Behind the Scenes at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition
By CHRIS SHULL
Special to dfw.com
More than 1,200 people make the Cliburn happen. If you plan to attend most of the competition, you’ll get to know some of them well. But many others you’ll likely never see. Here are just five of the many important behind-the-scenes players in the competition.
Alann Sampson, Cliburn Foundation Chairman
Alann Sampson knows just where she was during the Cliburn competition in 1962. "I was there in white gloves, handing out programs and ushering," said Sampson, 69.
She has volunteered for every competition since then. She and her husband, Edward, housed Cristina Ortiz during her gold-medal run in 1969. She also has served as chairman of the Cliburn Foundation since 1994, acting as CEO to the 1,200 to 1,300 volunteers who work anywhere from 1 1/2 years to a single four-hour shift.
Her long association with the Cliburn gives her a keen perspective of the emotional — and logistical — pace of the 17-day competition, from the anticipation and excitement of the preliminaries to the high drama when cuts are announced.
"Not that you know who the six are going to be, because you never do," Sampson said. "Then there’s a different ramp up in that last week getting ready for the finals. Then it becomes a festival. Those six are the ones that are going to carry the Cliburn flag for the next four years."
Danny Saliba, Steinway Hall
Danny Saliba is the Cliburn’s piano man. The owner of three Steinway Hall dealerships in North Texas, Saliba will supply 35 new Steinway grand pianos for use by competitors — in host homes, in warm-up rooms and onstage (competitors can choose from one of the three pianos to play during recitals at Bass Hall).
He also hires six piano tuners who are on call 24/7 during the competition. "These guys are tuning pianos at four in the morning," he said.
Saliba, 50, said his support lays the groundwork for future artistic collaborations, because his Steinway Halls also provide instruments for use by touring soloists. "Some of these young people turn into world-class artists that I deal with from then on," he said.
When the competition is over, Van Cliburn signs each of the pianos used by the 30 competitors. Saliba then sells them each for at least $30,000.
Susan Robertson, Competitor Coordinator
Susan Robertson is the point of contact among competitors, host families and competition officials. "Myjob, in a nutshell, is to make sure they are where they need to be at the time they need to be there, in the clothes they are supposed to have on," Robertson said.
Robertson, 50, got to know each of the 30 Cliburn pianists by e-mail long before they arrived in Fort Worth for the competition.
Her biggest thrill is being stationed backstage on competition days."Some of them want to be left alone — they want the knock on the door two minutes before they go onstage," she said. "Some of them — we had one last year who paced the halls, sat down to talk with us. He did not want to be left alone. So we just tried to entertain him."
Steve Cummings, Stage Announcer
As onstage announcer and backstage reporter for the Cliburn competitions since 1989, Steve Cumming has heard every note by every competitor every step of the way.
But, as you can tell by his deep, sonorous voice, Cumming, 58, is first and foremost a radio guy. Top 40, jazz, classical, news — "I’ve been all over the dial," Cumming said. He moved to Dallas in 1985; his "day job" is station manager at North Texas Radio for the Blind.
Onstage at Bass Hall, Cumming will announce each competitor and the pieces to be performed. Immediately afterward, he’ll snag 90-second interviews with pianists for the Cliburn’s live webcast. He’ll also be filing reports on the progress of blind Japanese competitor Nobuyuki Tsujii for his station.
"For those of us who have been a part of it for many competitions, it is old home week when we get back together," Cumming said.
Lauren Novak, Production Coordinator
Lauren Novak is working her first Cliburn competition, joining the platoon of backstage folks at Bass Hall.
"It may seem like overkill that we have this many people backstage, but without it, the competitors would have a lot more stress — worrying about whether the correct piano or the correct bench is onstage, or who to tell if they’ve changed their program order," Novak said.The 23-year-old Plano native, who studied flute at Texas Christian University, is assistant to general manager Maria Guralnik, who acts as manager for the medal winners. So when the winners are announced June 7, Novak’s real job will begin, helping to set up concert tours for each of the six finalists.
"As soon as the competition is over, I am immediately putting out contracts and being in touch with presenters nationally to help book the winners," Novak explained. "Everybody else gets to take the big sigh of relief, and Maria and I go straight into work."