Press Room

April 6, 2011

JURY MEMBERS AND COMPETITORS ANNOUNCED FOR THE SIXTH INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION FOR OUTSTANDING AMATEURS™

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Contact: Maggie Estes, Director of Marketing
mestes@cliburn.org, 817.738.6536

Fort Worth, Texas, April 6, 2011--David Chambless Worters, president & CEO of the Van Cliburn Foundation, announced today the jury, press jury, and competitors for the sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs which will be held May 23-29, 2011 at Ed Landreth Auditorium on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas.

Established in 1999, the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs was the first of its kind in the United States and celebrates the importance of music-making as a vital part of daily life. The competition is open to pianists age 35 and older who do not derive their principal source of income through piano performance or instruction. Over the course of the week, these talented musicians will compete in three elimination rounds, have opportunities to explore chamber music works with professional musicians, and participate in symposia and other social events.

This year, the Amateur Competition will bring together a diverse group of 77 of the world's finest non-professional pianists, ranging in age from 35 to 79 years old. They represent 18 nationalities and hail from 11 different countries including: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Representing a broad range of occupations and professions, the competition will feature performances by attorneys, physicians, business executives, and architects, as well as by a retired dancer, a jeweler, a screenwriter, a kindergarten teacher, and a Formula One racecar designer, among others.

Competitors will be judged by a jury of distinguished performers and scholars, and by a press jury comprised of some of the nation's foremost music critics. The jurors will oversee the competition's three elimination rounds and will announce the winners in a special awards ceremony on May 29 at 6:30 p.m. Three top-prize winners, each receiving a cash award, will be selected. Additionally, jury discretionary, press jury, and specific programming prizes will also be awarded.


COMPETITION SCHEDULE

Preliminaries:All 77 competitors will present a 10-12 minute solo recital featuring the works of their choice.
Monday, May 23, 2011- 1:00-5:15 p.m. and 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011- 1:00-5:15 p.m. and 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011- 1:00-5:00 p.m. and 7:30-10:30 p.m.

Semifinals: 25 competitors will present a 16-20 minute solo recital featuring the works of their choice.
Friday, May 27, 2011- 2:00-5:00 p.m. and 7:30-10:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 28, 2011- 2:00-5:00 p.m. and 7:30-10:30 p.m.

Finals: Six finalists will each present a 25-30 minute solo recital featuring the works of their choice.
Sunday, May 29, 2011- 1:00-4:40 p.m.

Subscription packages and individual tickets are available by calling 817.738.6536 or at Cliburn.org. Subscriptions range in price from $100-130, and tickets for individual competition sessions are available from $10-$35.


SYMPOSIA

"How Can a Wrong Note Be Perfect?" with William Westney
Wednesday, May 25, 2011-10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (Choir Room­, Pepsico Recital Hall, TCU)

Is perfectionism healthy? Should we avoid mistakes or embrace them? In this lively and candid presentation, pianist and author William Westney will challenge much of the "conventional wisdom" about music lessons, relating musical processes to other fields of endeavor and recent neurological findings. Attendees are invited to bring in specific technical "trouble spots" from their repertoire for demonstration work during this insightful lecture. This event is free and open to the public.


Press Jury Symposium
Saturday, May 28, 2011-10:00-11:45 a.m. (Pepsico Recital Hall)

Doug McLennan, founder and editor of Artsjournal.com and director of the National Arts Journalism Program, will lead the distinguished members of the press jury in an open panel forum on the state of the arts. This event is free and open to the public.



JURY

John Giordano, Chairman of the Jury; Music Director, Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra; Music Director Emeritus, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; Distinguished Fellow in Music, Texas Christian University.
Gregory Allen, Professor of Piano, University of Texas at Austin.
Shields-Collins Bray, Principal Keyboardist, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; Artistic Advisor, Van Cliburn Foundation.
Richard Dyer, Music Critic (retired), The Boston Globe.
José Feghali, Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Piano, TCU; Gold Medal Winner, Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (1985).
Stanislav Ioudenitch, Associate Professor of Piano and Artistic Director, International Center for Music at Park University; Gold Medal Winner, Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2001).
Yoheved Kaplinsky, Chairperson of the Piano Department, The Juilliard School; Professor of Piano, TCU.
Jon Nakamatsu, Gold Medal Winner, Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (1997).
John Owings, Herndon Professor of Music, TCU.
Pamela Mia Paul, Regents Professor of Music, University of North Texas.


