FORT WORTH, Texas, October 15, 2014—The Cliburn, Lone Star Film Festival, and Performing Arts Fort Worth announce today that Virtuosity, the story of the Fourteenth Cliburn Competition, directed by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Christopher Wilkinson, will be screened for the first time ever at Bass Performance Hall on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at 7 p.m. In a special partnership among the three organizations, the documentary will open the 2014 film festival, and will be only the second film to premiere at Fort Worth’s preeminent performing arts venue.
Tickets are free to the public and are general admission seating. They will be available—with two tickets allowed per order—online at Cliburn.org, Lonestarfilmfestival.com, and Basshall.com beginning Friday, October 17, 2014 at 10:00 a.m.
“There is a great synergy to partnering with Lone Star Film Festival to host the world premiere of this film in Fort Worth,” said Jacques Marquis, Cliburn president and CEO, “and to be able to do so at Bass Performance Hall, the Competition’s home venue and a character in the film itself, is fantastic. We’ve made this event free to the public, because we want everyone who contributed to the success of the Competition to be able to come and enjoy. The documentary is a celebration, first and foremost, of the exceptional pianists who competed in the 2013 Cliburn Competition—and the film’s creative team worked tirelessly to ensure that the story told is an accurate look at the reality of their lives as competitors and concert artists; but it is also the story of a community that embraces these young people and makes them their own. The people of this city and region come together to make the Cliburn happen, which is why it was important for us to share this with them first.”
ABOUT VIRTUOSITY
Virtuosity follows the inspirational odysseys of 30 protagonists as they travel from Moscow, London, New Haven, Brussels, Kiev, Lecce, Pescara, New York, Tokyo—to Fort Worth, Texas to compete in the most prestigious piano competition on the planet, the Cliburn. We join these phenomenal talents—who are also brilliant, funny, deep, and dazzling—for their emotional journeys of enlightenment, heartbreak, and triumph. Some win, some lose, but it’s the experience that allows us an inside view of who they are, where they come from and how they see the world. We see how these young people use music to discover themselves as they are entirely exposed on a concert stage.
Shot by an award-winning crew, the film’s lush photography and poetic editing reveals our artists’ humanity in a style worthy of this great event. Black and white and time-lapse footage is interspersed with concerts, interviews, practice sessions and backstage drama. And all of this takes place in the year in which the inspiration, spiritual heart, and namesake of the competition, Van Cliburn, passed away. The film would be nothing if not a tribute to his memory, his passion, and to his particular genius.
The Cliburn appreciates the support of the Fourteenth Competition Media Project from: Alcon, Forestar Oil & Gas, Jane and John Justin Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Burnett Foundation, and the Woodward Family Foundation.
ABOUT CHRISTOPHER WILKINSON, DIRECTOR
Christopher Wilkinson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Nixon (Touchstone). His writing credits include Ali (Columbia), Copying Beethoven (SKE/Myriad), which he also produced, and the upcoming Pawn Sacrifice. He is currently working on Mercury (GK Films/Paramount), which begins shooting in London this summer. Wilkinson has directed three second units, shooting principal sequences of The River (Universal), Intersection (Paramount), and For the Boys (Fox) on which he also served as a producer. Before working on feature films, he wrote, produced, and directed commercials and documentaries for EUE/Screen Gems, PBS, CBS Sports, and ESPN. His documentaries have won awards at the Chicago International Film Festival, The International Film Festival of New York, and CINE.
ABOUT LORI MILLER, PRODUCER
Lori Miller created and produced the multi-award-winning and New York Times Critics Pick documentary They Came to Play, which tells the inspirational stories of the participants in the Cliburn’s 2007 International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs™. She just completed Shakespeare High, also an award-winning documentary about under-served teens in California whose immersion in arts education compels them to overcome difficulties and create better lives. Featuring Kevin Spacey and Richard Dreyfuss, the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Lincoln Center Film Society, and on Showtime. Ms. Miller has also produced several independent features including: Panic, starring William H. Macy and Donald Sutherland (Sundance Film Festival, HBO, and theatrical release); The Last Supper, starring Cameron Diaz and Bill Paxton (Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals, Sony); Perfect Opposites, starring Piper Perabo and Jennifer Tilly (USA Network); and Campfire Tales, starring Ron Livingston and Christine Taylor (New Line).
ABOUT THE CLIBURN
The Cliburn advances classical piano music throughout the world. Its international competitions, education programs, and concert series embody an enduring commitment to artistic excellence and the discovery of new artists. Established in 1962, the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is widely-recognized as “one of the world’s highest-visibility classical-music contests” and remains committed to its original ideals of supporting and launching the careers of young pianists, age 18 to 30. It shares the transformative powers of music with a wide global audience, through a fully-produced webcast and by providing commission-free, comprehensive career management and concert bookings to its winners. Rounding out its mission, the Cliburn also produces the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs for non-professional pianists 35 and older, and recently announced that it will hold its inaugural Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival in June 2015, for exceptional 13 to 17-year-old pianists.
Over a four-year cycle, the Cliburn contributes to North Texas’ cultural landscape with over 170 classical music performances for 150,000 attendees, through competitions, free community concerts, and its signature Cliburn Concerts series at Bass Performance Hall, the Kimbell Art Museum Piano Pavilion, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It presents 1,000 in-school, interactive music education programs for 200,000 area elementary students. During the same time period, it garners the world’s attention with over one million visits from 155 nations for live concert and competition webcasts; 300 concerts worldwide booked for competition winners; more than 5,000 news articles about the Cliburn and its winners; regular national radio broadcasts to 245 public radio stations; and a PBS documentary airing in a potential 105 million households.
Detailed information about the Cliburn and its programs is available at Cliburn.org.
ABOUT LONE STAR FILM FESTIVAL
The Lone Star Film Festival (LSFF) in Sundance Square is the signature event of the Lone Star Film Society and a vibrant addition to the Fort Worth, Texas cultural landscape. The festival seeks to discover and platform emerging films, talent, trends, and distribution models that will shape the future of film while providing North Texas audiences with their first, and sometimes only, opportunity to see the most celebrated films of the year and interact with the artists who made them. The 2014 Lone Star Film Festival will take place November 5–9 in Sundance Square.
ABOUT PERFORMING ARTS FORT WORTH
The mission of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall is to serve as a permanent home to major performing arts organizations of Fort Worth and as a premiere venue for other attractions so as to enhance the range, quality, and accessibility of cultural fare available to the public; to promulgate arts education; and to contribute to the cultural life of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and the region.
Official Sponsors of the Cliburn are:
Amon G. Carter Foundation
Ann L. & Carol Green Rhodes Charitable Trust, Bank of America, Trustee
Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County
BNSF Railway Foundation
Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust
Edith Winther Grace Charitable Trust, J.P. Morgan, Trustee
ExxonMobil / XTO Energy
Jane and John Justin Foundation
Mercedes T. Bass Charitable Corporation
Sid W. Richardson Foundation
Steinway & Sons – North Texas / Houston
The Burnett Foundation
Exclusive Print Media Sponsor:
Star-Telegram
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