CLIBURN FINALISTS NAMED

The six finalists of the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition have been named, close to midnight of Tuesday 4 June 2013 at Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth. They are (in alphabetical order):

SEAN CHEN (USA)

FEI-FEI DONG (China)

VADYM KHOLODENKO (Ukraine)

NIKITA MNDOYANTS (Russia)

BEATRICE RANA (Italy) and

TOMOKI SAKATA (Japan)

The final round of concerto performances with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin begins on Thursday 6 June 2013. Performances may be caught via Internet at the competition website (www.cliburn.org)

The concertos that will be heard include:

MOZART Piano Concerto No.20 (Mndoyants & Sakata)

MOZART Piano Concerto No.21 (Kholodenko)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.3 (Rana)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.4 (Dong)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.5 (Chen)

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.2 (Mndoyants & Rana)

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.3 (Kholodenko)

RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.3 (Chen & Dong)

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1 (Sakata)  

I do feel for old Alessandro Deljavan, denied at the semi-finals stage of the Cliburn for the second consecutive time. Hopefully he'll have better luck at the Cleveland International Piano Competition coming on shortly. 

Interestingly, all the pianists whose CD and DVDs I purchased from the Cliburn Shop (at USD 10 and 15 a piece) happened to make it to the finals. They include Rana (CD), Sakata (CD), Kholodenko (DVD) and Fei-Fei (DVD). The impulse of wanting to experience those performances again was probably similar to the jury wanting to hear them again in the final. Uncanny but true.