Doctor Wins Cliburn Piano Contest For Amateurs

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A Maryland doctor has won the Van Cliburn Sixth International Piano Competition for Amateurs, 14 years after he competed in the prestigious Cliburn contest for professional pianists.

Christopher Shih, a gastroenterologist in Ellicott City, Md., on Sunday won the contest for those 35 or older who don't earn their living teaching or playing the piano.

Clark Griffith, a retired Fort Worth database programmer, placed second. Pittsburgh doctor Barry Coutinho placed third.

The other finalists were online services developer Ken Iisaka of Mill Valley, Calif.; homemaker Jane Gibson King of Provo, Utah; and Formula One race car designer Dominic Piers Smith of Oxford, England.

Seventy people participated in this year's contest, an offshoot of the renowned Van Cliburn International Piano Competition that's also held every four years in Fort Worth.

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