“A Surprise in Texas: The Thirteenth Van Cliburn Competition,” Peter Rosen’s documentary chronicling the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, will air on PBS stations nationwide on September 1 at 9:30 p.m. (ET). The film follows 29 pianists for three weeks during the May 2009 competition preliminaries, semifinals, and finals, held in Fort Worth, Texas. Among the featured musicians in the documentary are 19-year-old Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang and 20-year-old blind pianist Noboyuki Tsujii, the two musicians who tied for gold medal, and silver medalist Yeol Eum Son, a 23-year-old pianist from South Korea. Rosen has made more than 100 full-length documentaries, including ones about Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, and Beverly Sills. The 2012 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition will mark the competition’s 50th year.
Posted August 30, 2010
