In news that will surprise very few of you, the Van Cliburn Foundation announced today that the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has been postponed. The quadrennial tournament had been slated for May of next year, but when its regular venue Bass Hall announced that it would not be holding in-person events for the rest of 2020, the Cliburn became the next domino to fall. In its press release, the foundation cited not only the obvious concerns about audience safety but also the fact that the competition winners’ ability to perform on a concert tour after the competition would be hampered. In the video embedded below, Cliburn president and CEO Jacques Marquis said, “The audience is a crucial part of any competition, and at the Cliburn in Fort Worth, we have a fantastic, warm audience that share [sic] this passion with the musicians who will welcome the world.”
The contest has been re-scheduled for June 2022. I hope to be in this space blogging about the competition as I have in years past, with a packed crowd safely around me.
