Music

  

               Van Cliburn won international fame as the winner of the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition during the height of the cold war and space race, following the successful Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1958.   Hailed as a hero and ambassador of American culture, 23-year-old Cliburn won at the competition that was given in Moscow to prove the superiority of the Soviet culture. America's confidence, shaken by the success of Sputnik allowed for an indirect American vindication by the triumph. His performances of   Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 earned him an eight minute standing ovation. The judges consulted Premier Nikita Khrushchev to ask if the award could go to an American.  The premier asked, "Is he the best? Then give him the prize!" Upon his return home to America, Cliburn was showered with a tickertape parade in New York City, the first ever given for a musician.  Cliburn was featured on the cover of Time magazine, which was entitled, "The Texan who captured Russia."

Borin in 1934 as Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr., in Shreveport, La., Cliburn moved to Kilgore, Texas with his parents at the age of 6.  Cliburn's mother, Rildia Bee O'Bryan taught him the piano at the age of 3.  His mother was taught  by Arthur Friedheim, pupil of world renounced composer Franz Liszt who was considered at that time "the best organist in the world."

Following 17 years of learning under his mother as his only teacher, he was admitted to the Julliard School of music. There he studied under Rosina Lhévinne, who trained him in the tradition of romantic Russian music.  Following the win in Moscow, Cliburn was signed to an RCA recording contract that became the first platinum selling classical album, leading in classical sells world-wide for more than ten years, eventually becoming a triple-platinum seller.

In 1978 Cliburn took a hiatus from public life following the death of his father and manager.  He reentered public life in 1987 to entertain Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, who was a guest of President Regan.  Nancy Regan invited Cliburn to sing and play "Moscow Nights", which broke the diplomatic ice, even causing the Russian president and his wife to break out in song. As history now shows, the two presidents developed a working relationship due to talks and negotiations.

During an interview given to Scott Simon on National Public Radio at his home outside of Fort Worth, Texas, Van Cliburn was introduced as "the big-eared kid from the South that shook up the world with the way he played music."  Cliburn granted the interview on the  50^th anniversary of his win in Moscow.  During the era of the space race and the cold war, Van Cliburn was able to create internation commonality and warmth with the universal language of  his music.

"Biography of Van Cliburn." The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 24 Apr. 2009. <http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3707&source_type=A>