Hung-Kuan Chen, piano

Saturday, January. 28, 2006, 8 PM
Jordan Hall

One of the most decorated pianists, Mr. Hung-Kuan Chen, returns to New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 8 PM.  Presented by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts, this emerging figure of the leading international musicians of our time received prizes and awards in the Chopin, Gèza Anda, the Montreal and the Queen Elisabeth competitions. He won the Gold Medal in the Arthur Rubinstein and the Busoni Competitions, as well as receiving the award of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1991. Mr. Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote ...'This man plays music with uncommon understanding and the instrument with uncommon imagination!'

To purchase your ticket online, please click here

Tickets:

Online order: $28 (general, open seating), $10 (students and seniors)
Children under 6 are not admitted

It is also available at:
Jordan Hall Box Office                     617-585-1260     
World Journal Book Store               617-451-1309
Winnie Ip Piano School                   
617-542-9129
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Mail Order
Mail this form with a stamped, self-addressed envelope with money order/check payable to:
Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts
3 Partridge Lane, Lincoln, MA 01773
Tel: 781-259-8195, Fax: 781-259-9147
Email: Foundation@ChinesePerformingArts.net
Website: www.ChinesePerformingArts.net
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Ticket prices: $28 & $10
Children under 6 are not admitted
Group Discount: 10% off for minimum 20 tickets

No. of Tickets _____ @ $ 28 = $ _________
No. of Tickets _____ @ $ 10 = $ _________

Group Discount (20+,10% off) $ -- _______

Ticket sales cover only a fraction of expenses; please consider making a generous tax-deductible contribution.
Donor $50+ $ ____________
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Total amount of this order = $ _________
Tickets can be ordered online at:
www.ChinesePerformingArts.net
_______________________________________
Program (subject to change):

Rondo in A Minor, K.511                                        Mozart

Sonata in B-flat Major Op. 106                                Beethoven

            Allegro
            Scherzo – Assai vivace
            Adagio sostenuto
            Largo – Allegro risoluto

                                                  Intermission

Sonata in B Minor                                                    Liszt

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Pianist: Hung-Kuan Chen
Born in Taiwan and raised in Germany, Hung-Kuan Chen is one of the most decorated pianists, winning prizes and awards in the Chopin, Gèza Anda, the Montreal and the Queen Elisabeth competitions. He won the Gold Medal in the Arthur Rubinstein and the Busoni Competitions, as well as receiving the award of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1991. He toured under the auspices of Young Concert Artists, performing with the Houston, Baltimore, Israel, the Tonhalle, Montreal, Pittsburgh Symphonies, the Royal Orchestra of Belgium, the Mozart Festival Orchestra of San Francisco and many others. Most recently he played with the Russian State, Taipei and Guanhzhou Symphony Orchestra. He worked with conductors such as Hans Graf, Christoph Eschenbach, George Cleve, Josef Silverstein, Andrew Parrett and Sui Lan. He has collaborated with such artists as Laurence Lesser, Yo-Yo Ma, Chao-Liang Lin, Roman Totenberg, Denes Zsigmondy, Leslie Parnas, Bion Tsang, Anthony Gigliotti, David Shifrin; as well as piano duo with Tema Blackstone and Hung-Kuan’s sister Pi-hsien Chen.  He has played recitals in major venues and made a widely praised CD of the Chopin Preludes on the BMG label. Mr. Chen's gifts as an extraordinary interpreter of Beethoven received high acclaim during series of recitals in 1989 devoted to the performance of the thirty-two Beethoven sonatas. When the New York Times failed to cover Chen's Alice Tully concert (due to a labor strike), Ruth Laredo wrote a rave review in another publication welcoming a great new artist, exclaiming, rarely have I heard such eloquence and musical understanding. Is anyone listening?

Then, in 1992, his right hand suffered serious neurological damage in an accident, which resulted in Focal Dystonia, a dibilitating disorder. He was told repeatedly that he could not expect to play again; just as repeatedly, he refused to believe this. Instead, through a self-practice of Qigong (a traditional Chinese meditation technique) he has regained his ability to play again. His first solo recital in March of 1998 received rave reviews: "Back in the '80's, Apollo and Dionysus, Florestan and Eusebius, were at war in Chen's pianistic personality. He could play with poetic insight, he could also erupt into an almost terrifying overdrive. Now there is the repose and the forces have been brought into complimentary harmony. " (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe.) January 1999, Mr. Dyer adds...'This man plays music with uncommon understanding and the instrument with uncommon imagination!'

Mr. Chen joined the faculty of Boston University since 1984 and New England Conservatory extension since 1993. Thereafter he migrated to Canada, and became “Distinguished Artist in Residence” at Mount Royal Conservatory. Now he is Chairman of the Piano Department at the Shanghai Conservatory.

He can be heard on BMG and Bravo label.


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