Thursday, February 14, 2008

Van Cliburn Foundation to honor … Van Cliburn?

I guess you gotta throw your namesake a bone every now and again.

By Pegasus News wire

Cliburn pounding the keys as only he knows how.

The Van Cliburn Foundation has announced plans to honor pianist Van Cliburn on the 50th anniversary of his historic win at the first International Tchaikovsky Competition, which was held in Moscow in 1958 at the height of the Cold War. Mr. Cliburn's anniversary will be celebrated on the great lawn of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday, March 1, 2008. President of the United States George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both agreed to act as honorary chairmen for the gala event.

Van Cliburn was twenty-three when he traveled to Moscow to compete in the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Despite Cold War tensions, the Russian people received Mr. Cliburn's performances with overwhelming enthusiasm throughout; his final round concert on April 11, 1958, included the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3. The international audience included Queen Elisabeth of Belgium and her daughter, Marie José, the last Queen of Italy, seated in the imperial box.

The awards were presented by Dmitri Shostakovich on April 14, and Van Cliburn received the coveted gold medal. Premier Nikita Khrushchev himself gave permission for the Soviet judges to award the first prize to Van Cliburn; even though he was an American, they considered him to be the best pianist.

At home, the victory was celebrated throughout the United States, and included the only New York ticker-tape parade ever bestowed on a classical musician, as well as the May 19, 1958, cover of Time magazine. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Cliburn's recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 became the first classical LP in history to sell more than one million copies.

Did Cliburn challenge Bush to a breath-holding contest, or was it the other way around?

Van Cliburn has played for every U.S. president in office since 1958. Most famously, in 1987, he was invited to perform at the White House for Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev during their summit meeting to sign the INF Treaty. After the State dinner, Mr. Cliburn played a formal recital in the East Room, and for his last encore he surprised the political adversaries by playing "Moscow Nights" and singing along with the Soviet president and his wife. Columnist George Will stated that the day would be remembered as "the day the Cold War was lost."

Mr. Cliburn's position as unofficial cultural ambassador between East and West is further evidenced by the acceptance of presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin to serve as honorary chairmen of this year's historic celebration. In 2003, when Mr. Cliburn was honored with the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, Mr. Bush cited his contributions as an artist and unofficial ambassador for the United States, stating that he had "the continued respect of [his] peers and the lasting admiration of the American people." President Putin awarded Cliburn the prestigious Russian Order of Friendship in 2004, as "an acknowledgment of [his] major personal contribution to the development of Russian-American cultural ties."

The March 1, 2008, gala anniversary celebration will be held on the West Lawn of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. A conservatory-inspired custom tent will be erected, boasting red carpet, chandeliers, damask linens, and large floral arrangements to replicate the décor found in one of Russia's Grand Palaces. President and Mrs. George Herbert Walker Bush, President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, Mrs. Tricia Nixon Cox, Mr. David Eisenhower and Mrs. Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Mrs. Gerald Ford, Ms. Luci Baines Johnson, Mrs. Ronald Reagan, and Mrs. Lynda Johnson Robb make the Presidents' Honor Circle a distinctive part of the March 1 event.

"I am very grateful for the honor my many friends of long-standing have bestowed upon me in their desire to remember this 50th anniversary," remarked Van Cliburn. "I vividly recall the details of my first trip to Russia as if it were yesterday. It has always been my feeling that great music evokes the same deeply felt emotions that run through all human beings: Americans, Russians, and people of the rest of the world. Classical music truly is universal."

Inspired by Mr. Cliburn's extraordinary dedication and artistry, a group of Fort Worth music teachers and private citizens established the Van Cliburn Foundation and International Piano Competition in 1962. The competition is held every four years and is the most visible expression of the Van Cliburn Foundation's commitment to the highest standards of musical achievement. Today, the competition is regarded as one of the world's preeminent musical events. Continuing Van Cliburn's legacy of tireless musical outreach worldwide, the Van Cliburn Foundation arranges for its winners to perform hundreds of engagements throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. It produces nationally and internationally broadcast television documentaries and syndicated radio programs and streams the entire competition live on the Internet.

Source: Van Cliburn Foundation

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