Van Cliburn returns to Kresge after 28 years

Last July, a World Youth Symphony Orchestra (WYSO) concert was billed as "A Legend Returns." It referred to the much-anticipated return of an Arts Festival favorite, internationally revered piano virtuoso Van Cliburn. Excitement about his return began to build as soon as it was announced that he would play at the Arts Festival and that he had chosen to perform Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, the first piece he had ever performed for an Interlochen audience.

Cliburn first garnered worldwide recognition in 1958, when at the age of 23 he won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Cold War-era Moscow. His subsequent recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto became the first classical album to sell a million copies and was the best-selling classical album in the world for more than a decade.

In 1961, he began his long association with Interlochen Arts Camp (then the National Music Camp) when he presented his first benefit concert for the institution, an annual tradition he continued until 1978. Although he later limited his public concerts, he remained active on the Board of Trustees at Interlochen and became a Life Trustee in 2004.

In the week leading up to Cliburn's concerto performance, the orchestra rehearsed with stand-in pianists including Russian virtuoso Olga Kern, 2001 gold medalist in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and an internationally renowned concert soloist in her own right. Cliburn arrived to rehearse with WYSO at the end of the week.

On performance night, Kresge Auditorium was filled to capacity. When Cliburn walked on to the stage, the audience rose to its feet for the tall, slim, unassuming pianist and gave him a sustained ovation. Finally, he sat down in front of the grand piano on the stage, and played. At the concerto's conclusion, shouts and applause again erupted. The audience repeatedly called Cliburn back to the stage, and each time he insisted that Maestro Jung Ho Pak join him. This ovation was still in full force when Cliburn seated himself at the piano. Pak returned to the podium and began to lead WYSO through an encore performance of the concerto's third movement. After thundering appreciation from the audience, Cliburn offered a solo encore with a Rachmaninoff prTlude. Clearly moved by his audience's continued enthusiasm, Cliburn performed one last piece, the "Revolutionary +tude," by Chopin.

As applause continued to thunder through the auditorium, Olga Kern appeared from stage right to present her colleague with an armful of red roses. Cliburn, in turn, extracted individual blooms and bestowed them on Pak and on the concertmaster as well as the orchestra's principal cello, oboe, flute and clarinet players.

After the Interlochen Theme at last signaled the concert's end, Cliburn insisted on meeting each individual member of the orchestra and he chatted at length with some. Nathan Mills, a WYSO oboist, noted that Van Cliburn seemed especially pleased to discover that all three WYSO oboists shared his home state. "It was almost eleven at night but he was so excited by the fact that all three of the oboe players were from Texas. He stayed around to talk to us for another ten minutes at least," said Mills.