Clayton Stephenson

Named the 2017 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, Clayton Stephenson has won top prizes in several competitions, including the 2015 Cliburn Junior International Piano Competition and the 2016 Cooper International Piano Competition. He is also a proud Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. Highlights of Clayton’s burgeoning career include recitals at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Kissinger Sommer Festival, BeethovenFest, Stars and Rising Stars, Swiss Alps Classics, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has been featured on NPR and WQXR (New York City) and is a frequent guest artist for the Cliburn Foundation. Clayton’s orchestral performances include the Calgary Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta’s season-opening concert at Chicago’s Symphony Center, the Colour of Music Festival Gala Concert at Charleston’s Gaillard Center, the Midwest Young Artists Symphony at the Ravinia Festival, Chicago’s Millennium Park Pritzker Pavilion, and UN Day concert at the United Nations General Assembly Hall. He recently appeared at the Grammy Salute to Classical Music concert at Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium. Clayton trained at Juilliard since age 10, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in economics at Harvard, and a Master’s degree in piano performance at the New England Conservatory with Wha Kyung Byun.