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CIPC for Young Artists: Senior Division First Prize winner Chenxu Han

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Chenxu Han, age 17 (China) — First Prize Senior Division

ClevelandClassical.com: What’s your favorite moment in Cleveland been?

Chenxu Han: I think my favorite moment, maybe it’s in the competition because I think the important thing is just never it’s a competition. We can know the friends and we can meet lots of people from all over the world. This is really wonderful experience. We practice together every day. We of course, compete every day, and we talk every day. We eat every day. This is really wonderful. I can learn a lot. I can meet lots of people from the world. And meet some new friends.

CC.com: You’re all living in the same building.

CH: Yeah. It’s really wonderful.

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CIPC for Young Artists: Junior Division First Prize winner Ryan Huang

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Ryan Huang, age 15 (Canada/United States) — First Prize Junior Division and Audience Prize

ClevelandClassical.com: Thank you for taking the time to talk, and congratulations on the win and the audience prize. How did it feel when you realized that you had won?

Ryan Huang: When I heard the second place’s name announced I knew I had won and I couldn’t believe it. I was very surprised. Not because I didn’t think I played well, it’s because everybody here is just very talented, and I have such incredible peers as musicians, so it’s a very happy surprise to have won. To have my name be called as the first prize was a feeling of delight.

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CIPC for Young Artists: Rising Star First Prize winner Wilson Liu

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Wilson Liu, age 12 (United States) —  First Prize, Rising Star Division, Classical Prize, and Romantic Prize

ClevelandClassical.com: Congratulations — fantastic playing.

Wilson Liu: Thank you.

CC.com: You’ve been in many competitions: How did you deal with your nerves? Do you get nervous? You didn’t look like it.

WL: I get nervous, but I also get excited at the same time. And I think I can deal with that nervousness, but I still do different techniques to help me reduce that nervousness. Like, I power pose sometimes in front of the mirror to make me feel big and more confident. I had a class with Jo from Mindful Opus who taught me these techniques and I’ve been trying to use them. And they’re pretty good, actually. [Demonstrates] You can do this like a starfish, and you could also do this like a boss, you know?

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CIPC for Young Artists Senior Division: Guillermo Hernández Barrocal & Yurim Kim

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Guillermo Hernández Barrocal (left), age 18 (Spain) —  Second Prize Senior Division

Yurim Kim (right), age 17 (South Korea) —  Third Prize Senior Division & Audience Prize

ClevelandClassical.com: Congratulations to you both.

Both: Thank you. Thank you very much.

CC.com: It was a pleasure to hear both of you. How did you deal with nerves throughout the competition? (They spar over who should go first.)

Guillermo Hernández Barrocal: Well, first of all, I’m very focused on practicing. So if you’re focused and you have clear goals, you know what you’re doing, it makes things easier We also had a wonderful atmosphere at Hazel — the dorm. We were all living together. We were having meals together, sharing music, learning from one another. We have 24-hour cabins with pianos we can play whenever we want. Then we can talk, we can relax. I like to take very long walks. Helps me think.

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CIPC for Young Artists Junior Division: Jueon Lee & Yixin Shen

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Jueon Lee (left), age 14 (South Korea) — Second Prize Junior Division and the 20th & 21st Century Prize

Yixin Shen (right), age 15 (China)  — Third Prize Junior Division

ClevelandClassical.com: From the beginning of the competition to the final round, how did you deal with your nerves?

Jueon Lee: I felt very nervous before going to the stage. I just tried to enjoy the music. It was also a very meaningful experience because there were so many great and helpful activities for me during the competition.

[Read more…]

CIPC for Young Artists: Semi-Final Solo Round (July 25)

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by Mike Telin

With the 2026 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists underway, I took the opportunity to hear an impressive Semi-Final Solo Round on Saturday afternoon, July 25 in Mixon Hall at CIM. The session featured contestants from all three divisions — Rising Star (ages 10 to 12), Junior (ages 13 to 15), and Senior (ages 16 to 18).

Khloe Wu, age 11 (Canada) kicked things off with a lively performance of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s  La Poule (The Hen) — She brought a big sound, colorful mood changes, and fast passages played with ease to Rachmaninoff’s Humoresque Op. 10 No. 5. The composer’s Zdes Khoroshp, Op. 21 No.7 (“How Fair is the Spot”) featured lovely  phrasing. The young pianist’s personality was front and center during Hiromi Uehara’s The Tom and Jerry Show — a fun way to conclude her set. [Read more…]

CIPC for Young Artists: hear the future now

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by Mike Telin

We all know the names of the superstar pianists who regularly grace the stages of the world’s famous concert halls. But what they have in common is that they were all once young musicians honing their skills in hopes of having a career that would lead them to those renowned venues.

Beginning on Friday, July 24 and continuing through Saturday, August 1, you can hear thirteen superstars in the making when Piano Cleveland presents the 2026 edition of Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. All sessions will be held at the Cleveland Institute of Music. To view a list of contestants, jury members, the complete schedule, and to purchase tickets, click here.

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Piano Cleveland: CIPC for Young Artists Concerto Final Round (July 15)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The last hurdle to be cleared on the way to the awarding of prizes in Piano Cleveland’s Competition for Young Artists brought the finalists to the stage of Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Saturday, July 15 to play concerto movements with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, led by Steven Byess.

Six items were on the docket: the three Junior Division players chose the opening movements of concertos by Beethoven, Mozart, and Grieg, while the three Seniors each chose Chopin, with only one repetition. Piano Cleveland president Yaron Kohlberg emceed the proceedings. I watched the well-produced webcast.

Concertos, which occupy a singular position in the orchestral ecosystem, are often performed with only a read-through beforehand, which means that both the soloist and the orchestra have to show up well-prepared. But anything can happen in the heat of battle — and adjustments have to be made on the spot with intelligence and sensitivity. [Read more…]

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