The next competition, to be held in May and June, is being dedicated to Cliburn's memory.
Cliburn played for every U.S. president since Harry Truman, plus royalty and heads of state worldwide.
Despite his phenomenal success over five decades, Cliburn remained humble and gracious, friends said.
Cliburn was born Harvey Lavan Cliburn Jr. on July 12, 1934, in Shreveport, La.
About 1, 400 people attended a memorial service for Cliburn, who died Wednesday at 78 after fighting bone cancer.
After winning the Tchaikovsky Prize in Moscow aged 23, Cliburn received international recognition.
"I'm not a success, " Cliburn announced with stunning foresight after winning in Moscow.
Pianist Stephen Hough told the BBC that Cliburn was "one of the most charming and lovely men" he had known.
Van Cliburn began lessons at age 3, after his mother found him at the keyboard uncannily mimicking one of her students.
Cliburn had succeeded in previous competitions, notably the prestigious Leventritt, whose winners had included Eugene Istomin, Alexis Weissenberg and Gary Graffman.
The classical pianist Van Cliburn's Cold War performance when he won the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition at 23 also was selected.
Van Cliburn's Cold War piano performance in Moscow when he won the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition at 23 also was selected.
Born Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr in 1934 in Shreveport, Louisiana, he began taking piano lessons at the age of three from his mother.
Cliburn also used his skill and fame to help other young musicians through the Van Cliburn International Music Competition, held every four years.
Several speakers referred to what made Cliburn famous: winning the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, when he was just 23.
Cliburn, considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, performed for every U.S. president since Harry Truman, according to his official biography.
His father was an oil executive and his mother, Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn, a piano teacher who had studied with a pupil of Franz Liszt.
In 1974, Mr. Cliburn's father, who was also his manager, died.
Mr. Cliburn's family moved to Kilgore, Texas, when he was 6.
Van Cliburn, the renowned American classical pianist, has died aged 78.
Cliburn's pianism conveyed, above all, a sublime sense of expressive freedom.
"That Van Cliburn won the first ever Tchaikovsky Prize in Moscow in 1958, the middle of the Cold War, is testimony to his prodigious gifts, " he said.
Cliburn won his first Texas competition when he was 12, and two years later he played in Carnegie Hall as the winner of the National Music Festival Award.
During the Cold War, relations between the US and Soviet Union were eased when Cliburn won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, at the age of 23.
"I appreciate more than you will ever know that you are honoring me, but the thing that thrills me the most is that you are honoring classical music, " Cliburn said.
"Van Cliburn was an international legend for over five decades, a great humanitarian and a brilliant musician whose light will continue to shine through his extraordinary legacy, " she said Wednesday.
Van Cliburn. (Applause.) The 2010 National Medal of Arts to Van Cliburn for his contributions as one of the greatest pianists in the history of music, and as a persuasive ambassador for American culture.
WHITEHOUSE: The 2010 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Ceremony | The White House
Praised for introducing Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff to a younger generation when he became well-known, Cliburn also helped nurture the careers of younger musicians through the Van Cliburn International Music Competition, which was set up in 1962 and occurs once every four years.
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