Jonathan chats with Thomas Yu, a Canadian periodontist who won the Van Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition in 2016. They talk about the world of amateur piano competitions, great advice, performing the work of a living Canadian composer, and they play a gun game (but not with actual guns).

A former Saskatchewan resident has clinched the top prize at the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition.

Thomas Yu won the competition, and he did so for his mother who recently died.

To reach the finals of the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, Yu advanced from a field of 70 contestants through quarter-final and semifinal rounds.

Thomas Yu is a 38-year-old periodontist from Calgary, Canada. He’s also the best pianist in the Cliburn’s amateur competition, which ended Saturday.

In a final round that saw four of the six pianists play Beethoven pieces Saturday, Canadian Thomas Yu wowed the Bass Hall audience and judges with an impressive Saint-Saëns piano concerto movement, earning him first place in the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition.