall of 2009, harmonia mundi usa releases his 2009
Cliburn Competition recording featuring works by Beethoven, Chopin,
Liszt, and a recent work by American composer John Musto--a
performance that earned him the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the
Best Performance of a New Work at the competition.
Born in Tokyo, Nobuyuki Tsujii is devoted to his mother, Itsuko
Tsujii, who has written two bestselling books about raising her
gifted child. He is currently a participant in the performer's
program at the Ueno Gakuen College of Music, and has studied with
Masahiro Kawakami, Yukio Yokoyama, and Kyoko Tabe. For more
information, visit www.nobupiano1988.com. His Cliburn Competition
performances are available for viewing at www.cliburn.tv.
PROGRAM
Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, Op. 27, No. 2,
"Moonlight"
Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57,
"Appassionata"
Chopin Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Chopin Four Mazurkas, Op. 24
Chopin Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1
Chopin Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2
Chopin Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante
in E-flat major
