Park ICM Pianist Ilya Shmukler to Perform First Kansas City Concert Since Summer Victory at Concours Géza Anda Competition

September 13, 2024 — Park University International Center for Music graduate student Ilya Shmukler, who dazzled the jury and audience as the winner of the Concours Géza Anda Piano Competition in Zurich, Switzerland, earlier this summer, will perform his first concert in Kansas City since that victory on Saturday, Oct. 5. The performance will take place at the 1900 Building in Mission Woods, Kan., starting at 7:30 p.m.

Shmukler, who also won four additional prizes at the Zurich event, is no stranger to competing on the international stage. The 29-year-old has participated twice in one of the renowned international music contests — the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In 2017, prior to becoming a Park ICM student, Shmukler advanced to the Cliburn’s quarterfinal round. At the 2022 Cliburn (the quadrennial competition was delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Shmukler was one of six finalists and earned an additional prize for “Best Performance of a Mozart Concerto.” In recent years, Shmukler has also won the top prize at the Wideman International Piano Competition in Shreveport, La., the Lewisville (Texas) Lake Symphony International Competition, the Artist Presentation Society competition in St. Louis and the Shigeru Kawai International Piano Competition in Tokyo.

Shmukler is scheduled to perform the following repertoire on Oct. 5: “Piano Sonata in A major, D. 664” by Franz Schubert; “Funérailles, S. 173/7,” by Franz Liszt; “Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2” (marked as quasi una fantasia and known throughout the world as the “Moonlight Sonata); and “Symphonic Études, Op. 13” by Robert Schumann.

A native of Tomilino, Russia, Shmukler has studied at the Park ICM since 2019 under the tutelage of Stanislav Ioudenitch, who was the co-gold medalist of the Cliburn competition in 2001. Shmukler earned a graduate certificate in music performance in 2021 and a graduate artist’s diploma in music performance in 2023, and he is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in performance from Park. He also earned a master’s degree from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory.

Tickets for the concert (before fees) are $30 for the general public and $10 for students, and are available through Eventbrite.

For more information about the concert (and a link to tickets), visit icm.park.edu/ilya-shmukler-concours-geza-anda-2024-competition-winner-in-concert.

The next performance in the Park ICM 2024-25 season will be a recital by students in Ioudenitch’s piano studio on Thursday, Oct. 24, at the 1900 Building. For more information, visit icm.park.edu/stanislav-ioudenitch-piano-studio-in-recital.