Aristo Sham, age 29, of Hong Kong, is the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist, where he also took the Audience Award. A dapper, aristocratic figure on stage, Sham is engaging presence with a drive to take on the great pieces of the piano repertoire and a natural, infectious spontaneity at the keyboard. You can’t really say he was catapulted to fame by the Cliburn win; Aristo was featured at the age of three in the 2009 documentary The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies. He has concertized across Asia, Europe, and the United States, with major highlights including the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart, English Chamber Orchestra under the late Sir Raymond Leppard, and at many other prestigious venues. Anything but a “hot house flower,” Sham always attended regular schools and takes great interest in studies beyond the piano. and is a graduate of the Harvard/NEC dual degree program.