Biggest name out of all Van Cliburn medalists (ever) ?

[m19834]

I am curious who is perhaps the most well-known (house-hold name), or had/has the longest artistic/performing career or has otherwise made the greatest contribution to the world of piano playing in general, and also has ever won a medal (of any sort) in a Van Cliburn competition ?

[birba]

Radu Lupu. 

[m19834]

I find it to be a bit strange that there is apparently one, single contender for this "title" ... and that only one individual on the forum would have a single thing to say about it !  Isn't the Van Cliburn supposed to be the creme de la creme ?  Isn't it supposed to be awarding the most promising and most talented pianists in the entire world ?  hmmmm ... instresting.

Thanks for your response though, birba !

[birba]

Doesn't say much about the van cliburn competition, does it?  When you think of who's come out of the Queen Elizabeth, Chopin, Geneva, etc., only to name a few of the top competitions (Ghilels, Ashkenazy, Michelangeli, Argerich, Pollini, etc.) it makes you wonder whether the GENUINE talent is taking another path or choosing other venues.

[thalbergmad]

As far as i can tell, the biggest name was Maria Luisa Lopez-Vito.

Thal

[franz_]

I was and am still a great fan of Sultanov, who died tragicly.

[m19834]

Doesn't say much about the van cliburn competition, does it?

Well, I guess I'm not sure what it says, exactly.  But, yes, obviously there is some gap between being awarded a medal and going on to influence the world pianistically in a way where everybody knows who you are.  Obviously something like that is only one form of recognition, as there are undoubtedly numbers of brilliant pianists whom nobody knows and whom have perhaps scarcely been truly recognized for anything at all.  But, I guess I do wonder then, what does winning a medal like that end up actually meaning or representing ?  It seems to mainly and primarily represent somebody who prepared well for that isolated, particular event ... but then what ?  

When you think of who's come out of the Queen Elizabeth, Chopin, Geneva, etc., only to name a few of the top competitions (Ghilels, Ashkenazy, Michelangeli, Argerich, Pollini, etc.) it makes you wonder whether the GENUINE talent is taking another path or choosing other venues.

Do you mean that, similarly to the Van Cliburn competition, these competitions are also generating perhaps sparse numbers of high-octane pianists ?  Those individuals who are known throughout the world or are in some way quite significantly affecting the piano world as we know it ?  I suddenly have an entirely new curiosity about it all.  I went and read a little about Argerich, for example, on Wikipedia and did read that she won several competitions that seemed to really boost her career and take it on a certain path.  I know that winning something like the Van Cliburn does come with a large tour afterwards, but it seems that those individuals must reach some point (much like anybody else, even those individuals without fancy medals and certificates) where the actual tour is "over" and some decision must be made.  It becomes, I think, a kind of very human and perhaps very humble decision ... some kind of day of reckoning or something, where they might have to do more digging.  And, I can only assume that many individuals don't quite make it past that stage to a point where they are living a kind of life that is much different than an individual who was never recognized like that at all.  hmmm.

The other thing is that it seems competitions are serving even less of a particular purpose than they used to, before there was the same kind of technology as we have today.  I mean, competitions used to be a pretty major way to gain exposure, while today, any person who wants to can put themselves on YouTube for all of the world to see.  Heck, even the "greats" are on YouTube and have probably gained MORE exposure that way (at least in some ways) than NOT being on YouTube.  It's just all striking me as very strange.

[furtwaengler]

As far as i can tell, the biggest name was Maria Luisa Lopez-Vito.

Thal

You beat me to it.