Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist: Yekwon Sunwoo
Plan to join us for what is sure to be an evening of extraordinary pianistic accomplishment by Yekwon Sunwoo, gold medalist of the fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Sunwoo has been hailed for “his total command over the instrument and its expressiveness” by the San Francisco Examiner and, in his own words, "strives to reach for the truth and pure beauty in music” with the hope of conveying those fundamental emotions to audiences.
Born in Anyang, South Korea, Sunwoo is the first Korean to win Cliburn gold. He began learning piano at age eight and gave both recital and orchestra debuts in Seoul before moving to the United States in 2005 to study with Seymour Lipkin at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He earned his master's degree at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald and his artist diploma at the Mannes School of Music with Richard Goode. He currently studies under Bernd Goetzke in Hannover and has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, North and Latin America, and Africa.
Van Cliburn’s historic 1958 victory at the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War, testified to the power of classical music to transcend barriers of culture and geography. A group of friends who admired this musical hero’s commitment to classical music and to young artists quickly founded his namesake competition in 1962, and since that time, every four years, 30 pianists from throughout the world have been invited to compete in two and a half weeks of trials.
Schubert: Four Impromptus, D. 935, Op. 142
No. 1 in F Minor
No. 2 in A-flat Major
No. 3 in B-flat Major
No. 4 in F Minor
Grainger: Ramble on the Last Love-Duet
Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 2
Allegro non troppo, ma energico
Andante con espressione
Scherzo: Allegro
Finale: Sostenuto—Allegro non troppo e rubato
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 in C-sharp Minor
This performance will run approximately one hour and 44 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission.
