Virtually from its start, in 1962, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years in Fort Worth, has been one of the highest visibility classical music contests in the world. In more recent years, the Cliburn has expanded its reach via competitions for nonprofessional pianists 35 and older, and for pianists 13 to 17, too young for the “main” competition.
The Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival returns June 8 through 17 — to Dallas. Twenty-four young pianists, selected via video auditions from 248 applicants from 44 countries, will begin the competition’s preliminary round. This and the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be at Southern Methodist University’s Caruth Auditorium.
The final round will move to the Meyerson Symphony Center, where three finalists will perform concertos with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Valentina Peleggi. All rounds will be open to the public and video livestreamed at cliburn.org.
Overlapping on June 15 and 16 will be preliminary rounds of the Dallas International Violin Competition, sponsored by the Dallas Chamber Symphony. That will culminate in June 20 concerto performances with the DCS at Moody Performance Hall.
Why would an organization so identified with Fort Worth as the Cliburn hold a competition in Dallas?
“An orchestra or opera company is kind of stuck with a city,” says Jacques Marquis, president and CEO of the Cliburn. “I always saw the Cliburn as international first of all, with a perspective that is very large. The partnership with Dallas was logical to me. D-FW is the fourth largest market in the country, and we should embrace all of it.”
Why, for that matter, a competition for younger pianists?
“We’re seeing younger and younger kids doing tours of international competitions,” Marquis says. The winner of the last “main” Cliburn, in June 2022, was the youngest in the contest’s history: 18-year-old Yunchan Lim from South Korea.
For the Junior Competition, there’s not the same pressure to make or break a professional performance career — although some participants do go on to major international competitions. This is more of a chance to perform for new audiences, hear other players at similar levels and learn from everything.
Unlike the professional competition, the Junior at each stage gives each contestant a digest of jurors’ comments. And in addition to the actual competition performances — and practicing for them — there are seminars and masterclasses to broaden and deepen awareness and understanding of the world of music.
“You see candidates rooting for each other,” Marquis says. “You don’t see that with the main competition. They develop friendships because they share the same passion for excellence and performing, and sharing their music with the world.”
A growing Asian presence
As with classical music competitions around the world, Asians and Asian Americans are well represented in this year’s Cliburn Junior. Seventeen of the 24 competitors hail from China, South Korea and Japan, and four are Asian Americans. An additional 14 “Festival Artists,” observers who’ll also attend masterclasses and seminars, add Iceland, Norway, Turkey and Ukraine to the international lineup.
In the wake of World War II, Western classical music has been increasingly disseminated — and embraced — through much of Asia. New concert halls seem to be everywhere, and the best Asian orchestras perform on major international standards. Former DSO music director Jaap van Zweden will become music director of the Seoul Philharmonic when he leaves the New York Philharmonic in 2024.
Yunchan Lim was the second South Korean in a row, after Yekwon Sunwoo in 2017, to win the Cliburn’s Gold Medal. Nobuyuki Tsujii from Japan and Haochen Zhang from China shared first prize in the 2009 competition.
Among the many young Asians now studying music, few will become professional musicians. But musical training is increasingly seen as cultivating analytical skills and discipline important elsewhere in life.
For this year’s Junior competitors, a big draw is the opportunity to meet other musicians and play for other audiences after the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These young kids in the last three years have been isolated in their own countries, especially in Asia,” Marquis says. “This is for them one of the first occasions to go out and meet other pianists like them who are trying to improve their art and craft.
They’re really looking forward to this Cliburn experience, where they can learn from each other, and from the experts we bring, all the jury members and others from the music world.”
Details
Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival: All rounds before the final at Caruth Auditorium, Owen Fine Arts Center, Southern Methodist University, Bishop Boulevard and Binkley Avenue. Final Round at Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St., Dallas. Check the Cliburn website for information on other public performances, masterclasses and symposia.
Preliminary round: 2:30 and 7 p.m. June 8 and 9.
Quarterfinal round: 2:30 and 7 p.m. June 10 and 11.
Semifinal round: 2:30 and 7 p.m. June 14, 7 p.m. June 15
Final round: 2:30 p.m. June 17
Preliminary round performances are free. For ticket information on other rounds, call 214-849-4376 or go to cliburn.org. Free video livestreams also will be available at cliburn.org.
