Hung-Kuan Chen

Hung-Kuan Chen was born in Taipei and raised in Germany. He established a strong connection to Germanic Classicism in his early studies which he integrated with the sensibility of organic Chinese philosophy. “I’m Chinese by birth,” he says, “but I’m actually more European. I’ve read and studied a tremendous amount of the great literature and language of Germany.” One of the most honored pianists of his generation, Mr. Chen won top prizes in the Arthur Rubinstein, Busoni, and Geza Anda International Piano Competitions, and in the Young Concert Artists International Piano Auditions. He also won prizes in the Queen Elisabeth, Montreal International Musical and Van Cliburn International Piano Competitions, as well as an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Mr. Chen has performed in many of the world’s foremost concert venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, the Tonhalle in Zürich, the Herkulesaal in Munich, the Sala Verdi in Milan, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, National Concert Hall in Taipei, Shanghai Concert Hall and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He was the first to perform the Rachmaninoff Third and Beethoven Fourth Piano Concertos in Taipei, and gave the Shanghai premiere of the Bartók Second Piano Concerto. His plans for the 2015-2016 season include solo and orchestral performances in China and Switzerland, in Boston, and at Aspen and Yale. He is also preparing new recordings to be made in Switzerland in 2016. Mr. Chen is currently on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is a visiting professor at Yale, and is also on the faculty for Artemisia Akademie at Yale. He previously served as Chair of the piano department of Shanghai Conservatory, and was on the faculty of New England Conservatory. He has adjudicated prominent international piano competitions such as the Van Cliburn, Busoni, Shanghai, and Honens. His 2015 summer teaching engagements included the Chinese Foundation for the Arts, Piano Summer Institute in New Paltz, International Music Akademie in Lichtenstein and Aspen Music Festival. Among notable pianists he has taught or coached are Yuja Wang, Sean Chen and Niu Niu.