Graffman beamed as he talked about new and younger Chinese musicians he was meeting at the Curtis Institute.

NEWYORKER: The Olympian

Cliburn had succeeded in previous competitions, notably the prestigious Leventritt, whose winners had included Eugene Istomin, Alexis Weissenberg and Gary Graffman.

WSJ: Van Cliburn: A Russian Was Supposed to Win

He was especially glad to see Gary Graffman, his former teacher.

NEWYORKER: The Olympian

Graffman, who is seventy-nine, studied with Rudolph Serkin and Vladimir Horowitz and had a distinguished career as a soloist until an injury on his right hand, when he was fifty, slowed him down.

NEWYORKER: The Olympian