Program notes
Every year, the Van Cliburn Competition offers young virtuoso pianists the opportunity to set out on musical and emotional adventure. This fascinating documentary follows the journey of a group of the 2013 competition participants. Barely 20 years old, these young musicians take on the challenge with absolute courage and determination, showing in turns their individual virtuosity, talent, and sensitivity.
The documentary focuses on a handful of courageous young musicians, performing some of the most difficult pieces ever written for the piano in front of a concert hall of 2,000 people and hundreds of thousands more online. The competition requires both incredible musical talent and extreme endurance: three straight weeks of high-stakes performances await them, performances that will most likely make or break their careers and their dreams. They articulate their personalities through their music: brilliant, eccentric, tender, touching, dazzling, deadly serious.... As different as they are as people, these young musicians are all shaped by one overwhelming reality: to win the Cliburn would change their lives overnight.