Alexander Davidovich "Lexo" Toradze was a Georgian-born American pianist, best known for his classical Russian repertoire, with a career spanning over three decades. He regularly appeared as soloist with many of the world's major orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a professor of piano at Indiana University South Bend from 1991 to 2017.
Yeol Eum Son is a world renowned South Korean classical pianist. She is particularly esteemed as an interpreter of the Classical era of composers, especially Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, as well as such later composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Son regularly performs as soloist with prominent orchestras and eminent conductors.
Kevin Kenner is an American concert pianist.
Horacio Gutiérrez is a Cuban-American classical pianist known for his performances of works in the Romantic Repertoire.
Joyce Yang is a classical pianist. Yang was awarded the silver medal at the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 19. During the same competition, Joyce was also awarded both the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for Best Performance of Chamber Music, as well as the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work.
Radu Lupu was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time.
Ronald Turini is a world renowned Canadian classical pianist. He is the first Canadian artist to win prizes at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition and the Geneva International Music Competition, both in 1958, and the 1960 Queen Elisabeth Competition, where he was acclaimed by juror Emil Gilels. He was an acknowledged student of Vladimir Horowitz, and was known to be Horowitz' personally most highly regarded student.
The Van Cliburn Foundation presents the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival, Cliburn in the Classroom, Cliburn in the Community, and Cliburn Concerts.
Lydia Artymiw is native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an American concert pianist and Emerita Distinguished McKnight Professor of Piano in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota.
Zhang Haochen is a Chinese pianist. He was a Gold Medalist of the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, becoming one of the youngest winners in the history of the competition. Zhang received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2017.
Yoonjung "Yoonie" Han is a South Korean-born American classical pianist.
Antonio Pompa-Baldi is an Italian-American pianist. The first prize winner in the 1999 Cleveland International Piano Competition, Pompa-Baldi has been noted by The New York Times for his "meltingly beautiful" playing. He was also a prizewinner of the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition and the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Pompa-Baldi continues to regularly perform internationally as a recitalist, as a chamber musician, and as a concerto soloist under such conductors as Hans Graf, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Theodore Kuchar and Krzysztof Urbański. Additionally, Pompa-Baldi currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music and as honorary guest professor and visiting professor at three universities in China, including the China Conservatory of Music.
Behzod Abduraimov is an Uzbek pianist. A former student of Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University's International Center for Music (ICM), he was described by The Independent as "the most perfectly accomplished pianist of his generation". Abduraimov won the London International Piano Competition in 2009 at the age of 18, which launched his career. He continues to perform internationally in solo recitals, chamber music performances, and as soloist with leading orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Manfred Honeck, Vasily Petrenko, James Gaffigan, Jakub Hrůša, Thomas Dausgaard and Vladimir Jurowski.
Santiago Rodriguez is a Cuban-American pianist. Rodriguez is an exclusive recording artist for Élan Recordings. His Rachmaninov recordings received the Rosette award in The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music and he is a silver medalist in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Conrad Yiwen Tao is an American composer and pianist and former violinist. Tao's piano and violin performances since childhood brought him early recognition at music festivals and competitions. At age 13, he was featured on the PBS TV series From the Top – Live from Carnegie Hall as violinist, pianist and composer. He won eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. Among his compositions have been commissions by the New York Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony and Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
The American Pianists Association is a non-profit performing arts organization based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization's goal is to "discover, promote, and advance" the careers of young American pianists. The organization hosts a biennial competition called the American Pianists Awards, which switches focus from classical piano to jazz piano every two years. Valued at over $200,000, the awards of the competition are among the most lucrative piano prizes in the world. The Cole Porter Fellowship, awarded to the winner of the jazz competitions, is one of the greatest honors young American jazz musicians can receive. In non-competition years, the organization hosts a recital series called Grand Encounters, and from 2003 through 2008, the association produced Indy Jazz Fest.
Panayis Lyras, earlier known as Panaghis Lykiardopoulos or Panayis Lykiardopoulos, is an American classical pianist.
Jayson Lloyd Gillham is a British-Australian classical pianist, based in London. In 2014, Gillham was the winner of the 2014 Montreal International Musical Competition, which brought him to international attention. His outstanding performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 was described in the Huffington Post as being played 'with such streamlined patrician elegance that he took home First Prize and a string of engagements...' The renowned British conductor Sir Mark Elder said Gillham 'plays Beethoven with a sort of ‘glow’'. In May 2015, Gillham signed a three-album deal with ABC Classics.
Yekwon Sunwoo is a South Korean classical pianist. In 2017, at 28 years old, Sunwoo was the first Korean to win the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He won the Sendai International Music Competition in 2013.
Daniel Hsu is an American classical pianist. He won the bronze medal, the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work, and the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music at the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
