Van Cliburn International Piano Competition receives record number of applications

The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has received the highest number of applications in the competition’s history for its sixteenth edition in 2022. With the largest and most diverse influx of competitors in the organization’s 60-year history, the Cliburn received applications from 388 pianists from 51 countries worldwide.

Jacques Marquis, the organisation’s president and CEO said: ‘Following the vision of Van Cliburn, the Cliburn Competition serves two mandates: to constantly grow the international fanbase for classical music, and to discover and support the best-of-the-best young pianists.’ He added: ‘this excellent application response is a testament to the artform’s vibrancy; it is our job now to manage the selection process carefully, as our experts determine the 30 who will be invited to Fort Worth in June. With this level of geographic representation and, particularly, after the global challenges of the past two years, the Competition will be a truly extraordinary celebration of the resiliency of the human spirit and of the power of music.’

Taking place in June 2022 in Fort Worth, Texas, the competition has allowed an extra year of eligibility to their normal age range of 18–30 due to the pandemic-related postponement. Following the 14 October deadline the competition received hundreds of performance videos, musician references, press reviews, concert histories and personal statements. The pre-screening jury, including Angela Cheng, Arnaldo Cohen, Christopher Elton, Alexander Kobrin and Anton Nel will review these, selecting approximately 135 pianists to move on to the next stage of the competition. From those, 72 pianists will be selected to perform during the live Screening Auditions.

At the final, scheduled for 18 June 2022, winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals will win cash prizes totalling $265,000 as well as career management packages worth a total of over $1 million.

You can find out more about the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at their website.