VAN CLIBURN  ~  A MUSICAL STAR and TEXAS CLASSIC

Submitted by: Cecile Johnson

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Van Cliburn was born Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr on July 12,1934 in Shreveport, Louisiana, only child of Rildia Bee O’Bryan and Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Sr. At the age of 3 he began studying piano with his mother who had been taught by Arthur Friedheim, a pupil of Franz Liszt. She would be his only teacher during his formative years until he went to the Juilliard School of Music.  At age 6 Cliburn and family moved to Kilgore, Texas and at age 12 he won a statewide piano competition enabling him to debut with the Houston Symphony.  While at Juilliard beginning at age 17, he studied with piano pedagogue Rosina Lhevinne in the tradition of the Russian masters and at 20 he made his Carnegie Hall debut. He played the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 which would become his signature piece.

But it was his recognition in Moscow that propelled Van Cliburn to international acclaim.  In 1958 Cliburn entered the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Russia~ an event “designed to demonstrate Soviet cultural superiority during the Cold War following the successful Sputnik launch in October 1957.”   His finale performances of the Tchaikovsky Concerto #1 and the very difficult Rachmaninoff Third earned him a standing ovation that lasted a full 8 minutes. The Soviet judges were compelled to ask Premier Nikita Krushchev for permission to give the FIRST prize to an American.  “Is he the best?”  Krushchev asked. “Then give him the prize!” So Van Cliburn was awarded the FIRST PRIZE  and returned to a ticker-tape parade in New York City, the only time that the honor has been bestowed upon a classical musician.  Time Magazine then put him on the cover giving him the title “The Texan Who Conquered Russia.”  RCA Victor signed Cliburn to an exclusive recording contract and his performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 became the first classical album to go platinum -selling a million copies-and became the best selling album for more than a decade ultimately selling more that 3 million copies world-wide.   Cliburn then won the 1958 Grammy Award for best Classical Performance.  He would later win a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000, and the Russian Order of Achievement Award in 2004 to add to his Kennedy Center Honor for Artistic Achievement in 2001.

In 1962 Cliburn became the founder and artistic advisor for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held every four years in Fort Worth. Its prestige now rivals that of the Tchaikovsky Competition he first won in Russia.

Cliburn continued performing and recording throughout the 70s, until in 1978 following the deaths of his father and manager, he began a secluded,almost reclusive hiatus from public life. But nine years later, in 1987 he accepted an invitation to  perform at the WHITE HOUSE for President RONALD REAGAN and visiting Soviet General Secretary MIKAIL GORBACHEV. He returned to the concert stage with limited engagements including the opening of the Ballpark in Arlington with a rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner."

He was later invited to open the 100^th Anniversary Celebration Season of Carnegie Hall.

          Now 73, Cliburn gives a very limited number of performances and appearances each year, but always to critical and popular acclaim. He has played for royalty, heads of states from dozens of countries and for every President of the United States since Harry Truman. 

          Cliburn currently resides in the Fort Worth,Texas suburb of Westover Hills (an estate formerly owned by the Kay Kimbell family of the renowned Kimbell Art Museum). He shared this home with his mother until her death in 1994.  He says that she was his best teacher, mentor and advisor.  Van Cliburn continues to oversee the Cliburn International Piano Competition at the Bass Hall and now lends his name and support to the Amateur Piano Competition as well. Both are a part of Cliburn’s living legacy, a bright and hopeful signpost for the future of American music and a testimony to the power of young musicians who, through their music, artistic talent and grace, try to bring healing, peace  and beauty to a fractured world.