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Van Cliburn, celebrated classical pianist, dies at 78 Cliburn’s triumph at a Moscow competition helped him become the most famous classical pianist in American history in 1958.
April 1958
Van Cliburn performs in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in Moscow during the first International Tchaikovsky Competition, which he won. Van Cliburn, the tall, gangly, curly-haired Texan who became the most famous classical pianist in American history over a single extraordinary week in 1958, died Feb. 27 at his home in Fort Worth. He was 78.
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AP
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May 16, 1958
Van Cliburn is greeted by his mother and father at Idlewild Airport, now Kennedy Airport, in New York.
John Lent
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AP
May 20, 1958
Enthusiastic greeters reach over barriers to join hands with Texas pianist Van Cliburn in front of New York's City Hall during the civic reception for the 23-year-old artist who won international acclaim in a Moscow competition.
Jack Harris
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AP
June 21, 1958
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands congratulates Van Cliburn during a charity ball in Scheveningen, near the Hague, Netherlands. The ball was given by students from India, who were studying at the Institute for Social Studies. Cliburn, a surprise guest, played the piano at the invitation of the prince.
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AP
Dec. 2, 1958
Van Cliburn is shown as he stands in front of a 35-foot likeness of himself designed by local residents as part of the Van Cliburn Day celebration in Kilgore, Tex. From left are Mayor L.N. Crim, Gov. Price Daniel and Cliburn.
Carl Linde
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AP
Dec. 3, 1958
Van Cliburn, center, has an honorary Rotary membership pin affixed on his coat lapel by his father, H.L. Cliburn, left, at a luncheon held in his honor in Kilgore, Tex. The town celebrated Van Cliburn Day with the help of the governor and other dignitaries.
Carl Linde
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AP
Jan. 20, 1959
Van Cliburn won applause and kisses for the impromptu concert he gave reception in honor of Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan at the Russian Embassy in Washington. As Mikoyan, embassy officials and guests applauded, the wife of the embassy’s cultural counselor, Boris Krylov, rushed over to Cliburn and held his head for kisses on both cheeks. Russian Ambassador Mikhail Menshikov is at left.
Bob Schutz
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AP
April 7, 1959
Van Cliburn in New York.
John Rooney
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AP
May 1, 1959
Van Cliburn, right, poses with the Amvet Americanism Award he received from the American Veterans of World War II in Washington. He was honored for "conveying through the Iron Curtain the significance of the American way of life" during his visit to Russia. With Cliburn are Winston Burdine, left, the Amvet national commander, and Sen. Edmund S. Muskie (D-Maine), who made the presentation.
William J. Smith
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AP
June 16, 1959
Van Cliburn stands watching the program poster of La Scala Opera House in Milan. His name can be read on the poster. Cliburn held a concert at La Scala that same night, his only concert in Italy. In the background is part of Milan City Hall.
Fedele Toscani
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AP
Oct. 26, 1959
Van Cliburn, and Rosalind Elias are shown on arrival at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. They attended a performance of Verdi's "Il Trovatore," which opened the 75th season of the Met.
Ray Howard
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AP
Oct. 14, 1967
Van Cliburn shows off his tailcoat and trousers, borrowed from President Lyndon Johnson, at Constitution Hall. Cliburn arrived in Washington by plane but his clothes went on to Memphis. The pianist finally contacted the White House in a search of an outfit. Johnson said, he "can have the best I've got." So, in the borrowed coat and trousers, Cliburn gave his concert.
Charles Gorry
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AP
April 29, 1971
Van Cliburn signs autographs for admiring fans after a concert in Evanston, Ill., that was a benefit for Evanston College.
Fred Jewell
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AP
March 27, 1977
Van Cliburn plays in a Minneapolis parking lot next to a music company, whose wall is adorned with a giant sheet of music. The wall score is Maurice Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit." Cliburn was in town for a number of concerts.
Jim Mone
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AP
July 2, 1989
Van Cliburn hands over $10,000 tied with pink ribbon to the Soviet Culture Fund at the beginning of a benefit concert in Moscow in front of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa.
Boris Yurchenko
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AP
Nov. 5, 1997
From left, Barbara Bush, Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn and Van Cliburn, look skyward at the fireworks show over the George Bush Presidential Library, on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Tex. The show concluded the first of three days of festivities surrounding the dedication of the library.
Bill Waugh
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AP
March 4, 2001
Van Cliburn performs Johannes Brahms's "Two Rhapsodies” in Op. 79 at Symphony Hall in Boston.
Christopher Pfuhl
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AP
Dec. 1, 2001
Kennedy Center Honors recipients — clockwise from back left, Van Cliburn, actor Jack Nicholson, singer Luciano Pavarotti, music producer Quincy Jones and actress Julie Andrews — gather after the annual awards dinner at the State Department in Washington.
Linda Spillers
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AP
Feb. 26, 2004
Van Cliburn, right, holds Cedric, owned by Paul G. Irwin, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, after a performance by Cliburn in honor of the group’s 50th anniversary at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
Glenwood Jackson
Feb. 26, 2004
Van Cliburn hugs Susan Wadsworth, director of Young Concert Artists, after her tribute to him during a 25th anniversary gala at the Italian Embassy in Washington.
Matthew Cavanaugh
Sept. 20, 2004
President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks with Van Cliburn during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow.
Alexander Zemlianichenko
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AP
Sept. 21, 2004
Van Cliburn plays at a concert dedicated to the memory of victims of the Beslan school massacre in Moscow.
Sergey Ponomarev
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AP
March 1, 2008
Van Cliburn at the Cliburn Foundation Gala in Fort Worth. The gala, held in a massive tent on the lawn of the Kimbell Art Museum, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Cliburn's upset win of the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958.
Amy Peterson
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Fort Worth Star-Telegram
March 1, 2011
President Obama shakes hands with Van Cliburn after presenting him with the 2010 National Medal of Arts.
Larry Downing
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Reuters
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