Jeff Goldblum to narrate Cliburn docuseries about 2025 Fort Worth piano competition

American actor Jeff Goldblum is lending his distinct voice to an upcoming documentary series about Fort Worth’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. 

Goldblum — known for his on-screen work in “Jurassic Park” and “Wicked” — will narrate “Exit Stage Right.” The five-episode series follows 28 pianists through the 2025 competition, which concluded with Hong Kong player Aristo Sham taking home the gold. 

Goldblum has loved the piano since he was a boy, so being part of the project was a delight. 

“The work these young musicians put in, the discipline, the devotion, is just staggering,” he said in a news release. “And then to watch them walk out on that stage with the whole world listening and take their shot at a real career? Thrilling. Truly inspiring stuff.”

The actor is also a jazz pianist who tours with his band, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

The Cliburn was established in 1962 to honor acclaimed Fort Worth pianist Van Cliburn’s victory at the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Fort Worth’s competition is held every four years and considered one of the most prestigious in the classical music world. 

The series starts with the last year’s opening draw, followed by preliminaries, quarterfinals and semifinals, before spotlighting the final six players, who each performed two concertos with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under conductor Marin Alsop. 

Featured competitors in the docuseries include Sham, Vitaly Starikov, Carter Johnson, Angel Stanislav Wang, Chaeyoung Park and Yanjun Chen. The series explores the 2025 competitors’ hardships and how they compare to the challenges of past winners, according to the Cliburn.

Read the Fort Worth Report’s extensive coverage of the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition here.

“This series tells their stories, their struggles and their aspirations, giving audiences a firsthand look beyond the stage at their passion, commitment and drive,” Cliburn president and CEO Jacques Marquis said. “We are overjoyed to have Jeff Goldblum, a world-renowned artist who shares our love for the piano, join us in telling these stories.”

The 2025 competition broadcast drew more than 20 million views from a global audience through YouTube and partnerships with local and international television stations. 

The docuseries — produced by the Cliburn and Framework Productions and directed by Steven Pierce — is complete and seeking distribution. The Cliburn has previously produced 12 feature films about its competitions. 

The Cliburn competition returns to Fort Worth for its 18th iteration in May 2029. 

David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected].

The Fort Worth Report’s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.