The Cliburn
Seventeenth Van Cliburn Competition
June 7, 2025. The Cliburn medalists are from left, Bronze Medalist Evren Ozel, 26, from the United States, Gold medal winner Aristo Sham, 29, from Hong Kong, China and Silver Medalist Vitaly Starikov, 30, from Israel/Russia. The medal winners of the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition were announced at the Awards Ceremony at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas USA. (Photo by Ralph Lauer)
The lights dimmed. A hush fell over Bass Hall. Then came the name: Aristo Sham.
The 29-year-old pianist from Hong Kong had just claimed the Gold Medal at the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — one of the most coveted prizes in classical music. After nearly three weeks of soaring solos, standing ovations, and global viewership topping 20 million, Fort Worth crowned its newest champion.
It was the climax of a two-and-a-half-week marathon, one that had unfolded across 145 countries and captivated audiences around the globe. And when the final note was played, it was Sham who stood tallest. Not just with flawless technique or a gripping Rachmaninoff, but with a presence that felt both old-school and brand-new. The jury gave him the Gold Medal. The crowd gave him the Audience Award. And the Cliburn gave him the keys to a future: $100,000 in cash, an international concert tour, a record deal, a Neiman Marcus wardrobe, and three years of hands-on career guidance. A life in full bloom, staged right here in Fort Worth.
Backstage, Sham spoke softly, reflective. His mother, a piano teacher, introduced him to the instrument in their Hong Kong home before he could even walk. “I was enveloped in the environment of the piano even before I was born,” he said. That early immersion turned into something deeper—a world where Harvard and Juilliard, Simon Rattle and Sir Raymond Leppard, Channel 4 documentaries and royalty performances, all coexist in his orbit. Music was never the only thing. But it always came back to the piano.
This year’s silver went to 30-year-old Vitaly Starikov, the Israeli-Russian powerhouse with a stoic intensity that masks a deep romanticism. Starikov’s story stretches from a children’s music group in Yekaterinburg to concert halls in Belgium and Malaysia, and finally, to a practice room at Yale under Boris Berman. When he was 14, watching Vadym Kholodenko win the 2013 Cliburn, something clicked. “It was then that the thought was born to someday participate in this competition,” he said. This week, that dream found its exhale.
And the bronze? That went to Boston’s own Evren Ozel, 26, a pianist whose path began at age 3 with a simple “yes” to the question of lessons. “If I got in trouble,” he remembered, smiling, “the threat that would set me straight was the threat of taking me out of piano lessons.” His Mozart sang with a clarity that won him an additional $5,000 and the Best Mozart Performance Award. He now joins the ranks of elite American pianists carving out a new, more emotionally connected chapter in classical music.
There were others too, just off the podium but unforgettable: China’s Yangrui Cai, honored for a new work that pushed boundaries; Russia’s Mikhail Kambarov and Philipp Lynov; Germany’s Jonas Aumiller; Canada’s Alice Burla; and Carter Johnson and Angel Stanislav Wang, who brought their own kind of magic. Each walked away with a finalist award, and maybe something even more enduring—the feeling of being part of something bigger than any one competition.
The Cliburn, of course, is never just about the medals. It’s about the moments between: a trembling last chord, a silent nod to the orchestra, a standing ovation that starts in the back of the hall and swells like a wave. It’s about 10 fingers telling stories in real time, from the heart, for a world watching in awe.
And as the final notes faded and the lights came up, Fort Worth did what it always does. It embraced the music, the musicians, and the magic that somehow — every four years — still feels like the beginning of something brand new.