PRESS JURY

Doug McLennan, Chairman of the Press Jury; Founder and Editor of ArtsJournal.com; Director of the National Arts Journalism Program.
Scott Cantrell, Classical Music Critic, The Dallas Morning News.
Jeremy Eichler, Classical Music Critic, The Boston Globe.
Philip Kennicott, Culture Critic, The Washington Post.
David Patrick Stearns, Classical Music Critic and General Arts Writer, Philadelphia Inquirer.
Mark Swed, Classical Music Critic, Los Angeles Times.


COMPETITORS

United States

Alabama
Tony Roberson, Associate Professor of Nursing, Tuscaloosa
Debra Saylor, Vocal Instructor, Huntsville
Arizona
Mark Fuller, Attorney, Phoenix
Arkansas
Utako Tanigawa, Senior Director of IT Portfolio Management, Bentonville
California
Brad Arington, Attorney, San Jose
Nazeli Atayan Rohman-Fly, Homemaker, Pasadena
Ken Iisaka, Internet Start-up Entrepreneur and Consultant, Mill Valley
Alex Leow, Physician/Physician Scientist, Sacramento
Yvonne Liu, Early Childhood Music Educator, Foster City
Esfir Ross, Dental Assistant, Oakland
Mari Shiokawa (Jacobson), Homemaker, San Francisco
Shi-Chin Yvonne Tsai, Pediatrician, La Palma
Choo Hooi (Janice) Khoo, Medical Practice Manager, Bakersfield
Connecticut
Daniel Bertram, Parent, Avon
Dave Duebendorfer, Investment Manager, Westport
Pablo Eizayaga, Banker, Riverside
Larry Harris, Investment Manager (retired), Madison
District of Columbia
Victor Dyni, Music Librarian (retired), Washington, D.C.
Alexandre Leite, Investment/Project Finance Professional, Washington, D.C.
Florida
Martha Chestnut Hartman, Management Consultant (retired), Celebration
Georgia
Christopher Sarzynski, Physician, Atlanta
Hawaii
Mari Yoshihara, Professor of American Studies, Honolulu
Illinois
Janet Underhill, Music Teacher (retired), Chicago
Maryland
Thomas A. Maurice, Purchasing Manager, Baltimore
Christopher Shih, Physician, Ellicott City
Massachusetts
Angela Lee Tien, Homemaker, Winchester
Michigan
Debby Pearlberg, Math Tutor, Southfield
Minnesota
Joseph Mercuri, Hospitalist Physician, Sartell
Stephen Stouder, Account Executive at UnitedHealthcare, Apple Valley
Montana
Larry Masterson, Physician Assistant, Terry
New York
Victor Buckman, Computer Systems Director (retired), Bronx
Mark Cannon, Psychiatrist, Larchmont
Seth Darst, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, New York
Mari Ito, Architect, Brooklyn
North Carolina
Al Thomas, Real Estate Appraiser, Burlington
Ohio
Vincent Schmithorst, Research Scientist, Batavia
Oklahoma
J. Spencer Thompson, Radiation Oncologist, Edmond
Oregon
Darlene Cusick, Piano Teacher (retired) and Church Organist, Portland
Judy Darst, Piano Teacher (retired), Bend
Dr. John A. DeRuntz, Jr., Mathematician, Scientist, and Professor (retired),
Tigard
Pennsylvania
Barry Coutinho, Family Physician, Pittsburgh
Lori Gilbert, Advertisting Sales, Wexford
Texas
Anne Blakeney, Homemaker, Dallas
J. Michael Brounoff, U.S. Administrative Law Judge, Plano
Christine Cheng, Physician, Houston
Mark Graham, Health Care Worker, Denton
Robin Green, Attorney (retired), Dallas
Clark Griffith, Database Programmer (retired), Fort Worth
Marisa Naomi Haines, Teacher of AP Statistics, Murphy
David Hibbard, Railroad Manager (retired), Fort Worth
Denise Humphrey, Clinical Psychologist, Dallas
Leticia Martinez, Criminal Prosecutor, Fort Worth
James Raphael, Fine Jeweler, Real Estate, Salon Owner, Fort Worth
Paul Rutschmann, Adjunct Instructor of European and German History, Arlington
Utah
Jane Gibson King, Homemaker, Provo
Madalyn Bingham Taylor, Homemaker & Business Owner, Ogden
Washington
Valentina Rodov, Attorney (retired), Seattle


