Marin Alsop leads the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in the June 2022 Cliburn International Piano Competition.
In Thursday’s (1/22) KERA (Texas), Marcheta Fornoff writes, “Europe and Asia have major international conducting competitions—and, soon, North America will get one too. The first Cliburn International Competition for Conductors will take place in 2028 in Houston. The Fort Worth organization is best known for its international piano competition, named for Van Cliburn, the Texas pianist who won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. The competition is a major career launchpad for young pianists around the world, and it draws top talent to Fort Worth every four years. Marin Alsop will be the jury chair for the first conducting competition…. She also conducted the final rounds for the past two Van Cliburn International Competitions. Alsop helped inspire the new competition, said Cliburn CEO and President Jacques Marquis…. The competition will be hosted in partnership with the Houston Symphony and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University…. ‘I think it will really remove some of the barriers that face the younger generations of conductors,’ Alsop said…. Up to 25 applicants ages 21-35 will be selected for live auditions, and twelve will be invited to participate in the June 2028 competition. Applications for the new competition will open in October 2026.”
