First Van Cliburn YouTube winner announced

Inspired by the foundation's International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs (ICOA), the contest was held via the video-hosting website YouTube. The winner, with 701 of the total number of votes, was gastroenterologist Christopher Shih.

Forty one amateur pianists, aged 35 and upwards, took part in the competition, each uploading a short performance video to the site. By the end of the two-week voting period, users had cast a total of 2,389 votes. The site also enabled users to submit their own star ratings and comments on each of the videos, and allowed performers to respond.

Shih received no cash prize but will have an automatic entry to the next ICOA, to be held in 2011.

His winning video entry was taped last year at the Boston International Competition for Exceptional Amateurs, where he won first prize. It featured him performing Los Requiebros from Goyescas by Enrique Granados.

'One doesn't usually associate YouTube with classical music or users older than 20,' commented Sevan Melikyan, VCF's director of marketing. 'We were truly gratified to see so many entries and receive so much positive feedback about this initiative.'

The second Van Cliburn YouTube contest takes place in summer 2009.

www.cliburn.org

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