Once the piano pyrotechnics of the 2025 Cliburn Competition had ended, the new winners were celebrated with a spectacular fireworks show in Fort Worth.

Barely an hour after Aristo Sham of Hong Kong was awarded the gold medal, Vitaly Starikov of Israel & Russia won silver, and Evrel Ozel of the U.S. won bronze, they were paraded by mariachi band from Bass Performance Hall to Sundance Square Plaza, where hundreds of fans were gathered for the official community Grand Finale and Winners Celebration on Saturday, June 7.

The 2025 Cliburn medalists on stage in Sundance Square.Photo by Brandon Wade

Fort Worth mayor Mattie Parker declared Fort Worth "Pianotown" and introduced and congratulated the medalists on stage. "[These] young men exemplify hard work and determination to accomplish so much," she said.

Then a countdown started, black-and-white footage of Van Cliburn's 1958 victory at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow appeared on a giant LED screen, and the sounds of Cliburn playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 blasted through the loud speakers across the plaza. Fireworks, cleverly synched to the music, burst high in the sky and sparklers shot up from the roof of a building.

The fireworks spectacle lasted less than five minutes, but it was one of the most epic pyrotechnic displays presented in Sundance Square Plaza since it opened in 2013.

The medalists signed autographs for fans and posed for photos with community members, including Sundance Square owners Ed and Sasha Bass. A reception for Cliburn staff, volunteers, fellow competitors, invited guests, and VIPs awaited them at Del Frisco's Grille. Inside, the laureates could relax with some well-deserved bubbly, hors d'oeuvres, and bite-sized desserts.

Food trucks and vendors had been keeping the public fueled up since mid-afternoon, when folks had started gathering in the plaza for a live simulcast of the finalists' performances of concertos with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop.

An even bigger crowd watched as the new winners were announced in a ceremony hosted by Cliburn webcast hosts Buddy Bray and Elizabeth Joy Roe. Cliburn Competition jury chair Paul Lewis announced the winners at the culmination of a grueling three-week competition held at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU and Bass Hall.

The preliminary round started May 21 with 28 competitors. The field was cut to 18 quarterfinalists, then 12 semifinalists, and then six finalists who competed for the gold.

Find a complete list of winners, prizes, and jury members in this story.

Of 340 initial applicants for the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, 77 were invited to screening auditions in Fort Worth in March, and 30 were selected to compete (two withdrew before the competition started).

Recapping the winners
The audiences both inside Bass Hall and outside on Sundance Square Plaza erupted when the medalists were announced.

Bronze medalist Ozel (a Minnesota native) had been praised by critics in the concerto rounds for his sensitive collaborations and knack for "sharing" both the stage and the music generously with the orchestra. To wit, he also won the award for best performance of a Mozart concerto.

Silver medalist Starikov was applauded for his technical prowess and programmatic risk-taking. (He played a Bartok concerto so rarely performed, in fact, it required extra rehearsal time with the orchestra and conductor).

Gold medalist Sham - who also won the audience award, the only prize voted on by the public - was lauded from beginning to end for his command of the repertoire and "noble" stage presence. "Though somewhat slight of frame and physical stature, Sham continually showed off his pianistic muscle, but within the frame of well-balanced dynamic levels," one local critic wrote of his final, Brahms concerto.

The medalists will now embark on promotional events (including a trip to New York) and concert tours arranged by The Cliburn.

Cliburn's importance to Fort Worth
Established in Fort Worth in 1962, the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has been hailed by the New York Times as "one of the most prestigious contests in classical music." It is named for Texas pianist Van Cliburn, who won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow in 1958. Cliburn's victory in Russia was considered a pivotal thaw in Cold War relations. He died in his adopted home town of Fort Worth in 2013.

The entire 2025 edition was live-streamed and presented in a television news-style broadcast through Cliburn.org and YouTube. The stream reached 20 million viewers around the world. It included backstage interviews conducted and edited by professional pianist Greg Anderson, along with pre-recorded conversations about the competition and promotions of Fort Worth by stage announcer/correspondent Christina Allen and 2017 Cliburn bronze medalist Daniel Hsu.

What viewers of the webcast don't get to see, however, is the Cliburn experience in Fort Worth, as experienced by Fort Worth, as it happens.

Aristo Sham signs autographs for young fans waiting at the Bass Hall stage door after his win.Photo by Brandon Wade

The Cliburn Competition's place in Fort Worth's cultural fabric cannot be overstated. Competitors are welcomed into the homes of local "host families" and entertained by volunteer "social hosts." The event starts with a black-tie Opening Dinner & Draw Party, in which the contestants choose their order of play in the preliminary round. During the competition, they're taken to parties at the Fort Worth Zoo and the Fort Worth Stockyards and gifted a pair of custom cowboy boots.

Competitors hang out together at each other's host-family homes, cooking and playing mini concerts on the Steinway grand pianos loaned to host families during the competition. They celebrate birthdays with competitor-friends and Cliburn volunteers.

And every pianist - even those eliminated after preliminaries - is sought out by fans to autograph the souvenir program book. It's not unusual for some to develop "Beatle-mania"-like followings and for superfans to wait for them by the stage door after performances.

For the first time, dozens of Fort Worth bars, restaurants, and shops got in on the Cliburn fervor, offering piano-inspired specials and promotions through an initiative called Passport to Pianotown. More than 50,000 people were expected to attend the 2025 Cliburn Competition; about 20 percent from beyond the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Everyone had to eat. Local places were eager to serve.

While the pianos have gone silent and most competitors have started their journeys home, the Cliburn is always thinking ahead toward the next big event.

And that will be the Fourth Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition & Festival for pianists aged 13-17, set for June 2027 in Dallas.

  

Photo by Brandon Wade

Cliburn medalists Aristo Sham (left), Evren Ozel, and Vitaly Starikov watch the fireworks at the Cliburn Winners Celebration in Sundance Square.