May 21: "They Came to Play" Film & Performance

On Friday, May 21 at 7 PM, enjoy a screening of They Came to
Play, a feature-length
documentary that follows the colorful lives of competitors in the Van
Cliburn Foundation’s International Piano Competition for Outstanding
Amateurs. After the screening is a discussion with film producer Lori
Miller, followed by a brief performance by Outstanding Amateur
pianists from our local community.

Tickets are $15; $12 for Museum members.  To order
tickets, please call 760-438-5996 or order online:

Directed by: Alex Rotaru
Produced by: Lori
Miller

They Came to Play is an uplifting feature-length
documentary
chronicling the International Piano Competition for Outstanding
Amateurs, hosted by The Van Cliburn Foundation. Amateur pianists
from all over the world, ranging from self-taught to
classically-trained, aged thirty-five to almost eighty, convene in Fort
Worth, Texas for a week of competition, music and camaraderie.

Entertaining
and
above all, inspiring, the film provides an intimate look into the
lives of these colorful, multi-faceted competitors as they strive to
balance the demands of work and family with their love of music. Years
of dedicated preparation culminate in competition performances before a
professional jury and discerning audience during three nerve-wracking
elimination rounds.

All of the film's heroes have made their
careers outside of music in fields ranging from medicine to business,
and professional tennis to education. For competitors who have
faced such extraordinary challenges as drug addiction, AIDS, or
political asylum, the competition is also a triumph over adversity. For
all, it represents an overwhelming desire to express a deeper side of
themselves, musically and otherwise.