2017 Cliburn Competition Winners Concert Tours Announced; Gold Medalist Album Released, Silver and Bronze Coming 8/18

FORT WORTH, Texas, July 12, 2017—The Cliburn is proud to announce the 2017–2018 concert tours of the medalists of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition: YEKWON SUNWOO, gold (28, South Korea); KENNY BROBERG, silver (24, United States); and DANIEL HSU, bronze (20, United States). Collectively, the three will perform over 100 engagements this season as a result of their Cliburn wins. More significant than the coveted medals, cash awards, and other prizes, the 2017 winners are awarded three years of comprehensive career management from the Cliburn, including recital, festival, and orchestra concert engagements across the United States; and full artist services, including publicity packages and media relations support and training, as well as programming, visas, and logistics support. As gold medalist, Mr. Sunwoo also receives career mentorship and international concert bookings from London-based KEYNOTE ARTIST MANAGEMENT. Additionally, DECCA GOLD, the new U.S. classical imprint of Universal Music Group, is producing and distributing live recordings for the three medalists. The label released the digital album for Gold Medalist Sunwoo on June 23, 2017, with a physical CD release following on August 18. Digital albums for Silver Medalist Broberg and Bronze Medalist Hsu will also drop on August 18. ABOUT YEKWON SUNWOO, gold medalist Gold medalist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, 28-year-old pianist Yekwon Sunwoo has been hailed for “his total command over the instrument and its expressiveness” (San Francisco Examiner). Born in Anyang, South Korea, Mr. Sunwoo began learning piano at age 8. He gave both his recital and orchestra debuts in 2004 in Seoul, and has since performed as soloist with the Baltimore, Fort Worth, and Houston Symphonies, the National Orchestra of Belgium, and the Sendai Philharmonic, under such conductors as Marin Alsop, Itzhak Perlman, Nicholas McGegan, and Leonard Slatkin. Recitals have taken him to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Cortot in Paris, Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, and throughout South Korea, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Prague, and Morocco. An avid chamber musician, his partners have included the Jerusalem and Brentano String Quartets, violinists Benjamin Beilman and Ida Kafavian, and cellists Edgar Moreau and Gary Hoffman. The 2017–2018 season will include recitals in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Vancouver; a nine-city tour of the United States with the National Orchestra of Cuba; and concerts across Europe and Asia. Decca Gold released Cliburn Gold 2017 two weeks after his Competition win, featuring award-winning performances of Ravel’s La Valse and Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata. Currently studying with Bernd Goetzke in Hannover, Mr. Sunwoo also credits former teachers Seymour Lipkin, Robert McDonald, and Richard Goode for their guidance. ABOUT KENNY BROBERG, silver medalist A native of Minneapolis, 23-year-old pianist Kenny Broberg won the silver medal at the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for performances that showed “an imaginative shaping of themes, revelation of inner voices, and an unfailing sense of momentum” (Texas Classical Review). Also a prizewinner of the Hastings, Sydney, Seattle, and New Orleans International Piano Competitions, Mr. Broberg has previously performed as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic, Minnesota, Sydney Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Chamber, Fort Worth Symphony, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestras, among others, working with conductors Ludovic Morlot, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Leonard Slatkin, Nichola Milton, and Nicholas McGegan. His 2017–2018 debut season as Cliburn silver medalist will include a recital tour in Hawaii, and orchestra and recital engagements in Denver, Houston, New Orleans, West Palm Beach, and other cities across the United States. In Europe, Mr. Broberg appears with the Rye Arts Festival and Hastings Philharmonic in the United Kingdom, and in recital in Italy. His debut solo album will be released by Decca Gold in August, as part of his Competition prizes. The first musician in his family, Mr. Broberg started piano lessons at age 6, when he was first fascinated by his mother’s upright—a wedding gift from her parents. A graduate of the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, he currently studies with 2001 Cliburn Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University. ABOUT DANIEL HSU, bronze medalist Characterized by the Philadelphia Inquirer as a “poet…[with] an expressive edge to his playing that charms, questions, and coaxes,” 20-year-old American pianist Daniel Hsu captured the bronze medal and prizes for best performance of both the commissioned work and chamber music at the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Also a 2016 Gilmore Young Artist, first prize winner of the 2015 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition, and bronze medalist of the 2015 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, he is increasingly recognized for his easy virtuosity and bold musicianship. Recent performance highlights include his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2016 and his Carnegie Hall debut in 2017 as part of the CAG Winners Series. Mr. Hsu has also given recitals in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, and appeared with the Tokyo, Grand Rapids, New Haven, and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras in collaboration with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Nicholas McGegan, and Marcelo Lehninger. He has built a following in and performed extensively throughout Japan. The 2017–2018 season will launch with the release of his first solo album by Decca Gold, and continue with recital and concerto tours across the United States. