Pianist's ode to home

Aristo Sham takes pride in clinching the coveted 2025 Cliburn Competition and pays homage to his roots, Belinda Robinson reports in New York.

Acclaimed pianist Aristo Sham has expressed his heartfelt appreciation for the support he has received in Hong Kong and worldwide after he won the prestigious 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas, the United States, this month.

Sham, 29, lauded for his incredible skills on the piano, is the first gold medal winner from Hong Kong and proudly represents his birthplace on the international stage. He has spent years preparing both mentally and physically to reach this juncture of his career.

"I'm incredibly proud and honored to represent Hong Kong, China," he tells China Daily in New York. "I'm so happy that they have responded so positively.

"What I'm hearing from the streets is just incredible that people are talking about it (me winning the competition), like when Hong Kong won the gold medal at the Olympics, apparently it was like a similar thing. I'm surprised in a good way," he says joyfully. "I think with this opportunity to represent Hong Kong on the world stage and at the highest level of the arts is a responsibility that I'm very excited to carry."

Sham won the coveted 17th Cliburn Competition after weeks of thrilling performances at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall at Texas Christian University and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Vitaly Starikov, 30, from Israel and Russia won the silver medal and Evren Ozel, 26, from the US, won bronze.

In the final and semi-final, the contestants were joined by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and conductors Marin Alsop and Carlos Miguel Prieto. It got 20 million views from a global audience in 145 countries.

Sham says that his favorite performance at the event was playing Beethoven's Sonata No 29 (HammerKlavier) His overall prize includes $100,000, a cup, three years of individualized career management (concert tours included) and the chance to record an album.

Maisie Ho, director of The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's Economic and Trade Office in New York, heaps praise on "his exceptional reward and his professional journey".