Cliburn Kids on the Road at Chandor Gardens
Spring Break 2025
Date: March 20, 2025 11:00 am CDT
Venue: Chandor Gardens
Bring your family and friends for a free interactive, educational concert! In this season of Cliburn Kids on the Road, our artists present “What Makes a Hero,” a program that celebrates music with your favorite heroes.
PROGRAM
WHAT MAKES A HERO?
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a pianist?! A musical conversation about heroes, from caped comic book characters to heroes we meet in everyday life, told through the lens of how Van Cliburn used the superpower of music to connect people around the world.
Featured music:
BEETHOVEN–LISZT Symphony No. 3 “Eroica,” S. 464/3
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor: II. Romance
BENZECRY Toccata Newen
CHOPIN Etude op. 10, no. 12 “Revolutionary”
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23: I. Allegro non troppo
HOUGH Fanfare Toccata
ABOUT
CALEB DE LA TORRE, HOST
Program host Caleb De La Torre graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a bachelor’s degree in acting. A native of South Texas, Caleb is currently based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and is active in the local theater scene. He can be seen on stage at the Shakespeare Dallas, Amphibian Stage, and Theatre Arlington, and is a resident actor in the film production company Fluidity Films. The Mexican-American actor is dedicated to education and community engagement, and teaches bilingual theater workshops for students at Dallas Theater Center.
When he isn’t acting, Caleb plays the drums, collects comic books and action figures (mostly Star Wars and superheroes), and likes to produce his own short films. He is so happy to join Cliburn in the Classroom as a host for the first time in the 2024–2025 school year!
ABOUT
MICHAEL BUKHMAN, PIANIST
Passionate about collaboration, pianist Michael Bukhman is active internationally as a chamber musician, adjudicator, and pedagogue. An award-winning pianist, he has been a top-prize winner and medalist in several international piano competitions.
Currently associate professor of collaborative piano and chamber music at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Michael participated in the inaugural concerts of the Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU. Working with musicians from the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, he has also been featured in the Metamorphosis Dallas ensemble, the Spectrum Chamber Music Series, and the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth. He also established a local chapter of Music for Food, an international community outreach program, generating thousands of dollars to benefit the Tarrant Area Food Bank.
Prior to his appointment to TCU, Michael served as guest artist-in-residence at the Oberlin Conservatory, and on the staff and pre-college faculty of the New England Conservatory. He also taught at Bard and Vassar Colleges. While at Bard, he founded Play/Chat@Bard, a concert series showcasing young musicians in performance with informal conversation.
Michael attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he became the first in that institution’s history to graduate with Honors in Piano Performance. He holds MM and DMA degrees from The Juilliard School.