Haochen Zhang, piano
Sunday, January 22, 2012 | 4:00pm
Watch Haochen Zhang play here.
The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medalist of the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Haochen Zhang (pronounced How-chen Jhang) “demonstrated a musical maturity almost unimaginable in one so young,” observed Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News. The youngest participant in the competition at 19, the pianist was previously recognized for his prodigious talent as the youngest winner of the 2007 China International Piano Competition when he was 17 years old.
A sensitive musician and insightful programmer, Mr. Zhang is in demand worldwide for orchestral and recital engagements. He launched his first year as a Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist with over 60 performances, including prestigious engagements with the Aspen Summer Music Festival and Academy, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, La Jolla Music Society, as part of Carnegie Hall’s “Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture”, and with the San Francisco Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras. He also made a triumphant return to his native China as soloist at the Beijing Music Festival in the winter of 2009, in addition to appearances in Germany, England, Poland, Turkey, and Korea.
In the summer of 2010, Mr. Zhang celebrated his Cliburn win in a gala event featuring all three medalists of the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with the National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo. In June 2010 he opened the summer season at the Mann Center for Performing Arts in Philadelphia, playing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a performance that led Philadelphia Inquirer music critic David Patrick Stearns to exclaimthat “an extraordinary talent is in our midst.” He also made his New York City recital debut at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in July.
PROGRAM
- Chopin: 4 Mazurkas
- Beethoven: Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
- Liszt: Ballade No. 2 in B minor
- Debussy: 4 pieces from from Preludes, Book 1
- Balakirev: Islamey: Oriental Fantasy
RECORDINGS
Click on any of the recordings below to purchase them from Amazon.com.
