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Pianist
Han Chen, partly trained in China and the U.S., has made a growing impact in both traditional repertory and the New York avant-garde musical scene. He is active as a composer as well.
Chen was born in Taichung, Taiwan, in 1992. His talents were identified early, and he enrolled in the Shanghai Conservatory Middle School in 2004. Early on, he notched performances with the
China Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and the Xiamen Orchestra. In 2010,
Chen moved to the U.S. to study at the Juilliard School in Manhattan, where he worked with Yoheved Kaplinsky. In 2013, he won first prize at the China International Piano Competition. He continued his studies in 2016 at the New England Conservatory with Wha Kyung Byun, and later at the City University of New York Graduate Center with
Ursula Oppens. In the 2010s, he added further concerto appearances to his résumé, with the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (with
Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting), the
Fort Worth Symphony, and the Lexington (Kentucky) Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
Chen has also given solo recitals in the U.S., China, and Taiwan.
At Juilliard, he became involved with avant-garde musicians in New York, and he has continued to pursue an interest in new music. He performed
John Cage's Concerto for prepared piano with the Juilliard student ensemble AXIOM and is a member of New York's Ensemble Échappé.
Chen performed a solo concert of music by New York composers at the influential new music venue Spectrum. A composer himself,
Chen has heard his music performed in New York, Taiwan, and Aspen, Colorado, among other places. As a recording artist,
Chen has focused on the virtuoso repertory. In 2016, he released his debut, an album of
Liszt opera transcriptions, on the Naxos label, and he followed that up in 2020 with a release featuring the
Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 of Anton Rubinstein.