August 5, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VAN CLIBURN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SECOND YOUTUBE CONTEST FOR AMATEUR
PIANISTS
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, August 5, 2009--Beginning September 1, 2009,
the Van Cliburn Foundation will host its second Cliburn YouTube
Contest for Amateur Pianists. Applicants will submit a
five-to-ten-minute performance video recorded within the past six
months to be judged by online viewers. The winner of the Cliburn
YouTube Contest will receive automatic entry into the sixth
International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, scheduled
for May 23-29, 2011. The application fee will be waived.
The YouTube Contest is open to any classical pianist who does not
derive a significant portion of his/her income from performance,
composition, and/or piano instruction and is at least thirty-five
years old. The winner may not have won any previous Cliburn
competitions.
Video entries will be accepted through November 2, 2009, and posted
on the Van Cliburn Foundation's YouTube Channel. Beginning November
9, voters may go online and select the contestant of their choice.
Voters will be required to register through the Cliburn's website,
and will be sent a ballot via email. Voting closes on November 24,
2009.
Van Cliburn Foundation president Richard Rodzinski commented that
"the YouTube Contest underscores the importance that the Cliburn
places on making music at home while also supporting the highest
level of performance on stage. The excitement of watching and
listening to so many pianists offering up extraordinary
performances serves as a wonderful incentive for all to go to the
piano and begin to play."
The Cliburn has held its International Piano Competition for
Outstanding Amateurs in Fort Worth since 1999. The competition
includes three rounds that take place in TCU's Ed Landreth
Auditorium. Only six of seventy-five preliminary competitors
compete in the Final Round, which requires competitors to prepare
up to thirty minutes of repertoire.
The Amateur Competition features a prominent jury and numerous
awards, including the $2,000 Richard Rodzinski First Prize Award,
established in 2007. The 2011 competition jury will consist of
concert pianists, piano teachers, and other professional musicians
chaired by John Giordano, former music director of the Fort Worth
Symphony Orchestra. There will also be press juries made up of
music writers from a number of American newspapers and other
publications.
For more information on the Cliburn YouTube Contest, including
official rules and video clips, please visit www.cliburn.org.
ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn
Foundation. American Airlines, Bank of America, City of Fort Worth,
J.P.Morgan, Star-Telegram, Steinway & Sons, and XTO Energy Inc.
are Official Corporate Sponsors. Official Sponsors are the Amon G.
Carter Foundation, Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County,
Beaumont Foundation of America, the Burnett Foundation, the Sid W.
Richardson Foundation, and the T. Boone Pickens Foundation.
Star-Telegram is the principal media partner and WRR 101.1 FM is
the official radio station of Cliburn Concerts.
________________________________________
Contact:
Cliburn Press Office- 817-738-6536
