Search - Van Cliburn :: Van Cliburn: Recital

After 23-year-old Van Cliburn of Texas won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, taking with him both the hearts of the Russian people and his jury (which included such luminaries as Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, Richter and Gilels), he went on to achieve a celebrity and charisma unknown since the days of Liszt and Padereweski. But Cliburn's only London solo concert, given at the Royal Festival Hall one year later, was no less a remarkable event. A capacity audience (including a bevy of Hollywood stars) witnessed playing of a wholly extraordinary communicative character and power.