“As war raged on in his home country, Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Choni took the stage at Texas Christian University’s PepsiCo Recital Hall Tuesday morning, in screening auditions for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition,” writes Tim Giovanni in Tuesday’s (3/9) Dallas Morning News. “Born and raised in Kyiv, the 28-year-old pianist is based in Graz, Austria…. A few days ago, his family fled Kyiv—which is under siege—to move to a safer location in the west of Ukraine…. The Cliburn’s …screening auditions [are] in Fort Worth, between March 6 and 12. Of 72 pianists selected for live auditions … Choni is the only Ukrainian. Fifteen of the pianists are Russian born…. Thirty pianists will be picked to return for the actual competition in Fort Worth, between June 2 and 18. Performing arts groups worldwide have been grappling with ties to Russia…. But the Cliburn is allowing … Russian-born pianists to compete…. All participants signed a conduct clause specifying they would be removed from the competition if they expressed support for the invasion or President Putin. But the Cliburn did not ask competitors to publicly condemn the war, [President and CEO Jacques] Marquis said, because it could put them and their families at risk.”
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