Event Details
Han Chen—Piano
A fearless performer with seemingly limitless imagination and possessed with uncanny energy, pianist Han Chen plays scores old and new with rare rigor and insight.
Alex Ross, classical music critic of The New Yorker, who selected Mr. Chen’s Naxos disc of the Ligeti Études and Capriccios as a “Notable Classical Recording of 2023,” characterized him as follows: “The Taiwanese pianist Han Chen, a noted interpreter of the Ligeti Études and other modernist repertory, has made a blistering album of the [Liszt] opera transcriptions.” –The New Yorker, September 4, 2023
Attending “Infinite Staircase,” Mr. Chen’s recent traversal of the 18 Ligeti Etudes and 18 accompanying world premieres, George Grella titled his review: “Han Chen’s remarkable playing equal to the genius of Ligeti’s Etudes” and went on to exclaim:
...he was astonishing, with some of the finest pianism one has ever witnessed. Beyond sheer dexterity, this was tremendously musical playing, with every phrase clear and pointed in a certain direction, fluid control of dynamics and form, a combination of articulation and force that was hard to believe. One had the feeling that
Chen was deep inside the work, opening up every detail of Ligeti’s musical personality. His energy and stamina within each Étude and through the whole concert were extraordinary. —New York Classical Review, September 25, 2023
Reviewing this event in I Care If You Listen, Lana Norris summarized it as a “marathon of canonical music and new works that displayed exquisite programming, stupendous technique, and forward-thinking expansion of classical music’s best traditions.” —September 28, 2023
Gold Medalist at the 2013 China International Piano Competition and a prizewinner at the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition, Mr. Chen has also been praised by Gramophone as “impressively com-manding and authoritative” and further cited by The New York Times for his “graceful touch,” “rhythmic precision” and “hypnotic charm.”
Mr. Chen’s musical vision is manifest in his four solo Naxos CDs focusing on Franz Liszt, Anton Rubinstein, Thomas Adès, and György Ligeti’s Complete Piano Études. Reviewing the Ligeti recording in the August 2023 issue of Gramophone, Jed Distler wrote:
Venue: Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave
Map
212-779-3587
Buy Tickets | Learn More |
Will You Go?
More Events...
Arepo at Scandinavia House
Thu | 7:30 PM
Join us February 20 for a performance by international ensemble AREPO! Based between Oslo and New York City, the quartet consists of clarinetist Madara E. Mezale (Latvia), guitarist Marco Slaviero (It...
The Dessoff Choirs presents Florence Price's Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight at James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary
Thu | 7:30 p.m.
In its first concert of the new year, the Dessoff Choirs – led by Music Director Malcolm J. Merriweather – presents works from its history alongside a cantata by Florence Price. The program's first...
Sisters of the Moon at The Actor’s Chapel at St. Malachy’s
Fri
The connection women share between them has long been a source of both mystery and fascination by creators of art, literature, and music. Time and time again, artwork projects images of women encircle...