WFCC

Classical Fact

In 1947, a tall, slim, reserved, thirteen-year-old Shreveport Louisiana native appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony after winning the Texas State Prize piano contest. That would be among the first of countless competition triumphs for Van Cliburn. He began his piano studies with his mother, who was his only piano teacher until he was seventeen years old. He entered the Juilliard School of Music, performing with the New York Philharmonic a few years later. In 1958, as the Cold War escalated between the United States and the Soviet Union, Van Cliburn traveled to Moscow and became the first American to win the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition. He returned to New York to a hero's welcome and a recording contract that resulted in the first classical record to sell enough copies to be awarded a "platinum record".