DEFEATS 35 OTHER PIANISTS : BRAZILIAN WINS CLIBURN COMPETITION

Brazilian Jose Feghali was named the winner Sunday of the seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Feghali, 24, who now lives in London, was selected over 35 other pianists in the contest. He wins a debut recital at Carnegie Hall in New York, a 30-month concert tour of North America and Europe (including his Los Angeles debut at Ambassador Auditorium on June 13), a $12,000 cash prize and a recording contract.

Philippe Bianconi, 25, of France took second-place honors, receiving a New York recital debut, $8,000, a 30-month concert tour and a recording contract.

Barry Douglas, 25, of Northern Island and representing the United Kingdom, came in third. The bronze medalist also gets the 30-month concert tour and a recording contract as well as $6,000.

Fourth place went to Emma Takhmizian, 27, of Bulgaria; fifth to Karoly Mocsari, 22, of Hungary; and sixth to Hans-Christian Wille, 27, of West Germany.

The medals were presented by Van Cliburn, who became an overnight celebrity when he won the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958.

Feghali chose to play the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 at the awards ceremony, the same piece with which Cliburn won his famous victory.

The 12-person international jury also awarded two special prizes. The award for best chamber music performance was shared by Feghali and Kathryn Selby, a semifinalist from Australia.

The award for the best performance of “Fantasia on an Ostinato,” a work by John Corigliano commissioned by the Cliburn competition, went to Douglas.