Location and date:
Sunday, 2.30pm.
Old Library Building Arts Centre
7 Rust Avenue, Whangarei
Overview:
Winner of the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition, New Zealand pianist John Chen returns home to present an all-French programme of chefs-d’oeuvre by Francis Poulenc, Henri Duparc, César Franck, Gabriel Fauré, and Camille Saint-Saëns.
Programme
Francis Poulenc | Three Novelettes 7’
Henri Duparc (transcribed J Chen) | Four Melodies 18’
César Franck | Prelude Chorale and Fugue 18’
—Interval—
Gabriel Fauré | Theme and Variations op. 73 15’
Camille Saint-Saëns | 6 Etudes Op. 111 20’
Artist biography
New Zealand pianist, John Chen, launched his career by winning the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition, where he also won prizes for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chamber music, and Concerto. Since then, he has performed across Europe, Asia, North America, Africa, and extensively in Australia and New Zealand, including performances at significant festivals such as Klavierfestival Ruhr and Singapore International Piano Festival.
He has performed concertos with most of the major orchestras in Australia and New Zealand as well as among others, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Notable conductors he has collaborated with include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jeffrey Kahane, Janos Furst, Christopher Seaman, Christoph Poppen, and Oleg Caetani. A passion for Twentieth Century French music has led him to record CDs of the complete solo piano works of Henri Dutilleux for Naxos, and a selection of Debussy and Ravel for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr Chen began piano studies in Auckland at the age of three. He received his Master of Music from the University of Auckland under Rae de Lisle and an Artist Diploma at Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles under John Perry. He further studied at the University of Southern California, and with Volker Banfield in Hamburg.
Mr Chen currently lives in Kampala, Uganda, where he works as school chaplain of Acacia International School.