Tozer in Fort Worth
The 1973 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

Geoffrey Tozer a semi-finalist at eighteen

In September 1973, at the age of eighteen, Geoffrey Tozer travelled to Fort Worth, Texas to compete in the fourth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.  Especially for the competition, Tozer composed a complex original piano work entitled Aboriginal Sunrise as a representation of the music of his home country.  Tozer was a semi-finalist in the competition, an important placement during the transitional phase of his career, coming before the first of his two Rubinstein Medals in Israel.  He later described his time in Fort Worth as one of the most exciting experiences of his career.  He was touched by the extraordinary hospitality of the many Texan families with whom he came into contact, and was greatly impressed by the scale of life in Texas, which was reflected in the size of the welcome he received.