International

Australia
JY Lim, Attorney, Sydney
Iona Luke, Attorney, New South Wales
Brazil
Jose Mauro Peixoto, Portfolio Manager, Sao Paulo
Canada
Ricker Choi, Financial Risk Consultant, Toronto, Ontario
Jun Fujimoto, Marketing Specialist, Scarborough, Ontario
Leslie Myrick, Hospital Administrator (retired), Toronto, Ontario
Matthew A. Tingle, Business Executive, Windsor, Ontario
France
Vincent Letourmy, Project Manager at Thales Group, Donflans Sainte
Honorine
Germany
Atsutaka Manabe, Physicist, Bensheim
Eberhard Zagrosek, Physicist (retired), Berlin
Italy
Andrea Terenzi, Dentist, Rome
Japan
Hajime Kobayashi, Management Consultant, Niiza-shi, Saitama
Kazuyuki Ohmura, Software Engineering Manager, Kawaski-shi, Kanagwa-ken
Reiko Osawa, Homemaker, Itami, Hyogo
Yoko Taruki, Kindergarten Teacher, Yokohama
Takanori Yamato, Retail Sales Promotions Manager, Tokyo
Mexico
Jorge Zamora, Distribution Manager in Telecommunications, Huixquilucan
Philippines
Gerard Q. de Guzman, Pharmacist, San Fabian, Pangasinan
United Kingdom
Andrea De Tomas, Attorney, London
Dominic Piers Smith, Team Leader in Aerodynamics for Mercedes Formula One Team, Middle Barton, Oxfordshire

________________________________________

JURY BIOGRAPHIES
John Giordano has served as the chairman of the jury of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition since 1973 and chairman of the jury for the Amateur Competition since its inception in 1999. He is director emeritus of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director and conductor for 27 years. Maestro Giordano is also the founder of the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, and under his direction the ensemble appeared in concerts at Carnegie Hall and in Mexico, Spain, and the People's Republic of China. As a guest conductor, Maestro Giordano has appeared with orchestras in Europe, Mexico, South America, and throughout the United States. Maestro Giordano is a founder of the Colorado College Summer Music Festival for Young Artists and has served on the faculties of University of North Texas, Tarleton State University, and TCU, where he was honored with the title of Distinguished Fellow in Music. He also holds the title of director emeritus of the Youth Orchestra of Greater Fort Worth.

Gregory Allen has served as a professor of piano on the faculty of the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin since 1973. In 1980 he claimed grand prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, and took second place at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 1978. A noted pianist and composer, Mr. Allen is a founding member of the ensemble Chamber Soloists of Austin, which was selected to appear as part of the Kennedy Center's Texas Festival in 1991, and also served as an artistic ambassador for the U.S. Information Agency during its tour of South America.

Shields-Collins "Buddy" Bray has been the principal keyboardist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 1986, and has hosted the orchestra's pre-concert discussion series since 1993. Often appearing as a soloist, he has performed with the symphony orchestras of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Jacksonville, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and in Miguel Harth-Bedoya's The Passion of Tango with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition to his active performing schedule, Mr. Bray serves as the Cliburn's artistic advisor.

Richard Dyer was chief music critic for The Boston Globe for 33 years and is a two-time recipient of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for distinguished music criticism. A former Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at Harvard, Mr. Dyer's work appears in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, the Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia of Opera, and the Encyclopedia Americana. He was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by the New England Conservatory. Mr. Dyer has served on the jury of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition since 2001, was a member of the press jury for the Amateur Competition in 1999, 2000, and 2002, and in 2007 transitioned to a member of the Amateur jury.  

José Feghali was the gold medalist and winner of the Chamber Music Prize at the Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1985. He has been Artist-in-Residence at TCU's School of Music since 1990. Mr. Feghali has appeared in over 800 concerts worldwide, performing in all of the major cities and in virtually every state in the nation. Mr. Feghali has been a judge at several international piano competitions, gives regular master classes, and is a member of the faculty at both the PianoTexas and Mimir Chamber Music Festivals.

Stanislav Ioudenitch's strong individuality and musical conviction won him the gold medal at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001, where he also took home the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for Best Performance of Chamber Music. He has performed with heralded orchestras and in major venues across the globe including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, among others. A devoted teacher, Mr. Ioudenitch founded the International Center for Music and the Youth Conservatory of Music at Park University where he is artistic director and associate professor of music and piano.

Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky is the chairperson of the piano department at The Juilliard School in New York, as well as professor of piano at TCU in Fort Worth. A native of Israel, she has appeared throughout the United States as a recitalist, in chamber music concerts, and with orchestras. Dr. Kaplinsky has served on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music and was appointed Artistic Director of Juilliard's pre-college division in 2007. She frequently adjudicates in international competitions such as the Cleveland, Rubinstein, Cliburn, and Tchaikovsky.

A native of California, Jon Nakamatsu was named the gold medalist of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1997, also taking home the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for Best Performance of Chamber Music. He is a frequent performer, appearing in recitals, festivals, and with orchestras around the world. In 1998, Mr. Nakamatsu was named Debut Artist of the Year by NPR's Performance Today, and has been profiled by CBS's Sunday Morning and Reader's Digest magazine.

