Queer Places:
Greenwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, USA

Image result for Van CliburnHarvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (July 12, 1934 – February 27, 2013)[1] was an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958, at the age of 23, when he won the inaugural quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow during the Cold War.[2][3]

His mother, an accomplished pianist and piano teacher, discovered him playing at age three and mimicking one of her students. She arranged for him to start taking lessons.[2] He developed a rich, round tone and a singing voice-like phrasing, having been taught from the start to sing each piece.[2]

Van Cliburn toured domestically and overseas. He played for royalty, heads of state, and every U.S. president from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama.[4]

In 1998, Cliburn was named in a lawsuit by his domestic partner of 17 years, mortician Thomas Zaremba.[25] In the suit, Zaremba claimed entitlement to a portion of Cliburn's income and assets and asserted that he may have been exposed to HIV, causing emotional distress. The claims were rebutted by a trial court and upheld by an appellate court,[26] on the basis that palimony suits are not permitted in the state of Texas unless the relationship is based on a written agreement.

Cliburn was known as a night owl. He often practiced until 4:30 or 5 a.m., waking around 1:30 p.m.[27] "You feel like you're alone and the world's asleep, and it's very inspiring."[28]

On August 27, 2012, Cliburn's publicist announced that the pianist had advanced prostate cancer with widespread bone metastases. He underwent treatment and was "resting comfortably at home" in Fort Worth, where he received around-the-clock care.[29][30] Cliburn died on February 27, 2013, at the age of seventy-eight.[31]

Cliburn was a member of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth and attended regularly when he was in town.[32] His services were held on March 3, 2013, at the Broadway Baptist Church with entombment at Greenwood Memorial Park Mausoleum in Fort Worth.[14] His obituary lists as his only survivor his "friend of longstanding", Thomas J. Smith.[14]

The Wall Street Journal said on his death that Cliburn was a "cultural hero" who "rocketed to unheard-of stardom for a classical musician in the U.S."[2] Calling him "the rare classical musician to enjoy rock star status", the Associated Press on his death noted the 1958 Time magazine cover story that likened him to "Horowitz, Liberace, and Presley all rolled into one".[10]

A year after Cliburn's death, a free anniversary concert was held on February 27, 2014, in his honor in downtown Fort Worth. "It's part of the Cliburn ideology of sharing the music with the larger audience," said Jacques Marquis, the Cliburn Foundation president. Cliburn lent his name to the International Piano Competition, which he viewed as a gathering of classical masterpieces played by young gifted artists.[33]

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