Vadym Kholodenko
Photo: Ralph Lauer/ The Cliburn
26 years old Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko is the winner of the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Winners have been announced Sunday night at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. The silver medalist is Beatrice Rana, 20, Italy and the crystal award winner Sean Chen, 24, United States.
Vadym Kholodenko, the gold medalist, will receive a cash award of $50,000; career management and international and U.S. concert tours for the three concert seasons following the Competition; studio and live recordings produced by ‘harmonia mundi usa’; and performance attire provided by Neiman Marcus.
Cliburn gold medalist Yadym Kholodenko, left, 26, of Ukraine, silver medalist Beatrice Rana, 20 of Italy, center, and 3rd place winner Sean Chen, 24, of The United States.
Photo: Carolyn Cruz/The Cliburn
Beatrice Rana, the silver medalist, and Sean Chen, the crystal award winner, will each receive a cash award of $20,000; career management and U.S. concert tours for the three concert seasons following the Competition; and a live recording produced by ‘harmonia mundi usa’ of Competition performances.
Vadym Kholodenko also won the Steven de Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music as well as the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work. Beatrice Rana won the Audience Award.
Yadym Kholodenko is congratulated by jury members Menahem Pressler, left, and Andrea Bonatta, center
Photo: Carolyn Cruz/The Cliburn
Born in Kiev, Vadym Kholodenko won first prize at both the International Schubert Competition in Dortmund in 2012, and the Sendai International Music Competition in 2010. He has worked with Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Spivakov, and other distinguished conductors, and has performed across the globe. He released recordings of Liszt, Rachmaninov, and Medtner on Russia’s TV Culture label in 2009. An avid chamber musician as well, he performed and recorded a CD with violinist Alena Baeva, and formed a piano duo with Andrey Gugnin which they dubbed « iDuo. » Mr. Kholodenko currently resides in Moscow, where he attends the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Born into a family of musicians, Beatrice Rana began musical studies at the age of four and made her concerto debut when she was nine. She has been invited to perform at the Busoni, La Folle Journée, La Roque d’Antherón, Lanaudière, and Radio-France Festivals, and as soloist with the Aarhus Symfoniorkester, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Kuala Lumpur Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. First prize winner of the 2011 Montreal International Musical Competition, Ms. Rana also took first prize at the Muzio Clementi and Bang & Olufsen Piano Competitions. She released her first CD in 2012 of works by Scriabin and Chopin on ATMA Classique. She currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, having previously graduated from the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music.
Second-prize winner at the 2011 Seoul International Music Competition and Christel DeHaan Classical Fellow of the American Pianists Association, Sean Chen has performed with several orchestras and presented solo recitals throughout the United States. Born in Florida, Mr. Chen grew up in Oak Park, California and now resides in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is pursuing his artist diploma at the Yale School of Music.
