Maryland doctor wins first Cliburn YouTube Contest

The Baltimore Sun
by Tim Smith

May 30, 2008- A gastroenterologist from Maryland, Christopher Shih, has been named winner of the first YouTube Conest for amateur pianists, presented by the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. His entry was an assured and colorful performance of Los requiebros from Goyescas by Granados. Dr. Shih, 35, will now gain automatic entry, application fee-free, to the next Cliburn International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in 2011. About 2,400 people voted online, choosing among 41 amateurs (age 35 and older) who uploaded video performances of 5-10 minutes in length on YouTube. Dr. Shih, who earned his medical degree at Johns Hopkins, is affiliated with the Maryland Digestive Disease Center, which has offices in Ellicott City, Laurel and Takoma Park.

Maryland Doctor Wins Cliburn YouTube Contest

KERA Art & Seek
by Olin Chism

May 30th, 2008- Christopher Shih, a 35-year-old gastroenterologist from Maryland, has won the first YouTube Contest for amateur pianists sponsored by the Van Cliburn Foundation. He will receive automatic entry into the sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, which will be held in Fort Worth in the spring of 2011.

Maryland pianist named first winner of Van Cliburn YouTube contest

By Chris Shull

May 30, 2008- FORT WORTH — Classical music fans can go to YouTube.com, the popular video Web site, to see performances by Van Cliburn, Lang Lang, Arthur Rubinstein and other famous pianists.

Now Christopher Shih, a physician who lives in Maryland, has a pretty big presence on the site, too. Friday, he was named winner of the Van Cliburn Foundation’s first YouTube Piano Contest.

A Piano, a Camcorder and a Competition

A New YouTube Contest Brings to Mind
Van Cliburn and the Price of Success

by Terry Teachout

March 15, 2008- Fifty years ago next month, a 23-year-old whiz kid from Texas won the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow, instantaneously becoming America’s best-known classical musician and earning a hatful of money in the process. Van Cliburn, then as now a generous man, thereupon started his own piano competition, hoping to give other gifted young artists the same opportunity that the Tchaikovsky Competition had given him. Mr. Cliburn hasn’t played regularly in public since 1978, but the Van Cliburn Competition is still doing business in Fort Worth, and it’s celebrating the anniversary of his Cold War triumph by launching a new venture that would have been unthinkable in 1958: the Cliburn YouTube Contest, in which amateur pianists over the age of 35 shoot videos of their own playing and upload them to www.youtube.com/vancliburnfoundation, where computer-savvy music lovers will view them and pick a winner.

YouTube viewers can vote for their favorite pianist

Van Cliburn Foundation holds a talent search on YouTube
By Diane Haithman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 3, 2008- If you’re a classical music aficionado envious of the “American Idol” viewers who get to vote on their favorite contestants, your time has come.

Inspired not by “Idol” but by Popsearch 2007, an online talent search sponsored by the Boston Popsthe Van Cliburn Foundation has taken its competition into cyberspace with its first YouTube contest for amateur classical pianists.

Contestant brief: Greg Kostraba

May 8, 2008, Toledo, Ohio – Greg Kostraba, classical music director at WGTE-FM (91.3) can be seen on YouTube until May 15, competing in the Van Cliburn Amateur YouTube Competition. One of 42 performers selected for this contest, Kostraba, who also performs and leads a chamber music group locally, is playing Robert Muczynski’s “Desperate Measures,” a light-hearted yet challenging set of variations on a theme by Paganini. His performance is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCban6asWg.

Cliburn Foundation YouTube contest

March 16, 2008 – FORT WORTH, Texas – The Van Cliburn Foundation will host its first Cliburn YouTube Contest this spring.

To enter, eligible amateur pianists should submit a five- to 10-minute performance video to be judged by online viewers. Winner of the Cliburn YouTube Contest will be entered in the next International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, to be held in summer 2011. The application fee will be waived.