May 29, 2011
| BLOG
POST | BIOS & REPERTOIRE | PHOTOS | AWARDS VIDEO |
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Maggie Estes, Director of Marketing
mestes@cliburn.org, 817.738.6536 (o),
817.739.0459 (c)
Fort Worth, Texas, May 29, 2011-Following six days of
thrilling competition rounds, the winners of the sixth
International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs have been
announced. Over the course of the week, 70 competitors from around
the world were narrowed down to a field of 25 semifinalists and
then 6 finalists. Each of the remaining talented amateur pianists
performed a 30-minute program featuring the works of their choice
this afternoon in the Final Round.
Following the performances, the jury deliberated and named the
prize-winners:
Prizes
Richard Rodzinski First Prize:
CHRISTOPHER SHIH, Physician (Ellicott City,
MD)
$2,000 cash; Cliburn custom spurs, courtesy of LUSKEY'S/ Ryons
Western Stores; Pair of Tickets and Official Guest Status to the
Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2013)
Second Prize: CLARK GRIFFITH,
Database Programmer (ret.) (Fort Worth, TX)
$1,500 cash
Third Prize: BARRY COUTINHO,
Family Physician (Pittsburgh, PA)
$1,000 cash
Jury Discretionary Awards: LESLIE MYRICK,
Hospital Administrator (ret.) (Toronto, Ontario) and DAVID
HIBBARD, Railroad Manager (ret.) (Fort Worth, Texas)
$250 cash
Press Jury Award: JANE GIBSON KING, Homemaker (Provo,
UT)
Western hat, donated by Peters Bros. Hats
Audience Award: CHRISTOPHER SHIH
Box set collection of 10 Cliburn documentary films
Best Performance of a Work from the Baroque Era:
CLARK GRIFFITH
$250 cash
Best Performance of a Work from the Classical
Era: JUN FUJIMOTO, Piano Marketing
Specialist (Scarborough, Ontario)
$250 cash
Best Performance of a Work from the Romantic Era:
CHRISTOPHER SHIH
$250 cash
Best Performance of a Post-Romantic Work:
BARRY COUTINHO
$250 cash
Most Creative Programming Award: CLARK
GRIFFITH
$250 cash
Fort Worth Piano Teachers Forum Award:
CLARK GRIFFITH
Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire by Maurice
Hinson.
FIRST PRIZE WINNER CHRISTOPHER SHIH BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Christopher Shih is a gastroenterologist from
Maryland. He received his Bachelor's degree from Harvard and his
Doctor of Medicine degree from Johns Hopkins. He works as a partner
with the Maryland Digestive Disease Center, a division of Capital
Digestive Care. Dr. Shih has previously won several amateur
competitions, including those in Washington, D.C., Boston, and
Paris. Fourteen years ago, he competed in the Tenth Van Cliburn
International Piano Competition.
About the sixth
International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs
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 competed in three elimination rounds, had
opportunities to explore chamber music works with professional
musicians, and participated in symposia and other social
events.
From May 23-29, 2011, the sixth Amateur Competition brought
together a diverse group of 70 of the world's finest
non-professional pianists, ranging in age from 35 to 79 years old.
They represented 17 nationalities and hailed from 10 countries:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico,
the United Kingdom, and the United States. Representing a broad
range of occupations and professions, the competition featured
performances by attorneys, physicians, business executives, and
architects, as well as by a jeweler, a screenwriter, a retired
dancer, a kindergarten teacher, and a Formula One racecar designer,
among others.
Competitors were 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 oversaw the competition's three
elimination rounds and announced the winners in a special awards
ceremony on Sunday, May 29 at 6:30 p.m.
For the first time ever, all performances and awards ceremonies
for the Van Cliburn Foundation's International Piano
Competition for Outstanding Amateurs were streamed live
over the Internet. Viewers can visit Cliburn.org
to access on-demand videos for performances and awards ceremony
footage.
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.
