Pianist Aristo Sham Wins 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

All rounds of the competition are now available to watch on The Violin Channel

The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has announced that First Prize went to 29-year-old pianist Aristo Sham from Hong Kong/China.

As part of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal, Aristo will receive a cash award of $100,000, the Van Cliburn Winner's Cup, three years of individualized career management, including U.S. and international concert tours, Platoon Records Live Album, and a romotional package including press kits, videos, website Performance attire provided by Neiman Marcus.

Second Prize went to 30-year-old Vitaly Starikov from Israel/Russia. He receives a cash award of $50,000, three years of individualized career management and U.S. concert tours, a Platoon Records Live Album, and a promotional package including press kits, videos, website.

Third prize went to 26-year-old Evren Ozel from the United States. Evren will receive a cash award of $25,000, three years of individualized career management and U.S. concert tours, a Platoon Records Live Album, and a promotional package including press kits, videos, website.

All rounds of this year's competition are available to watch for playback on The Violin Channel!

The Carla and Kelly Thompson Audience Award went to Aristo Sham.

The Award for the Best Performance of a New Work went to Yangrui Cai, 24, from China.

The Best Performance of the Mozart Concerto Award went to Evren Ozel.

The John Giordano Jury Chairman Discretionary Award went to Mikhail Kambarov, 24, from Russia.

Two additional Jury Discretionary Awards went to Jonas Aumiller, 26, from Germany, and Alice Burla, 28, from Canada.

Chaired by Paul Lewis, the jury comprised Till Fellner, Mari Kodama, Anne-Marie McDermott, Gabriela Montero, Jon Nakamatsu, Lise de la Salle, Yevgeny Sudbin, and Wu Han.

All six finalists performed two concertos with Marin Alsop and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

 

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Aristo Sham first learned the piano from his mother in their Hong Kong home. At the age of 10, he began competing and concertizing, and eventually entered into the dual degree program at Harvard and the New England Conservatory. He finished his Bachelor of Arts at Harvard in 2019 and his master’s at NEC under Victor Rosenbaum in 2020. He then went to the Ingesund School of Music in Sweden to study with Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist before returning to the States to earn an artist diploma at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald and Orli Shaham.

Aristo a laureate of international competitions, with first-prize wins at Ettlingen, Gina Bachauer, and Monte Carlo Music Masters, and is currently on the Young Concert Artists roster.

He was featured in the documentary The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies on Channel 4 (UK) and has performed for royalty, including King Charles.

He has performed across Asia, Europe, and the United States, with major highlights including the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart, English Chamber Orchestra under the late Sir Raymond Leppard, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and Minnesota Orchestra.