Van Cliburn was 23 years old when, on April 13, 1958, he won First Prize at the inaugural Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. This was not just a musical triumph but also a political one. This was the time of the Cold War, Khrushchev, Sputniks, spy-planes and heightened military tension between the US and USSR. The Tchaikovsky Competition had been designed by the Soviets to show the world the supremacy of their young artists.
