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Dr. Allison, a music educator, had long desired to launch a competition which would help music student raise the quality of their work. He began by founding the National Guild of Piano Teachers, which used a system of auditions to help teachers and their students assess their progress and proficiency. He dreamed of a prize winning competition and spoke of establishing one from time to time. Then at a dinner honoring Van Cliburn, without any warning, he announced the Guild would sponsor an international quadrennial competition with the unheard-of prize of $10,000! He said it would be named after Van Cliburn, as the winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
The organizer of that dinner, Mrs. Grace Ward Lankford, began working with Dr. Allison immediately since the Fort Worth Piano Teachers Forum had plans to launch a competition as well. The two plans merged, and Mrs. Lankford rolled up her sleeves to recruit community support. By dint of determination, cajolery and sheer pluck, she enlisted the support of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and Texas Christian University. Piano teachers shared their enthusiasm as volunteer workers in a vacant room at the Boswell Dairy. Soon townsfolk, music lovers, and civic leaders all donated time, stuffing envelopes, licking stamps and carting bundles of mail off to the post office. These volunteers laid the foundation of what has become a world-renowned competition.
The first competition was held at Ed Landreth Hall at TCU in Fort Worth, where it is still held today. From the very beginning it has required a chamber music, an innovation for major competitions. Since the beginning it was also decided to commission as special piece of music, by an American composer, which would serve as a test of the contestants' artistic perception. Competitors would have to perform the piece without ever hearing it recorded, and with only six weeks to work with the piece before the competition!
The competition originally required that the performers be prepared to play from a required repertoire list. This requirement was dropped in 1993, has evolved to include repertoire, or music selections, of the contestants' choice. This allows the pianists to choose pieces which reveal their individual strengths. Each pianist plays a solo recital in the first round, and twelve advance to the semifinals. Semi-finalists play a recital and piano quintet chamber music are required. Six finalists are selected. Each performs two concertos, one with Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, and one with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. An awards ceremony concludes the Competition.
Over the years the awards have expanded. Three medals are awards, which includes cash prizes, management services which coordinate world-wide recital engagements with leading orchestras and travel arrangements, making the value of the competition over $200,000. (See chart.)
The Competition also brings many benefits to Fort Worth as a community. Pianists from around the world play engagements here. Texas Christian University offers the TCU/Cliburn Institute, a two-week summer program of workshops for young performers. The Competition's Foundation participates in outreach programs which bring music to the public schools, enriching the lives and tastes of future audiences. Texas' famous hospitality shines, too, as Fort Worth families host the pianists during their stay here. Families have been known to rent grand pianos during this time, until Steinway's generosity provided these for the competitor's rehearsals.
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition looks to the future. As this century draws to a close, we can be proud of the Competition as one of its best and happiest achievements, providing for a rich future of musical pleasure and accomplishment.
