Date: 22 April 2021 (Thursday)
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: CMA Lecture Theater (LTL), Cheng Yu Tung Building, HKUST
One of the foremost young pianists in Asia, born and raised in Hong Kong, Rachel Cheung is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and winner of awards from many of the most prominent competitions in the world, including the 2017 Audience Award at the Fifteenth Van Cilburn International Piano Competition. Musical America described her as having a "silen tone, subtle sense of color", and as "stunningly imaginative." She brings her talent to HKUST for an evening of classical and contemporary piano music, including the Asian premiere of a work by HKUST's composer-in-residence, Ilari Kaila.
Program
• Robert Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
• Ilari Kaila: Taonta
• Frédéric Chopin: Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22
Rachel Cheung
Pianist Rachel Cheung is hailed as “a poet, but also a dramatist” displaying “the most sophisticated and compelling music-making” (The Dallas Morning News). She won over audiences and critics alike as a finalist at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with “stunningly imaginative” (Musical America) interpretations marked by “flights of both beauty and virtuosity” (Theater Jones) and was awarded the Audience Prize by online vote. A Young Steinway Artist, she continues to build a reputation for an elegant stage presence, giving sensitive and refined performances across three continents.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Rachel graduated with first class honors at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under the tutelage of Eleanor Wong, and later studied with Peter Frankl at the Yale School of Music, where she was awarded the Elizabeth Parisot Prize for outstanding pianists. Additional competition honors include prizes at the Leeds, Chopin, Horowitz, Gina Bachauer, and Geneva International Piano Competitions. Her first concert DVD was released by VAIMUSIC in 2007, and her first CD, under the Alpha Omega Sound label of the Chopin Society of Hong Kong, was released in 2009. Her next recording project, a CD featuring the Chopin preludes, will be released by IMC Music. Rachel was awarded Artist of the Year (Music) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2019. Rachel is also an amateur photographer; she documents her travels with her analog camera, particularly enjoying the ability to capture the character and feeling of each moment.