See what the CIPC medalists have been up to
It’s been over a year since the Final Concerto Round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC) and our winners received their medals. We thought we would check back in with each of them to see what they are up to and what we can expect to see next.
Following his triumph as the CIPC Mixon First Prize winner, James (Zijian) Wei describes his busy itinerary as a “happy dilemma.” As the winner of the G. Henle Verlag Urtext Prize, he was invited to Henle for a tour of their headquarters and a recital in Munich. He recounts the visit fondly, saying, “Although it was only for a short day, it deeply touched me. They pursue details and don’t let go of any part of the score, striving to provide the best score experience for students and performers, which is truly admirable.”
Thanks to his victory, James has more solo recitals than there are dates available on his calendar. In China alone, he gave 20 recitals, performing Liszt Piano Concerto No.1, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5, and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, among others. James made his debut in France, playing to an enthusiastic Salle Cortot audience, who took to sitting on the stairs once every seat in the house was filled. He also traveled to Brazil, playing to a sold-out crowd in São Paulo.
Throughout James’ travels, Cleveland remains close to his heart. In June, he returned to play ChamberFest Cleveland—the result of the special ChamberFest Prize he won during the CIPC. He will come back to Cleveland again this October to perform a recital as part of his residency with the Cleveland Institute of Music where he will teach alongside two fellow CIPC medalists and CIM faculty, Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Ilya Itin, as well as Daria Rabotkina. From Cleveland, James will head to New York City where he will make his Carnegie Hall debut concert playing a repertoire focusing on the theme of wandering.
I want to say that everything I have now is because of Cleveland. Thank you again, Cleveland, Piano Cleveland, and all of you in Cleveland. I look forward to our meeting in October. Music is the language of the world, and I will express my love for you all through music.
-James (Zijian) Wei
Since securing Second Prize at the 2024 CIPC, Evren Ozel has been able truly enjoy the life of a concertizing musician, playing solo recitals on wonderful series such as La Jolla Music Society, Capital Region Classical and Cal Performances using much of the repertoire he performed in Cleveland. He notes that since securing his CIPC medal he has had more international travel in one year than all his life prior to the award. He has played in Positano, Italy; Bogota, Columbia; St. Thomas, USVI; Eygalières, France; and, as a direct result of CIPC’s presentorships, Paris, France and Kraatz, Germany. He has also had chamber music collaborations in Tippet Rise, MT; Napa Valley, CA; San Francisco Performances; Vail, CO as part of Bravo!; Caramoor in Katonah, NY, a tour with Musicians from Marlboro; and several performances with Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society as a member of their Bowers Program. If anyone in the classical piano world didn’t know the name Evren Ozel, he remedied that by winning bronze at the Cliburn Competition as well as the prize for best Mozart Concerto.
If you want to hear Evren play but can’t make it to one of his many recitals, he has recorded two Mozart Concerti with the Vienna Radio Orchestra—the first of which has been released to critical acclaim, including a 5-star review from BBC Music Magazine!
CIPC Third Prize winner Maxim Lando has, like his cohort of fellow medalists, been a travelin’ man this past year, playing a 9-city US tour of Dvorak Piano Concerto with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Steven Mercurio and making debuts with the Columbus Symphony, Arizona Musicfest Festival Orchestra, Anchorage Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, and San Luis Obispo Symphony. More recently, Maxim performed Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony and Manuel de Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Liszt/Busoni Rhapsodie Espagnole in the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra at Millennium Park, Chicago. Somewhere in his schedule he also managed to squeeze in five performances at the Moritzburg Festival in Germany.
Following his 2024 The Playoff Audience Prize at the CIPC, Maxim turned around and won both the Audience Award and the Arnold Freymuth Special Prize at the 2024 International German Piano Award. This year, he was awarded the Khaledi Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Classical Music from Festival Napa Valley.
At the time of this writing, Maxim is touring with long-time Piano Cleveland partner, The Concert Truck. As part of the 2024 CIPC, contestants performed free community concerts with The Concert Truck What began as a mentorship between Maxim and The Concert Truck’s founder and director Susan Zhang evolved into a series of Cleveland/Akron area performances through Tuesday Musical.
If you didn’t get a chance to hear Maxim with The Concert Truck, he will continue his globetrotting with a performance of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with The Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra at the Alte Oper Frankfurt this September. He also is working on a recording of Saint Saëns Piano Concerto No. 4 with ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna for the “New Talents Edition” of Capriccio label of Naxos.
Following his Fourth Prize and Beethoven Prize wins during the 2024 CIPC, Giuseppe Guarrera secured management with Keynote Artist Management in London, which has opened up many new doors for him professionally. He also performed at Salle Cortot in what he calls “an unforgettable experience.”
Giuseppe’s career has thrived with large-scale endeavors, including the organization of a music festival on Mount Etna as well as the project for his Arts Entrepreneurship Residency with Kent State University where he is working with Dr. Nick Petrella, assistant professor in the College of the Arts at Kent State and Entrepreneur-In-Residence in the John S. and Marlene J. Brinzo Center for Entrepreneurship.