John Owings is the Herndon Professor of Music at TCU, and has served on the juries for major international competitions including the Casadesus, Cleveland, Gina Bachauer, and Beethoven in Vienna, Austria. Mr. Owings has appeared as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, and Houston; the Boston Pops; the English Chamber Orchestra; and the National Symphony Orchestras of Colombia and Peru. He has given recitals in major cities in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and the Far East and has been a guest artist at numerous music festivals.

Pamela Mia Paul is a well-known performer and pedagogue. She has appeared with the world's great orchestras and given recitals throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Here and abroad, her interpretations of both standard repertoire and 20th century piano concertos have garnered consistent critical praise. As a dedicated teacher, she is in high demand for master classes and at major summer festivals around the world. Ms. Paul is currently the Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas.


Press Jury
Doug McLennan is the founder and editor of ArtsJournal.com, the leading aggregator of arts journalism on the Internet. He is also the director of the National Arts Journalism Program. A former concert pianist, Mr. McLennan earned a Master's Degree in music from The Juilliard School in New York. He has performed in Asia, Europe, and North America, and lived and worked in Italy and China, where he spent a year as Artist-in-Residence at the Central Conservatory in Beijing. He has written on the arts for numerous publications, including Newsweek, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the London Evening Standard. He has been a music critic for National Public Radio's All Things Considered and is a contributor to the new edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians. Mr. McLennan is in high demand as a lecturer on issues of digital culture, mass media, and journalism, and he also runs an arts critics institute at the Aspen Music Festival each summer.

Also writing occasionally about art and architecture, Scott Cantrell has been classical music critic for The Dallas Morning News since 1999. A former President of the Music Critics Association of North America and a two-time winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for music journalism, he has also written for The New York Times, Encyclopaedia Britannica, The New Grove Dictionary of Music, and magazines including Gramophone, BBC Music, Opera, Opera News and Symphony. He has performed as an organist and choral conductor, and taught music history at the State University of New York at Albany. He holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Jeremy Eichler is the classical music critic of The Boston Globe. He joined the paper's staff in 2006 after writing about classical music and other cultural topics for The New York Times. His reviews, features, and essays have also appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and The Nation. He is a native of the Boston area and was educated at Brown University and Columbia University.

Philip Kennicott is the culture critic for The Washington Post, which he joined in August 1999. In 2000, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Editorial Writing. He has also covered city politics and urban development and served as classical music critic for the Detroit News and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where he also worked for two years as an editorial writer. Additionally, Mr. Kennicott is a columnist for Gramophone Magazine and frequent contributor to Opera News. Previously, he has worked as senior editor of Musical America and editor of Chamber Music Magazine.

Following a 17-year stint as a classical music and theater critic for USA Today, David Patrick Stearns joined the Philadelphia Inquirer as a classical music critic and general arts writer. In 1996, he earned a Master's in musicology from New York University and has contributed to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Opera News, TV Guide, and Gramophone Magazine. Mr. Stearns has also written for Stereophile, BBC Music Magazine, The Independent, and The Guardian, and served as a music commentator for NPR's Morning Edition program.

Mark Swed has been the classical music critic for the Los Angeles Times since 1996. Before that, he was a music critic for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, The Wall Street Journal, and 7 Days in New York. He has also worked as a contributing writer for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, and many other national and international publications. Mr. Swed has received the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, the Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center, a Los Angeles Press Club Journalism Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism in 2007.


About the Van Cliburn Foundation
The Van Cliburn Foundation disseminates classical music worldwide, and launches and nurtures young artists' careers through the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the ensuing three-year international concert tours of its medalists, award-winning documentaries, and a syndicated radio series dedicated to the competition and its most memorable performances. By making the competition available in its entirety on the Internet, the Foundation has extended its outreach to listeners in every corner of the globe.

For audiences in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the Van Cliburn Foundation promotes great music and world-class artists through the annual Cliburn Concerts series. It reaches over 30,000 elementary school students annually with the education programs of Musical Awakenings®. In 1999, it established the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, which The Boston Globe proclaimed "a celebration of music, and the people who have to make music, no matter what."

Visit Cliburn.org to learn more about the Cliburn as it approaches the 50th anniversary of the First Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn Foundation. American Airlines; "Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust," Bank of America, Trustee; Steinway & Sons; and XTO Energy Inc. are Official Corporate Sponsors. Official Sponsors are the Amon G. Carter Foundation, Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County, Beaumont Foundation of America, the Burnett Foundation, the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, and the T. Boone Pickens Foundation. Star-Telegram is the exclusive print media sponsor, and WRR 101.1 FM is the official radio station of Cliburn Concerts.