TILL FELLNER JOINS 2025 CLIBURN COMPETITION JURY
Fellner replaces Rico Gulda, who withdrew due to scheduling conflicts, on the jury for the 2025 Cliburn Competition, taking place May 21–June 7, 2025, at Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
FORT WORTH, Texas, April 15, 2025—The Cliburn announces a change to the jury for the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, taking place May 21–June 7, 2025, at Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. Austrian pianist Till Fellner will now serve on the Competition jury, a nine-member panel of distinguished pianists charged with selecting each round’s advancing competitors and the three medalists of the 2025 Cliburn Competition. Learn more about Till Fellner.
Till Fellner replaces juror Rico Gulda who withdrew due to scheduling conflicts.
Visit cliburn.org to learn more about the 2025 Cliburn Competition.
ABOUT TILL FELLNER
Till Fellner’s international career began in 1993 with the first prize at the renowned Concours Clara Haskil in Vevey, Switzerland. Since then, he has been a sought-after guest at the major orchestras and the music centers of Europe, the United States, and Japan, as well as at numerous festivals.
As soloist, Fellner performs with orchestras such as Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra.
He has collaborated with Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Manfred Honeck, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Jonathan Nott, Kirill Petrenko, and Hans Zender, among others. In the field of chamber music, he regularly collaborates with violinist Viviane Hagner, tenor Mark Padmore, and the Belcea Quartet. In spring 2023, he toured Japan with German mezzo-soprano Anna Lucia Richter.
Recently, Fellner has dedicated himself to two milestones of the piano repertoire: The Well-Tempered Clavier of Johann Sebastian Bach and the 32 piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven. He performed the Beethoven cycle from 2008 to 2010 in New York, Washington, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Vienna. He has premiered works by Kit Armstrong, Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Larcher, Alexander Stankovski, and Hans Zender.
Fellner is an exclusive recording artist for the the ECM label, for whom he has released the First Book of The Well-Tempered Clavier and Bach’s Two & Three-Part Inventions, Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano, chamber music by Harrison Birtwistle, and 2018’s Till Fellner in Concert with live recordings of works by Liszt and Beethoven. In 2016, Alpha Classics released the recording of the piano quintet by J. Brahms with the Belcea Quartet; this recording received the Diapason d’Or de l’Année.
In his native Vienna, Fellner studied with Helene Sedo-Stadler before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel, Meira Farkas, Oleg Maisenberg, and Claus-Christian Schuster. He currently teaches at the Zurich Hochschule der Künste and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.
COMPETITION JURY
The Cliburn proudly presents the jury for the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition: Paul Lewis, jury chairman (Ireland/United Kingdom), Till Fellner (Austria), Mari Kodama (Japan/United States), Anne-Marie McDermott (United States), Gabriela Montero (Venezuela/United States), Jon Nakamatsu (United States), Lise de la Salle (France), Yevgeny Sudbin (United Kingdom), and Wu Han (China Taiwan/United States). The assembled jury represents some of the most prominent voices in piano today, whose active careers and exceptional artistry continue to help shape the landscape of classical music.
COMMISSIONED WORK
In addition to serving on the jury, renowned pianist and composer Gabriela Montero has been commissioned to compose a new work for the 2025 Cliburn Competition, to be performed by all 30 competitors. This marks the third time that the composer of the commissioned work will also serve on the jury.
ABOUT THE 2025 CLIBURN COMPETITION
Quick facts about the 2025 Cliburn Competition are available below. For complete information, visit cliburn.org.
- Paul Lewis, jury chairman (Ireland/United Kingdom)
- Till Fellner (Austria)
- Mari Kodama (Japan/United States)
- Anne-Marie McDermott (United States)
- Gabriela Montero (Venezuela/United States)
- Jon Nakamatsu (United States)
- Lise de la Salle (France)
- Yevgeny Sudbin (United Kingdom)
- Wu Han (Chinese Taipei/United States)
PRIZES & AWARDS
All together, Competition prizes total more than $2 million in value. A total of $265,000 in cash will be awarded, including $100,000 for the gold medalist, $50,000 for the silver medalist, and $25,000 for the bronze medalist. Medalists also receive three years of comprehensive personalized career management and concerts.
LIVE BROADCAST
As it has been since 2001, the entire Cliburn Competition will be broadcast live for an international audience. The Cliburn will announce more details this month—the online event promises to be one of the most-watched in classical music history, with the most recent edition in 2022 receiving more than 60 million views across 177 countries and immeasurable viral reach beyond that.
ABOUT THE CLIBURN
The Cliburn advances classical piano music throughout the world. Its international competitions, education programs, and concert series embody an enduring commitment to artistic excellence and the discovery of new artists. Established in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1962, the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (seventeenth edition, May 21–June 7, 2025) remains the most visible expression of that mission and is, as always, committed to its original ideals of supporting and launching the careers of emerging artists, ages 18–30. It shares the transformative powers of music with a wide global audience, through fully produced webcasts and by providing comprehensive career management and concert bookings to its winners. Rounding out its mission, the Cliburn also produces the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival (fourth edition, June 2027) for exceptional 13- to 17-year-old pianists and the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition (ninth edition, June 2028) for outstanding non-professional pianists age 35 and older.
Over a four-year cycle, the Cliburn contributes to North Texas’ cultural landscape with over 170 classical music performances for 150,000 attendees through competitions, free community concerts, and its signature Cliburn Concerts series. Cliburn in the Classroom—the Cliburn’s music education program and recipient of D CEO Magazine’s 2024 Innovation in Education Award—presents 1,000 free, in-school, and interactive concert experiences for more than 200,000 area elementary students over a four-year cycle. During the same time period, the Cliburn garners the world’s attention with more than 60 million views from 177 nations for competition webcasts; 300 concerts worldwide booked for competition winners; more than 10,000 news articles about the Cliburn and its winners; and regular national radio broadcasts to 245 public radio stations. cliburn.org
Official Piano of the Cliburn
Steinway & Sons – North Texas / Houston
TICKETS
There is nothing like being in the hall for a Cliburn Competition performance; add to that the unmatched exhilaration of being there to cheer on 30 of the world’s top emerging pianists as they strive to perform their best on an enormous world stage in hopes of launching international careers. It’s been 63 years since the first notes of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition were played in Fort Worth, Texas, and the world will once again be attentively listening.
All tickets, including premium and regular subscription packages and for individual concerts, are on sale now.