Giuseppe has also devoted much of his time to teaching at both Barenboim-Said Akademie and in Palmero. In the past year, he counts his performance at the Verbier Festival as a highlight and is looking forward to returning to Montreal for a recital as well as making his concert debut in Toronto. He will also be performing at Piano en Valois Festival and Teatro Politeama de Palmero. In 2026, he will return to northeast Ohio for the in-person portion of his Kent State residency.
Piano Cleveland partners with Cleveland Intern'l Film Fest
Piano Cleveland is proud to be a community partner for the 49th Cleveland International Film Festival. As a community partner, Piano Cleveland will be co-presenting the documentary, Linda Perry: Let It Die Here on April 5 at the Mimi Ohio Theatre.
In total, CIFF will be presenting over 300 films. Anyone who is a friend, admirer of, or donor to Piano Cleveland is encouraged to attend and use the Piano Cleveland discount code to purchase their CIFF tickets. The discount is able to be used for any ticket purchase.
Use the discount code PIANO when purchasing tickets at https://www.clevelandfilm.org. Enter your code in the DISCOUNT CODE box on the PAYMENT INFORMATION screen during checkout to save $1.00 on each ticket in your cart.
Film Synopsis:
If you’ve listened to the radio anytime over the past 30 years, you’ve heard Linda Perry’s work. Now get an all-access backstage pass to the life of the venerated songwriter and producer through celebrity interviews, stop-motion animation recreations, and shockingly raw stories about her hard-fought path to success.
Linda Perry is one of the most outspoken and recognizable artists of the past 30 years. The hat, tattoos, and massive hit single What's Up with her band 4 Non Blondes made her an icon. But in the decades since that song topped the charts, Perry has reinvented herself as a songwriter and producer, penning hit-after-hit for artists like Dolly Parton, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, Pink, and others. While the story of Perry’s career and craft is extraordinary, this documentary is much more. LET IT DIE HERE is an intimate look at a vulnerable and courageous woman as she navigates life-altering personal circumstances amidst gnawing career decisions. Perry struggles with fear, shame, and the burdens of family as she seeks answers to the big questions she can no longer avoid: Who am I? Am I loved? What’s my purpose? What will I leave behind?
To purchase tickets or learn more about the film, click here.
Remembering Clara Rankin
Longtime Piano Cleveland friend and patron, Clara Rankin passed away earlier this week. Lifetimes—and the things to which we devote ourselves within those lifetimes—are finite. While Clara will remain an important part of Piano Cleveland’s history, we are a small part of her legacy, which spans many decades and touched countless lives, especially here in Cleveland.
Clara came from a home filled with a love of music—and instruments. Her mother, Edith, and older brother, Frank, both played the piano, which resided in the living room next to a xylophone. Her younger brother, Tom, took up the trumpet and drums for which he “was relegated most of the time to the basement.” When the family took a break from practicing their respective instruments, Clara’s father, Frank E. Taplin Sr., often spun a record on their Victrola by opera singer Enrico Caruso.
Clara’s instrument of choice was her voice—and anyone who knew her could recognize the voice that often graced house parties with a song late in the evening, the same voice that eloquently championed the arts in Cleveland, and later in life, the voice that spoke softly and powerfully for the residents of Hopewell Therapeutic Farm. As Clara put it, a “steady voice and steady legs,” took her from the high school glee club to being a soloist with the Yale Glee Club and eventually led to studying voice in New England. Following in her mother’s footsteps, Clara attended Smith College where she served as the student government president and continued singing as a member of the all-female acapella group, the Smiffenpoofs.
When Clara returned to Cleveland she became involved with the Women’s Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, beginning a relationship with the museum that spanned over five decades and included tenure on the Board of Trustees. A lifelong gardener, she joined the Shaker Lakes Graden Club and shared her depth of knowledge with fellow green thumbs. She also studied voice with Marie Kraft, a frequent soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra and teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM). Clara later joined the board of CIM where she served for 53 years before being elected Trustee Emerita—a role she held for two more decades.
When it comes to serving on boards and within communities, people will either take time to do something or they make time to do something. With as many organizations to which Clara devoted herself to, it’s fair to say she was the sort of person who made time for the causes she loved. In the midst of Clara’s half-century of CIM board tenure, a new front of classical musicianship opened up in our midwest City of Light—the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition that would evolve into the world-famous Cleveland International Piano Competition. As she often did, Clara made the time to foster our organization and realize its full potential. By 1981, she was an active member of the Friends group of the Casadesus International Piano Competition recognizing the impact the competition could have on Cleveland. She joined the organization’s board, saying, “It was exciting to have Cleveland on the international scene.” Later, she served on the President’s Council.
In 2024, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Cleveland International Piano Competition. During the year-long celebration of our history, we made many new memories with familiar friends—holding concerts in Shaker Heights, partnering with Severance Music Center and the Cleveland Museum of Art, hosting faculty from CIM for free performances. Of course, Clara’s presence—her legacy—is that Cleveland has myriad arts organizations who collaborate and enrich the lives of its people. For many of us, a highlight was seeing Clara at 106-years-old attend one of our Piano Cleveland Live concerts at the Museum of Art with her daughter-in-law and then-Piano Cleveland board chair, Beth Rankin. As she always did, Clara made time for us.
