“With his parents watching a live Internet stream in his native Kazakhstan, Alim Beisembayev, 17, captured the $10,000 first prize in the first-ever Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival held Sunday at Texas Christian University,” writes Michael Granberry in Sunday’s (6/28) Dallas Morning News. “Beisembayev, who says he also loves ballroom dancing and acting, played a moving version of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23…. His dad works as an engineer in Kazakhstan and, he said, no one in his family has ever been a musician…. Sharing the victory stage with him were Arsenii Mun, 16, from Russia, who captured the $5,000 second prize, and Youlan Ji, 16, from China, who won the $2,500 third prize. Each … also received $2,000 toward a music scholarship…. Open to pianists between the ages of 13 and 17, the junior competition is the latest wrinkle in the Cliburn competition…. The Van Cliburn International Competition is held every four years for pianists between the ages of 18 and 30. In 1999, the Van Cliburn Foundation added a second contest for amateur pianists 35 and older. All three will be held every four years. The inaugural junior competition showcased 23 players from 13 countries.”
Posted June 30, 2015
