Aristo Sham takes the Gold at Cliburn Competition
In a concluding ceremony Saturday evening, Aristo Sham, 29, of Hong Kong, China, was declared winner of the Gold Medal at the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. In the Final Round, Sham performed Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25 and Brahms’ Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83.
The Silver Medal was awarded to Vitaly Starikov, 30, of Israel and Russia, who had performed Schumann’s Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 and Bartók’s Concerto No. 2.
The Bronze Medal went to Evren Ozel, 26, of the United States, who had performed Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 23.
The vote of the competition jury was announced by Paul Lewis, chairman of the jury, in Bass Performance Hall following the fourth and last concert of the competition’s Final Round earlier Saturday, in which six finalists performed two piano concertos each with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop.
The finalists not selected for medals were not ranked. In alphabetical order, they were Carter Johnson, 28, of Canada and the United States, who had performed concertos by Prokofiev and Ravel; Philipp Lynov, 26, of Russia (Liszt, Prokofiev); and Angel Stanislav Wang, 22, of the United States (Beethoven, Rachmaninoff).
The three medalists will receive cash awards of $100,000, $50,000, and $25,000 respectively, plus career management and recording contracts. The non-medaling finalists will receive $10,000 each.
Before the announcement of the medal winners, six special awards were presented to 2025 Cliburn competitors. With one exception, each brought a cash award of $4,000 or $5,000.
Three Jury Discretionary Awards, each named for its donor or to honor another person, honored a competitor selected by the jury to recognize “remarkable potential” and “encourage them in their future musical pursuits.”
The Patricia and Neal Steffen Family Award went to Alice Burla, 28, of Canada. The Raymond E. Buck Award went to Jonas Aumiller, 26, of Germany. The John Giordano Jury Chairman Award went to Mikhail Kambarov, 24, of Russia.
The Beverley Taylor Smith Award for The Best Performance of a New Work went to Yangrui Cai, 24, of China. All contestants were required to perform Rachtime, a short piece commissioned for this competition from Cliburn jury member Gabriela Montero.
The Best Performance of the Mozart Concerto Award went to Evren Ozel. All contestants who advanced to the competition’s Semifinal Round were required to perform a Mozart piano concerto as part of that round.
The Carla and Kelly Thompson Audience Award went to Aristo Sham. This cash award of $2,500 recognized the top vote-getter in a poll of online viewers of the Competition.
