Ya-Fei Chuang

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Acclaimed by critics in the United States and abroad for performances of stunning virtuosity, refinement and communicative power, Ya-Fei Chuang’s international appearances include the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Israel Symphony, the Malaysian Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra; performances at the Berlin Philharmonie and Schauspielhaus Berlin, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, London’s Queen Elisabeth Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, National Concert Hall in Taipei, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

She has performed at numerous international festivals, including the Beethoven Festival (Warsaw), the European Music Festival (Stuttgart), the Musikfest Stuttgart, the Bach Festival (Leipzig), the Taipei International Music Festival, the Ruhr Piano Festival (numerous appearances), and the festivals of Schleswig-Holstein, Gilmore, Ravinia, Sarasota, and Tanglewood. She performs frequently with the Spectrum Ensemble Berlin (Germany), and has appeared in duo performances with Noah Bendix-Balgley, Martin Chalifour, Alban Gerhardt, Kim Kashkashian, Mark Kosower, Gabriel Lipkind, and is a frequent partner with Steven Isserlis and Robert Levin.

Ya-Fei Chuang has appeared at the International Music Sessions in Prussia Cove, England, and with the New York Philomusica. Appearances in recent seasons include the festivals of Verbier, Ruhr, Oregon Bach, Nevada, the Mozartwoche in Salzburg, the Mozart Festival in Cluj-Napoca,Romania, and in Boston, New York, San Francisco, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tokyo, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and at the International Grieg Piano Competition in Norway (where she was a member of the jury in 2014 and 2016, and will return in 2018). Performances on fortepiano include Boston Baroque, Handel & Haydn Society, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia Baroque, and Concerto Köln.

She has recorded for ECM, Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, and New York Philomusica Records. The Ruhr Festival has released several of her live recordings, including a solo album distributed as a premium of Fono Forum Magazine. Reviewing her live recording of the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No.1, Fanfare Magazine hailed her “delicacy and fluidity of touch ... this version now sits at the top of the pile of Mendelssohn Firsts, alongside Perahia,[Rudolf] Serkin, and John Ogdon.” Her recording of Hindemith chamber works was awarded a special prize by the International Record Review. Upcoming CD releases include all-Liszt and all-Chopin recordings, as well as the complete piano solo works by Ravel for Le Palais des Dégustateurs, to be released worldwide on Harmonia Mundi.

Reviewing her recent solo recital in Boston in The Boston Musical Intelligencer, Mark DeVoto wrote, “Ya-Fei Chuang carries Chopin’s banner today equally with the best of those whose names are more world-famous — I think of Vladimir Ashkenazy, Garrick Ohlsson, and Idil Biret.”

Ya-Fei Chuang’s mastery of the most challenging solo and chamber repertoire is complemented by her commitment to contemporary music. She has given the world premieres of works by John Harbison, Stanley Walden, Thomas Oboe Lee, and Pulitzer prizewinner Yehudi Wyner.

She is on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory in Boston and gives master classes throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and an annual two week master class at the International Summer Academy at Mozarteum in Salzburg.