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Michael DeMarco

Michael DeMarco

Music is My Business

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Performing Arts

Van Cliburn Competition: Celebrating The Winner and Remembering Van

van cliburn winner

Be in awe. 

I am compelled to share this amazing video analysis of the winning performance of the recent Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Be in awe of the winner Yunchan Lim from South Korea, at 18, the youngest to win the competition in its 60 year history. Watch it below and experience the reaction of two of the competition’s jury members.

Remembering Van

Van Cliburn at the Moscow Conservatory, playing in 1958’s Tchaikovsky Competition

Cliburn’s Win in Moscow

Cliburn won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958. An American winning in Moscow during the height of the Cold War. He played Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto # 3 to win as Yunchan just did. Cliburn became a bridge between Khrushchev and Eisenhower at the time and then later played for Gorbachev and Reagan to relieve tensions at their summit.  

Meeting Van

Several years ago, while producing a music performance at The White House, I was pleasantly surprised that Van Cliburn was a guest and I was able to meet and enjoy a drink with him.

Cliburn remains the only musician to receive a ticker-tape parade in NYC. (I of course asked him about it.)

After the ticker tape parade, Cliburn arrived at City Hall and when Mayor Robert Wagner asked him to speak, he said:

The thing that thrills me the most is that you are honoring classical music.

Because I am only a witness and a messenger.
I am only one of many that believe in the beauty of music.
“

Van Cliburn

Listen to Yunchan Lim

Do you believe Yunchan Lim’s career as a major International Concert Pianist has just been launched?  View this terrific analysis from Tonebase.

Is Yunchan Lim’s Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto the greatest ever? 임윤찬 (ft. Cliburn jurors)

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Michael DeMarco

Celebrity Direct Inc.

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