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NEW YORK PREMIERE OF CLIBURN DOCUMENTARY JAN. 11; and SCREENING AT PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL JAN. 10 & 11

 

Virtuosity  chronicles the artistic and emotional journeys of the 2013 Cliburn competitors; tickets for New York screening are on sale now.


For Immediate Release

Contact:
Maggie Estes, director of marketing and public relations, mestes@cliburn.org, 817.738.6536

FORT WORTH, Texas, January 6, 2015Virtuosity, the story of the Fourteenth Cliburn Competition, directed by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Christopher Wilkinson, will have its New York premiere at Florence Gould Hall - French Institute Alliance Française (55 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022) on Sunday, January 11, 2015 at 3 p.m. EST. There will be a question and answer with filmmakers and participants following directly following. General admission tickets for the screening are $10 and are on sale now HERE. Complimentary tickets are available for members of the media by emailing mestes@cliburn.org.

For the full digital press kit, including credits, images, and clips, please visit: http://www.cliburn.org/virtuosity/

The film has also been accepted to the Palm Springs International Film Festival and will be screened at Palm Canyon Theatre (538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262) on Saturday, January 10, 2015 at 2:00 PST and Sunday, January 11, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. PST. Both screenings are sold out. For more information on the festival, visit http://www.psfilmfest.org/


ABOUT VIRTUOSITY
Virtuosity searches for the musical souls of the most gifted young pianists on the planet as they try to make a name for themselves at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The pressure on these kids is overwhelming, because the stakes are so high: prize money, concert bookings, a recording contract, a career.

At the heart of this story is the courage it takes for a 20-year-old to go onstage alone before 2,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more online, and play a unique interpretation of one of the most difficult pieces ever written for the piano. The Competition requires not only a transcendent musical ability, but a mental toughness that must sustain the soloist through three straight weeks of performance. The Cliburn becomes as much a test of character as a musical proving ground.

And all of the onstage brilliance and backstage drama takes place in the year in which the inspiration and namesake of the competition, Van Cliburn, passed away. This film is a tribute to his memory, and to his particular genius.

But ultimately, we focus on this group of kids as they articulate their personalities through their music: brilliant, eccentric, tender, touching, dazzling, deadly serious, wildly entertaining. We share their secrets, their hopes, their humanity. As different as they are as people, these young musicians share a single reality: winning The Cliburn would change their lives overnight.

The film made its world premiere on November 5, 2014 as a special opening night event for the Lone Star Film Festival at Bass Performance Hall in the Cliburn’s hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. It is scheduled to air nationally on PBS on Friday, June 19, 2015.

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. And in-kind support from: Canon, Technicolor, Lowel Lighting, and The Tiffen Company.


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.

 
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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