The Cliburn
Every four years, the world of classical music turns its eyes — and ears — to Fort Worth. The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, equal parts athletic showdown and spiritual trial, is one of those rare cultural events that manages to feel both hyperlocal and global all at once. This past June, after two weeks of late-night practice sessions, nerve-rattling performances, and more than 30 million online views across 170 countries, three pianists walked away from Bass Performance Hall with medals dangling from their necks and careers about to take flight.
Now comes the victory lap.
The Cliburn has announced the 2025–26 touring seasons for its three newest stars: Aristo Sham of Hong Kong, the newly minted gold medalist; Vitaly Starikov, a Russian-Israeli firebrand who took silver; and Boston-born Evren Ozel, the bronze medalist with a Mozart touch so elegant it won him an extra prize of his own. For each, the coming year will be a blur of airports, orchestra rehearsals, and standing ovations as they take the music forged in Fort Worth to the broader world.
The Cliburn
At twenty-nine, Aristo Sham (gold, 29, Hong Kong, China) already has a résumé that reads like a fantasy: royal command performances for King Charles, a teenage turn in a British documentary, collaborations with Sir Simon Rattle. Yet it was in Cowtown that his artistry crystallized. Judges and critics called him “a marvel of deft characterization” and “a card-carrying risk taker,” and the Cliburn audience fell hard enough to vote him their favorite.
This season, Sham is booked from Duszniki, Poland, to Daegu, South Korea, to College Station, Texas — a calendar that reads like both a world tour and a Texas road trip. The gold medalist’s fall includes marquee stops in Fort Worth, Houston, El Paso, and Boulder, Colorado, before a sweeping Asia swing through Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Seoul. By spring, he’ll be back stateside, making his way from Huntsville, Alabama, to La Jolla, California.
The Cliburn
If Sham is the dashing leading man, Vitaly Starikov (silver, 30, Israel/Russia) plays the brooding poet. Reviewers praise his “raw, deeply felt, and powerful” interpretations, the kind that seem less performed than conjured. At the Cliburn, his Bartók concerto shook Bass Hall to its rafters.
Starikov’s upcoming schedule reflects his dual nature: a thinker and a risk-taker, but one who prefers to pull audiences close rather than dazzle from afar. He’ll make stops from Fredericksburg, Texas, to New Haven, Connecticut, and return to Colorado Springs in the spring. Audiences in Alabama, Arizona, and California will get their turn as well.
The Cliburn
Then there’s Evren Ozel (bronze, 26, United States) , who has been earning raves as “an absolute wow” ever since snagging the bronze and the prize for best Mozart. Already a winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ozel is as comfortable in a chamber ensemble as he is in front of a symphony orchestra. His 2025–26 calendar proves it: a dizzying blend of solo recitals, chamber collaborations, and concerto appearances that range from Portland, Oregon, to Vilnius, Lithuania, to Roswell, New Mexico.
And yes, he’s got plenty of Texas dates too — from Montgomery to College Station to Arlington, where he’ll join Symphony Arlington in January.
For a list of each pianist's tour schedule, click here.
