Kyiv pianist Vadym Kholodenko won Van Cliburn Competition

This year Vadym Kholodenko became the winner of the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. As Colta.ru reports, 26-year-old resident of Kyiv also received prizes for best performance of chamber music and for the best performance of a new music composition. The second prize of the competition was awarded by the jury chaired by American conductor John Giordano to the 20-year-old pianist from Italy Beatrice Rana, the third prize went to Sean Chen (24 years old, USA).

By the way, the winner of the Van Cliburn Competition first prize receives a reward of 50,000 US dollars, as well as concert engagement in the US for three seasons and the possibility of making studio and concert recordings by American branch of Harmonia Mundi Company. The winners of the second and the third prize receive 20,000 dollars each, the rest of the finalists get 10,000 dollars each. The Van Cliburn International Piano Contest is held in Fort Worth, Texas since 1962. This year it brought together 30 pianists aged 19 to 30 from the United States, Italy, Russia, China, Ukraine, Australia, Chile, France, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Taiwan, and Great Britain. This year the competition was held for the first time without its founder – Van Cliburn (the famous musician died on February 27, 2013).