University of Florida Performing Arts

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Click here to see Gold-Medalist Haochen Zhang at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Once every four years, a select few young pianists emerge victorious from the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. On June 7, 2009, the winners of the Thirteenth Cliburn Competition were awarded significant cash prizes, CD recordings and three years of international concert engagements. Experience the thrill of the Cliburn while celebrating the gifts of a young virtuoso when we present a special solo performance by Haochen Zhang. To read more about this talented young musician, click here.

Did you know…

2009 Gold-Medalist, Haochen Zhang was the youngest participant in the competition.

Haochen Zhang gave his debut recital a the Shanghai Music Hall at the age of five, performing all of Bach’s two-part inventions as well as sonatas by Hadyn and Mozart.  

Van Cliburn’s sensational victory at the First Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow (1958) heralded a new confidence in the quality of American music-making.

Celebrating this remarkable achievement, a group of music teachers and citizens from Fort Worth Texas created the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. First held in 1962, and repeated every four years since then, the competition has established itself as a joyous festival dedicated to the discovery of the world’s finest young pianists. 

In addition to receiving significant cash prizes, winners are awarded three years of concert management services and share hundreds of international engagements, thus fulfilling the Van Cliburn Foundation’s purpose of bringing the highest quality of music to audiences everywhere.

Since 1997, the entire competition has also been carried live on the internet.

In addition to reaching new audiences around the globe through its winners’ engagements, the Van Cliburn Foundation has cultivated a broad local audience for Cliburn Concerts, an annual recital series devoted to bringing the world’s finest artists to North Texas.