Amateur piano contest kicks off in Texas

IBM engineer Viktors Berstis can thank his mother for his piano playing talent.

Berstis, who was born at a Latvian refugee camp near Nurnberg, Germany, was just 10 months old when his family moved to Michigan. When he was 7, his uncle began teaching him how to play the piano.

"At first I hated it, but my mom made me continue, and now I'm very thankful," said Berstis, now 58 and living in Austin. "I enjoy playing because when I sit down at the keyboard, my mind is removed from work."

Berstis is one of 75 competitors in the Van Cliburn Foundation's weeklong Fifth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, which started Monday at Texas Christian University.

The event is for those age 35 and older who don't earn their living teaching or playing the piano.

Among the competitors are a food industry technologist, a federal judge and a retired national coach for the French Tennis Federation.

The event is an offshoot of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, named for the acclaimed pianist who won the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958.

The amateur's contest began in 1999 and held in even years until 2004. Starting this year, organizers decided to hold it every four years so there will be two years between it and the main Cliburn competition.

The word "amateurs" in the name may be misleading; many competitors are classically trained pianists. This year's judges include three past winners of Cliburn's main contest.

The competitors have day jobs. Berstis, for example, has worked for IBM Corp. for 30 years.

Among the first-time Cliburn competitors is Matthew B. Hand, an international relief operations worker.

Hand, 43, who spent 15 years in the Middle East, now runs his relief programs for Kurdish girls and others from his home base in Fort Pierce, Fla.

For Hand, the piano is like a "confessional booth" and helps him process the traumatic situations he has seen and experienced, he said.

"It's a very integral part of my life," he said. "I don't know if I could stay sane if I didn't have it."

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On the Net:

Van Cliburn Foundation: http://www.cliburn.org