Pianists from Korea, Russia and Ukraine were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals in the 2022 Cliburn competition.
Eighteen-year-old Yunchan Lim, from South Korea, won the Gold Medal. Anna Geniushene, 31, of Russia, won the Silver Medal, and Dmytro Choni, 28, of Ukraine won the Bronze Medal. The winners received cash awards of $100,000 for gold, $50,000 for silver, and $25,000 for bronze.
The Ukraine war seemed to create a dilemma for the Cliburn, which is held in Fort Worth, Texas every four years, because of widespread pressure to cut times with Russia. However, the competition honors Van Cliburn, who won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, an event that was understood to show that art can bridge political divides even during periods of high tension, and so Russian pianists were allowed to compete this year despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The awards ceremony was preceded by the Ukrainian national anthem, played the Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko, a previous winner of the Cliburn. Reporting on this year’s competition has been somewhat overshadowed by the specter of the war.
The Ukrainian winner Choni has been living and studying in Austria since 2015, and Anna Geniushene, who has been critical of the war, left Russian after the war began and has been living in Lithuania.
Profiles of each winner and YouTube videos of the preliminary, quarter-final and semifinal rounds are at the following links:
Yunchan Lim (Gold Medal, South Korea) https://cliburn.org/?performer=yunchan-lim
Anna Geniushene (Silver Medal, Russia) https://cliburn.org/?performer=anna-geniushene
Dmytro Choni (Bronze Medal, Ukraine) https://cliburn.org/?performer=dmytro-choni
Additional links:
SIXTEENTH VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION – 2022 CLIBURN WINNERS https://cliburn.org/2022-competitors/
At Cliburn Competition, Pianists From South Korea, Russia and Ukraine Triumph (New York Times)
Pianist, 18, from South Korea wins Van Cliburn competition (Washington Post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pianist-18-from-south-korea-wins-van-cliburn-competition/2022/06/19/885067f8-f01a-11ec-ac16-8fbf7194cd78_story.html