Cliburn Piano Competition

A young German pianist is conquering America. Jan Gottlieb Jiracek was the only German among 35 candidates in this year's Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which ended last Sunday (June 8th) in Fort Worth, Texas. The competition, founded 35 years ago, it is now held every four years. It was named after the American pianist Van Cliburn who in 1958 won a gold medal at the first Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow. America immediately embraced the 6 ft. 4 inch youngster with the curly blond hair who succeeded in Russia at the height of the Cold War. Jan Jiracek is also a 6 ft. 4 inches tall with blond hair, and the audience at the Van Cliburn Competition favored him from the beginning. They rooted for him throughout the competition, since Jiracek was among the top six candidates who made it into the final round. At the end, he "only" won a shared fourth prize, but the competition has opened new doors for him, as Georg Hirsch reports.

[ Home - English ] [ Home - Deutsch ]