This page needs JavaScript activated to work.

Aristo Sham

Piano
Van Cliburn 2025, Gold Medalist and Audience Award

  • Aristo Sham came to international attention as the Gold Medal and Audience Prize winner of the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. His performances at the Cliburn were praised for their “structural awareness, technical finesse and mature artistry” (Gramophone), and “a nobility rarely heard from any pianist” (Dallas Morning News).” La Scena wrote: “His confident, princely stage presence won over the crowd within moments."

Read more
  • Since then, Sham has dazzled audiences across 5 continents in concerti and recital and has released his debut recording with works by Bach, Brahms, Busoni, and Grieg on Universal Music. 


    Following a busy summer 2026 season with recitals in Europe, Asia, North and South America and two performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Sham debuts at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires with Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto before returning to Ft Worth for the opening concerts of the Ft Worth Symphony’s 2026/27 season. Also this season he debuts with the Dallas, San Diego, Milwaukee and Pacific Symphonies, the Dortmund Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra, and Stuttgart Philharmonic, among others. He returns to the Hong Kong Philharmonic on several occasions and appears in recital in Europe, Asia, and North America, including his New York Debut at the 92nd Street Y. 


    25/26 included debuts with Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and the NCPA Orchestra in Beijing, and recitals around the world, including in Paris, Seoul, and Tokyo. Recent and upcoming conductor collaborations include Daniel Harding, Elim Chan, Marin Alsop, Tarmo Peltokoski, David Robertson, Long Yu, Naomi Woo, and Diego Matheuz


    In 2009, Sham was featured in the documentary ‘The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies’, broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK. He has also performed for royalty and dignitaries such as King Charles and the Queen of Belgium. In 2024, he recorded and hosted the complete Brahms solo piano music on RTHK4, Classical Radio in Hong Kong.


    Sham is the First Prize Winner of the 2018 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and in 2023 won the Grand Prix at the Monte-Carlo Music Masters. He is also the recipient of top prizes at the Ettlingen, Gina Bachauer, Casagrande, Dublin, Clara Haskil, New York, Saint-Priest and Viotti International Piano Competitions and won the Vendome Prize at Verbier Festival.

    Sham holds a Bachelors of Arts from Harvard University and a Masters in Piano Performance from New England Conservatory. He continued his studies at the Ingesund School of Music in Sweden with Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist before returning to the US to earn an artist diploma at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald and Orli Shaham.

    2026/27 season, 426 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

View more
Close
Loading performances...

2026-27 Concerto Repertoire

Bartók
Piano Concerto No. 2, Sz. 95


Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major "Emperor" Op. 73

Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83

Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Ops. 21

Grieg
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16

Mendelssohn
Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

Liszt
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, S. 124
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S. 125

Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, "Jeunehomme" K. 271
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414
Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major, K. 449
Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K 453
Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488

Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26

Ravel
Piano Concerto in G major
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major

Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Saint-Saëns
Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major "Egyptian" Op. 103

Schumann
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54

Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23

2026-27 Recital

Programme 1

L. V. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27 No. 1 “Quasi una fantasia” (15’)
S. Rachmaninoff: Six Moments Musicaux, Op. 16 (28’)

--

F. Chopin: 4 Impromptus (21’)
-Impromptu No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 29
-Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp major, Op. 36
-Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat major, Op. 51
-Fantaisie-impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. 66
L. V. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight" (15’)


 


Programme 2

J. S. Bach – F. Busoni: Chaconne in D minor (14’)
J. Brahms – F. Busoni: 6 Organ Chorale Preludes (12’)
F. Chopin – F. Busoni: Variations on Prelude in C minor (11’)

--

J. Brahms: Klavierstücke (20')
-Capriccio in F-sharp minor, Op. 76 No. 1
-Capriccio in B minor, Op. 76 No. 2
-Capriccio in G minor, Op. 116 No. 3
-Intermezzo in C major, Op. 119 No. 3
-Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2
-Capriccio in C major, Op. 76 No. 8
J. Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, Op. 1 (23’)



Programme 3
J. S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C major, Book I, BWV 846 (5’)
J. Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, Op. 1 (23’)

F. Chopin: Prelude Op. 28 No. 13 in F-sharp major (3’)
J. Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 2 (22’)

--

R. Schumann: Träumerei from Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (3’)
J. Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5 (34’)

2027-28 Recital

Programme 1

Mendelssohn: Fantasie "Scottish Sonata", Op. 28


Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 2
--
Rachmaninoff: Selections from Preludes and Etudes-Tableaux


Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor (Original version), Op. 36


 


Programme 2


Brahms: Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21 No. 1


Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major "Waldstein", Op. 53
-- 
Rachmaninoff: Selections from Preludes and Etudes-Tableaux


Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor (Original version), Op. 36

"Aristo Sham is a card-carrying risk taker ... infusing the gnarly solo part wtih purpose, direction, structural awareness, technical finesse and mature artistry..."

Gramophone, June 2025

Intermusica represents Aristo Sham worldwide as part of Intermusica New York

Martin Wittenberg
Director, Intermusica New York
+1 (719) 200-6426

David O'Leary
Artist Manager
+44 7752 396 842

Emma Cayeux
Assistant Artist Manager, Intermusica New York
+1 (646) 298 2826

All artists

Contralto

Avery Amereau

Actor / Narrator

Amira Casar

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Branford Marsalis