October 22, 2008
October 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laura Grant, Grant Communications
978.208.0552
Sevan Melikyan, Director of Marketing
817.738.6536
A competition within a competition:
the third American Composers Invitational at the Cliburn
2009
Audiences at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition (Cliburn 2009), May 22-June 7, 2009, will hear winners
from not one, but two competitions. During the Semifinal Round,
each competitor will perform one of the winning works from the
Foundation's third American Composers Invitational (ACI).
The Van Cliburn Foundation's longstanding commitment to promote
and support classical pianists and their artform has always
included the genre of contemporary composition. Beginning with its
First Competition in 1962, and continuing through the Tenth
Competition in 1997, the Foundation commissioned a work by an
American composer, which all semifinalists were required to play.
Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and John
Corigliano were among the acclaimed composers who penned works for
the Cliburn Competition (please see complete list below). At the
suggestion of Mr. Corigliano, the Foundation established the
American Composers Invitational as part of the Eleventh Competition
in 2001, to seek out a broader range of works from a new generation
of composers.
The American Composers Invitational begins with the selection of
a nominating committee of music industry professionals. Committee
members recommend American composers to be invited to submit solo
piano scores of approximately eight to twelve minutes in length.
The works are reviewed by a jury, who selects up to five
compositions. The selected works are then sent to the competitors,
who are asked to choose one work to perform as part of their
Semifinal Round program.
While the initiative provides exposure to the work of American
composers, it also underscores the importance of creating music
that appeals to performers.
Each composer whose work is performed during the Semifinal Round
receives a cash prize. A grand prize is awarded to the composer
whose work is selected by the greatest number of semifinalists.
Lowell Liebermann (2001) and Sebastian Currier (2005) were the
grand prize winners for the first two Invitationals.
The deadline for composers to submit works for the 2009
Invitational is December 15, 2008. In March, the thirty young
pianists selected to participate at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn
Competition will be asked to choose their preferred ACI score for
inclusion in their Semifinal Round performance. All prizewinners of
the third American Composers Invitational will be named during the
announcement of the semifinalists on May 27, 2009.
Van Cliburn Foundation commissioned works and winners of
the American Composers Invitational:
1962 Commissioned Work: Lee Hoiby, Capriccio on Five Notes
1966 Commissioned Work: Willard Straight, Structure for Piano
1969 Commissioned Work: Norman Dello Joio, Capriccio on the
Interval of a Second
1973 Commissioned Work: Aaron Copland, Night Thoughts
1977 Commissioned Work: Samuel Barber,
Ballade
1981 Commissioned Work: Leonard Bernstein, Touches
1985 Commissioned Work: John Corigliano, Fantasia on an
Ostinato
1989 Commissioned Work: William Schuman, Chester: Variations for
Piano
1993 Commissioned Work: Morton Gould, Ghost Waltzes
1997 Commissioned Work: William Bolcom, Nine Bagatelles
2001 American Composers Invitational Grand Prize: Lowell
Liebermann, Three Impromptus
2005 American Composers Invitational Grand Prize: Sebastian
Currier, Scarlatti Cadences + Brainstorm
The Van Cliburn Foundation will hold the Thirteenth Van Cliburn
International Piano Competition May 22-June 7, 2009, at Bass
Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Held every four years since
1962, this special event will begin in January 2009 with the
worldwide Screening Recitals, and end in June with the announcement
of the winners. Approximately 120 applicants between the ages of
eighteen and thirty will be chosen to perform in the public
screening recitals before a five-member jury. Selected applicants
will perform forty-minute programs in one of six locations:
Shanghai, China; Hannover, Germany; Lugano, Switzerland; St.
Petersburg, Russia; New York, New York; and Fort Worth, Texas. On
March 5, 2009, the Foundation will announce the names of
approximately thirty pianists selected to participate in the
Cliburn 2009.
Of special note is the opening event on February 11, 2009, at
the New York Screening Recitals, to be held February 12- 18. To
kick off the screenings, the Foundation will present the New York
premiere of They Came to Play--a feature-length documentary that
celebrates the joy of classical music as seen through the Van
Cliburn Foundation's 2007 International Piano Competition for
Outstanding Amateurs, along with guest speakers and a surprise
master of ceremonies. The documentary had its Texas premiere on
October 16 (presented by the Lone Star Film Society), and will
receive its Florida premiere on October 25 at the 23rd Annual Fort
Lauderdale International Film Festival.
The Cliburn 2009 winners will be announced at the Awards
Ceremony on June 7. All six finalists will receive a prize package
offering three years of managed concert tours with a combined total
of more than 300 concert engagements, valued at over $1,000,000, as
well as cash awards and other prizes.
Please visit www.cliburn.or
g for complete details on the American Composers Invitational and
the Cliburn 2009, and to purchase subscriptions to the event.
ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn
Foundation. American Airlines, Bank of America, City of Fort Worth,
Eastman Kodak Company, JPMorgan Chase, Star-Telegram, Steinway
& Sons, and XTO Energy Inc. are Official Corporate Sponsors,
and Clear Channel Communications and RadioShack Corporation are the
Cliburn's Corporate Sponsors. Official Sponsors are the Arts
Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County, The Burnett Foundation,
the Beaumont Foundation of America, and the Sid W. Richardson
Foundation. Star- Telegram is the principal media partner and WRR
101.1 FM is the official radio station of Cliburn Concerts.
Contact: Laura Grant
email: lgrant11@comcast.net
phone: 978.208.0552
web:
