Pianist Van Cliburn has been diagnosed with advanced bone cancer.
Cliburn triumphed at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, and returned home to a ticker-tape parade in New York City. He’s the only classical musician ever to receive that honour from the city.
He went on to wide acclaim, sold out concerts, and broke record sales. But he became tired of performing works such as the Tchaikovsky Piano Concert Number One that made him famous. He stopped touring for ten years in the late seventies.
Cliburn won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, and was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.
The 78-year-old pianist is said to be undergoing treatment and resting comfortably at home in Fort Worth, Texas.
