A&E

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

Lessons Learned in Fort Worth

The fine folks at the Los Alamos Daily Post have let me chew up a lot of digital space over the past 10 days writing about an event in (gasp!) Texas. I have been known to grouse about our local media covering off-the-hill arts events at the expense of local efforts. So what’s going on here? What does the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition have to do with us?

The most obvious answer is, of course, that the Los Alamos Concert Association will be presenting one of the three Cliburn medalists Read More

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

Three Magnificent Performers

Hello from high in the Texas sky.

On day three of the Cliburn Competition finals, Russia’s Nikita Mndoyants surprised the audience with two original cadenzas in his performance of Mozart’s Concerto No. 20. On day four, Ukrainian Vadym Kholodenko went him one better by performing a cadenza that he composed during his nine-hour flight to Fort Worth. (I’m usually satisfied if I manage to finish the in-flight crossword and get a good nap.) His performance of one of Mozart’s happiest concertos Read More

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

Three Finalist, Three Concertos

Something unique in my concert-going experience happened last night. Cliburn Competition finalist Nikita Mndoyants played his own cadenzas.

A cadenza is a virtuosic solo interlude inserted into a movement of a concerto, an opportunity toreally show off. In the good old days, when pianists were trained to do this, they often improvised elaborate cadenzas on the spot. Composers usually wrote cadenzas for their pieces and those the ones most frequently performed.

Mndoyants has Read More

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

The weather in Fort Worth has been one of many very pleasant surprises during the Cliburn Competition. The oppressive heat and humidity one expects at this time of year have been blessedly absent.

The Bass Performance Hall, however, maintains the arctic chill typical of every interior space in the city. No wonder the Cliburn’s back stage “mom” keeps a heating pad on hand, reportedly clutched like a teddy bear by the competitors before each performance.

The youngest Read More

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

Last night, the audience was much larger and the stage was filled with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for the finals of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Leonard Slatkin, in his first appearance at the Cliburn, led the orchestra through some very challenging repertoire. This gig makes unusual demands on everyone involved. Each pianist has about an hour to rehearse with the orchestra, precious little time when the works they are playing Read More

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

With just five hours remaining before the Cliburn Competition final round begins, I want to turn from pianists and music to a topic of vital concern to every female concert-goer ─ bathrooms.

Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall is an admirable venue: lovely to look at, comfortable, with great acoustics. But even the most beautiful performing arts facility can shortchange women when it comes to bathrooms, so I faced my first trip to this necessity with the usual nagging Read More

Posts Live from Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!