May 13, 2011
KERA-TV TO PREMIERE THEY CAME TO PLAY ON
TUESDAY, MAY 17
Documentary on Cliburn's 2007 Amateur Competition
will rebroadcast Sunday, May 22
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Maggie Estes, Director of Marketing
mestes@cliburn.org
<mestes@cliburn.org>
, 817.738.6536
Fort Worth, Texas, MAY 13, 2011-They Came to
Play, the stunning documentary chronicling the Van
Cliburn Foundation's fifth International Piano Competition
for Outstanding Amateurs™that was named a
New York Times Critics' Pick in 2010, will make its
Dallas/Fort Worth television debut Tuesday, May 17,
2011 at 7:00 p.m. (CST)on KERA-TV
Channel 13. The film is also set to rebroadcast on
Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.
(CST).
The next (sixth) International Piano Competition for
Outstanding Amateurs will take place May 23-29, 2011 in Ed Landreth
Auditorium on the campus of TCU and will feature 73 of the world's
best non-professional pianists, ranging in age from 35 to 79 and
representing 10 countries and 17 nationalities. Tickets to
competition rounds are on sale now at Cliburn.org or 817.738.6536
($10-35 for individual tickets, $100-130 for packages).
They Came to Play is an uplifting feature-length
documentary showcasing the passion, pressure, and potential
surrounding this prestigious event, which reunites these
distinguished amateur pianists with their dreams, if only for a
brief time. The New York Times called it
"beautifully executed," noting, "you can feel the joy and surprise
that must have gone through the concert hall and the winner."
View the documentary's trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zY0-pc4NZ8
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zY0-pc4NZ8>
Created by an award-winning team of filmmakers, including director
Alex Rotaru, producer Lori
Miller,and executive producer Ronnie
Planalp,this entertaining, irreverent, and above all,
inspiring film was deemed "delightful and disarming" by
Variety magazine. It provides an intimate look into the
lives of these colorful, multi-faceted competitors as they strive
to balance the demands of work and family with their love of music.
Years of dedicated preparation culminate in critical performances
before a professional jury and discerning audience during three
nerve-wracking elimination rounds.
Having made their careers outside of music in fields ranging from
real estate to medicine, professional tennis to education, the
competition represents the fulfillment of long-deferred dreams. For
competitors who have faced such extraordinary challenges as drug
addiction, AIDS, or political asylum, the competition is also a
triumph over adversity. For all, it represents an overwhelming
desire to express a deeper side of themselves, musically and
otherwise.
Commentary from noted American pianist Van Cliburn and gold
medalists from the Foundation's professional competition, along
with outstanding performances of great classical masterworks-from
Beethoven to Alkan and from Rachmaninoff to Barber-complement the
action in a film that celebrates the creator and the competitor in
each of us.
About the sixth International Piano Competition for
Outstanding Amateurs
Established in 1999, the International Piano Competition
for Outstanding Amateurs was the first of its kind in the United
States and celebrates the importance of music-making as a vital
part of daily life. The competition is open to pianists age 35 and
older who do not derive their principal source of income through
piano performance or instruction. Over the course of the week,
these talented musicians will compete in three elimination rounds,
have opportunities to explore chamber music works with professional
musicians, and participate in symposia and other social
events.
From May 23-29, 2011, the sixth Amateur Competition will bring
together a diverse group of 73 of the world's finest
non-professional pianists, ranging in age from 35 to 79 years old.
They represent 17 nationalities and hail from 10 countries:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico,
the United Kingdom, and the United States. Representing a broad
range of occupations and professions, the competition will feature
performances by attorneys, physicians, business executives, and
architects, as well as by a jeweler, a screenwriter, a retired
dancer, a kindergarten teacher, and a Formula One racecar designer,
among others.
Competitors will be judged by a jury of distinguished performers
and scholars, and by a press jury comprised of some of the nation's
foremost music critics. The jurors will oversee the competition's
three elimination rounds and will announce the winners in a special
awards ceremony on Sunday, May 29 at 6:30 p.m. Three top-prize
winners, each receiving a cash award, will be selected.
Additionally, jury discretionary, press jury, and specific
programming prizes will also be awarded.
Tickets and information are available now at Cliburn.org or by
calling 817.738.6536.
About the Van Cliburn Foundation
The Van Cliburn Foundation disseminates classical music
worldwide, and launches and nurtures young artists' careers through
the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the
ensuing three-year international concert tours of its medalists,
award-winning documentaries, and a syndicated radio series
dedicated to the competition and its most memorable performances.
By making the competition available in its entirety on the
Internet, the Foundation has extended its outreach to listeners in
every corner of the globe.
For audiences in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the Van Cliburn
Foundation promotes great music and world-class artists through the
annual Cliburn Concerts series. It reaches over 30,000 elementary
school students annually with the education programs of Musical
Awakenings®. In 1999, it established the International Piano
Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, which The Boston
Globe proclaimed "a celebration of music, and the people who
have to make music, no matter what."
Visit Cliburn.org to learn more about the Cliburn as it approaches
the 50th anniversary of the First Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition.
About KERA
KERA is a not-for-profit public media organization that
serves the people of North Texas. The station broadcasts to the
fourth-largest population area in the United States. KERA produces
original multimedia content, carries the best in national and
international public television and radio programs, and provides
online resources at www.kera.org. The station's
extensive coverage of the arts can be found at www.artandseek.org. KERA-TV
broadcasts on Channel 13.1. KERA WORLD broadcasts on 13.2. KERA-FM
broadcasts on 90.1 in Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton, 88.3 in Wichita
Falls, 100.1 in Tyler and 99.3 in Sherman. KXT 91.7 FM, KERA's new
music station, KXT 91.7, is streamed online at www.kxt.org <http://www.kxt.org> .
ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of
the Van Cliburn Foundation. American Airlines;
"Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust,"
Bank of America, Trustee;
Steinway & Sons; and XTO Energy
Inc. are Official Corporate Sponsors. Official Sponsors
are the Amon G. Carter Foundation, Arts
Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County,
Beaumont Foundation of America, the
Burnett Foundation, the Sid W. Richardson
Foundation, and the T. Boone Pickens
Foundation. Star-Telegram is the
exclusive print media sponsor, and WRR 101.1 FM is
the official radio station of Cliburn Concerts.