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Daniel Hsu currently studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, where his teachers have included Gary Graffman, Robert McDonald, and Eleanor Sokoloff. Also a programmer, Mr. Hsu contributed to the creation of Workflow, a popular productivity app that allows users to automate tasks on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. A recipient of the coveted 2015 Apple Design Award, Workflow was acquired by Apple in March 2017. ABOUT KEYNOTE ARTIST MANAGEMENT Keynote Artist Management launched in 2014 with the vision of being a flexible, modern, innovative artist management firm. The London-based boutique agency is committed to providing a personalized, collaborative, and caring experience for its artists and partners in a diverse array of engaging, creative projects. Integral to Keynote is its commitment to supporting and developing the next generation of talented young performers. Now in its fourth year, the Keynote team comprises over 50 years of collective experience in the classical music industry and manages a roster of seven high-profile artists as well as a number of international tours and special projects. ABOUT UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP Universal Music Classics (UMC) is home to Decca Gold, the new U.S. classical music label based in New York City. It will serve as the permanent American home for all new classical artists, continuing the rich tradition of a historic legacy dating back to 1956 with artists such as Andrés Segovia, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Arrau, and Dave Brubeck. The revitalized imprint has recently forged new partnerships with the New York Philharmonic and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, as well as new artist signings with the acclaimed Emerson String Quartet and rising star soprano Nadine Sierra, with more to be announced. Under UMC, Decca Gold will sit alongside its esteemed European imprints Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Mercury KX, and ECM. The present roster includes Andrea Bocelli, Lang Lang, Renée Fleming, André Rieu, Max Richter, Cecilia Bartoli, Daniil Trifonov, Anna Netrebko, Tori Amos, Eric Whitacre, and Ólafur Arnalds. Find out more at: http://www.universalmusic.com ABOUT THE FIFTEENTH VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition exists to share excellent classical music with the largest international audience possible and to launch the careers of its winners every four years. Building on a rich tradition that began with its 1962 origins in honor of Van Cliburn and his vision for using music to serve audiences and break down boundaries, the Cliburn seeks, with each edition, to achieve the highest artistic standards while utilizing contemporary tools to advance its reach. The Fifteenth Cliburn Competition, held May 25–June 10, 2017, at Bass Performance Hall, did just that: an exponentially larger audience witnessed the talents of 30 extraordinary pianists from 15 countries; the eyes of the music world focused sharply on Fort Worth, Texas; the winners were chosen by a highly esteemed jury through a carefully developed artistic process; and the medalists now begin their touring careers with a widespread fan base. The reach of the Competition, by the numbers, in May/June 2017: • In-person audience: 45,000, plus a public simulcast on a large LED screen in Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza • Online audience: 4.8 million webcast views across 169 countries, through partnership with medici.tv; more than 120 million social reach through #cliburn2017 across channels • Media coverage: over 1,200 articles or reports with a reach of 940 million ABOUT THE CLIBURN The Cliburn advances classical piano music throughout the world. Its international competitions, education programs, and concert series embody an enduring commitment to artistic excellence and the discovery of new artists. Established in 1962, the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (sixteenth edition, May/ June, 2021) remains the most visible expression of that mission and is, as always, committed to its original ideals of supporting and launching the careers of young artists, ages 18–30. It shares the transformative powers of music with a wide global audience, through fully-produced webcasts and by providing commission-free, comprehensive career management and concert bookings to its winners. Rounding out its mission, the Cliburn also produces the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival for exceptional 13 to 17-year-old pianists (second edition, June 2019), and the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition for outstanding non-professional pianists age 35 and older (eighth edition, June 2020). Over a four-year cycle, the Cliburn contributes to North Texas’ cultural landscape with over 170 classical music performances for 150,000 attendees, through competitions, free community concerts, and its signature Cliburn Concerts series at Bass Performance Hall, the Kimbell Art Museum Piano Pavilion, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It presents 1,000 in-school, interactive music education programs for more than 200,000 area elementary students. During the same time period, it garners the world’s attention with over five million visits from 169 nations for live concert and competition webcasts; 300 concerts worldwide booked for competition winners; more than 5,000 news articles about the Cliburn and its winners; and regular national radio broadcasts to 245 public radio stations. Detailed information about the Cliburn and its programs is available at Cliburn.org. Cliburn Sponsors are: Amon G. Carter Foundation Arts Council of Fort Worth BNSF Foundation Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust Mercedes T. Bass Charitable Corporation Sid W. Richardson Foundation The Burnett Foundation The Pangburn Foundation/ J.P. Morgan The Walton Family Foundation William E. Scott Foundation Exclusive Print Media Sponsor: Star-Telegram Official Piano of the Cliburn: Steinway & Sons – North Texas / Houston Official Hotel of the Cliburn: Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel Contact: Maggie Estes, director of marketing and public relations, mestes@cliburn.org, 817.739.0459