Van Cliburn
Van Cliburn, whose legacy as a 20th century classical pianist is matched only by such figures Vladimir Horowitz and Glenn Gould, died at age 78 in his home in Fort Worth, Texas on Feb. 27.
The Shreveport, Louisiana native, whose thick mane of wavy blonde hair and leading-man looks made him a figure straight out of Central Casting, achieved worldwide recognition in 1958 at age 23 when he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, an event meant to demonstrate Soviet cultural superiority. The triumph was hailed as the first significant thaw of the Cold War and led to a ticker-tape parade in New York and the cover of Time magazine, which proclaimed him “The Texan Who Conquered Russia.”
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