August 9, 2004
Monday, 8 PM
Seminar: "Life as a Musician"
Pianist Hung-Kuan Chen
The Speaker: Pianist Hung-Kuan Chen
Hailed as "extraordinarily poetic…tracing a profound emotional
journey," by The Boston Globe, and deemed
"emotionally rich and technically excellent," by The Washington Post, internationally acclaimed
pianist Hung-Kuan Chen is known for his sensitivity, graceful lyricism and brilliant
technique.
These qualities along with sensitivity and intelligence in his performances have made Hung-Kuan Chen the recipient of many of the world's most prestigious awards including first prize in the Feruccio Busoni International and Artur Rubinstein International Piano Competitions along with prizes in the Chopin, Geza Anda, Montreal and Queen Elisabeth Competitions. In addition, Mr. Chen was a winner of the Young Concert Artists Audition along with an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Hung-Kuan Chen has been invited to perform with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras in cities such as Pittsburgh, Houston, Baltimore, Grand Park, Colorado Israel, Tonhalle, and Montreal. He has also performed with the Royal Orchestra of Belgium, and the Mozart Festival Orchestra of San Francisco. Mr. Chen has worked with conductors of the highest caliber, including Christoph Eschenbach, George Cleve, Uri Segal, Joseph Silverstein, Hans Graf among others.
Hung-Kuan Chen's versatile musical style is made evident through his broad recital repertoire, ranging from Baroque to Modern and including composers such as Gluck, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Stravinsky, Messiaen and Ligeti. His worldwide recital tours have taken him to cities such as Boston, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Beijing, Taipei, Japan, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Munich Warsaw, Zürich and throughout Canada. As a dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Chen has collaborated with many of his most distinguished colleagues, including Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin, Anthony Gigiliotti, Laurence Lesser, and Anthony de Bonaventura, Tokyo String Quartet and Shanghai String Quartet, piano duo with Tema Blackstone and many others.
Born in Taiwan and raised in Germany, Hung-Kuan Chen joined the faculty of Boston University in 1984 and that of the New England Conservatory in 1993. Recently, he has relocated to Canada, becoming the “Distinguished Artists in Residence” at Mount Royal Conservatory.
Hung-Kuan Chen can be heard on BMG, Bravo Recording Labels and Sony late 2005.