Sigma Alpha Iota

SAI DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS President since Harry Truman. In addition to his remarkable performing career, the education and encouragement of young artists has remained a primary interest to Cliburn. In 1962, the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was held in his honor and continues as a living legacy to his commitment to aiding the development of young pianists. He has endowed scholarship programs at many schools and universities including the Juilliard School, Cincinnati Conservatory, Texas Christian University, Louisiana State University, the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and at the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, MI, and established scholarships there as well. Cliburn is the recipient of more than 20 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world. He has received the Kennedy Center Honors and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In April 1991, Fort Worth (TX) SAI Alumnae Chapter initiated him as a National Arts Associate. At the same time, his mother Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn was also made a Friend of the Arts. In July 2003, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, and, in 2004, during a ceremony at the Kremlin, Cliburn received the Order of Friendship from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Van Cliburn Foundation disseminates classical music worldwide, and launches and nurtures young artists' careers through the quadrennial Van Cliburn International 2010 WHITE HOUSE HONOREES National Humanities Medal National Medal of Arts Robert Brustein, theatre critic, producer, playwright, and educator Daniel Aaron, founding president, Library of America National Arts Associate Van Cliburn, pianist, a persuasive ambassador for American culture Bernard Bailyn, historian Jacques Barzun, cultural historian Mark di Suvero, sculptor Donald Hall, poet Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, America's longest running international dance festival Quincy Jones, producer, musician Wendell E. Berry, conservationist, author Roberto González Echevarría, literary critic Stanley Nider Katz, humanities advocate Joyce Carol Oates, author Harper Lee author, To Kill A Mockingbid Sonny Rollins, jazz musician Arnold Rampersad, author, critic Meryl Streep, actress Philip Roth, author James Taylor, songwriter/performer Gordon Wood, historian Piano Competition, the ensuing three-year international concert tours of its medalists, award-winning documentaries, and a syndicated radio series dedicated to the competition and its most memorable performances. By making the competition available in its entirety on the Internet, the Foundation has extended its outreach to listeners in every corner of the globe. For audiences in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the Van Cliburn Foundation promotes great music and world-class artists through the annual Cliburn Concerts series. It reaches over 30,000 elementary school students annually with the education programs of Musical Awakenings. In 1999, it established the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, which The Boston Globe proclaimed "a celebration of music, and the people who have to make music, no matter what." The sixth Amateur Competition will be held May 23-29, 2011 at Ed Landreth Auditorium on the campus of Texas Christian University. award winners The Fort Worth Alumnae Chapter regularly supports the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Summer 2009 PAN PIPES featured a spotlight on chapter member Louise Canafax. F or the past twenty years, Louise Canafax, a member of the Ft. Worth Alumnae Chapter, has served as the "backstage mother" for all of the competitors in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.  The first three days of the event are spent giving each competitor time to select a piano. They come to the Bass Hall where there are 3 9-ft Steinways, and each artist has 30 minutes to "caress the ivories" and decide which piano they want to play in the preliminaries.   Louise measures each piano bench (there are 4), and determines the exact height preference for each competitor's comfort.  The stage crew (wearing white gloves) will have the piano of choice onstage for each. This means that when they walk out to perform, they can concentrate on performing.   Over 150 pianists were invited to audition this year, and the playing field was narrowed to 29 who were asked to be in the competition.  This was the thirteenth Van Cliburn competition; it takes four years to put one of these together. Louise feels like she has been the adopted mother for hundreds of musical marvels.  Her friendships continue for years — for example, with Olga Kern, who was the gold medalist in 2001, and was then initiated as an Honorary Member by the Ft. Worth Alumnae chapter in 2002.   Louise says, "Each of these youngsters is so gifted, and this experience changes their lives forever.  I know it has changed mine!" Two Golds Awarded At Van Cliburn Competition T he Van Cliburn Foundation announced the winners of the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition June 7 in Fort Worth TX. The announcement, made by Van Cliburn during the Awards Ceremony at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, was the culmination of seventeen exciting days of extraordinary music making. Winners Nobuyuki Tsujii, 20, and Haochen Zhang, 19, tied for the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medals The First Prize includes the Medal; a cash award of $20,000; international and national concert tours for the three seasons following the competition, coordinated by the Van Cliburn Foundation in conjunction with IMG Artists Europe; a CD recording on the harmonia mundi usa label; performance attire provided by Neiman Marcus; and a contribution toward domestic and international air travel on American Airlines during the three-year tour. Mr. Tsujii and Mr. Zhang were the two youngest pianists in the 2009 Competition. Nobuyuki Tsujii, 20 (Japan) Nobuyuki Tsujii's performance credits include the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. At the age of twelve, he made noted recital debuts at Tokyo's Suntory Hall and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. An acclaimed debut album released by Avex classics in 2007 led to a fifteen-city tour of Japan and a second CD featuring Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, released in 2008. Blind since birth, Mr. Tsujii states his firm belief that "there are no barriers in the field of music." He participates in the performer's program at the Ueno Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo. Haochen Zhang, 19 (China) The youngest participant in the 2009 Cliburn Competition, Haochen Zhang gave his debut recital at the Shanghai Music Hall at the age of five, performing all of Bach's two-part inventions, as well as sonatas by Haydn and Mozart. He performed with orchestra at age six, and moved to the United States at fifteen to attend the Curtis Institute of Music. First- prize winner of the 2007 China International Piano Competition, Mr. Zhang has performed 8 PAN PIPES At top, National Arts Associate Van Cliburn presents one of the two gold medals awarded at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition to Nobuyuki Tsujii in June. Below, winners (from left to right): silver medalist Yeol Eum Son, 23, of Korea, and cogold medalists Tsujii, 20, of Japan, and Haochen Zhang, 19, of China. Altre Media with the China National Symphony Orchestra, Krakow State Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and has concertized throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States. He also excels at ping pong and enjoys writing poetry. The last time that the Cliburn Competition awarded a tie for the gold medal was in 2001, to Stanislav Ioudenitch and Olga Kern. Silver Medalist: Yeol Eum Son, 23 (South Korea) Yeol Eum Son has performed with the Israel, New York, Seoul, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras, among other noted orchestras. Third-prize winner of the 2005 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, Ms. Son has made debuts at several international music festivals, including the Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, the Rheingau Festival in Germany, and the Bowdoin Festival in the United States. She currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, and has recorded a CD of Chopin etudes for Universal Music in Korea. The Second Prize includes a silver medal; a cash award of $20,000; U.S. concert tours and career management for the three concert seasons following the competition; and a CD recording on the harmonia mundi usa label. The Crystal Award was not awarded this year. Finalists (in alphabetical order): Evgeni Bozhanov, 25 (Bulgaria) Mariangela Vacatello, 27 (Italy) Di Wu, 24 (China) All finalists receive a cash award of $10,000 and U.S. concert tours and career management for the three concert seasons following the competition. The six winners of the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition will share more than 300 concert engagements throughout the United States during the three seasons following the competition, coordinated by the Van Cliburn Foundation. The gold medalist will also be awarded concerts in Europe, Asia, and other international territories through IMG Artists (Europe). Presenters who have already offered engagements include the Rochester Philharmonic and the Colorado, SUMMER 2009 SAI-NATIONAL.ORG sai-national.org SPRING 2011 PAN PIPES 11

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