Historical
Piano Concerts Series
About
the Musicians
Yuan Sheng
|
Yuan Sheng
has gained international recognition through his extensive performances
in more than twenty countries. The New York Times wrote, “Mr. Sheng’s
ear for balance is unfailing … the attraction was entirely
visceral.” The New York Concert Review proclaimed, "Mr. Sheng is
an artist of the highest quality" Renowned music author David Dubal
wrote, “Just listen to him, you will be touched!”
Mr. Sheng has
performed in Carnegie Hall in New York, Cadogan Hall in London, Ford
Performing Arts Center in Toronto, Seoul National Center for the
Performing Arts as well as National Center for the Performing Arts,
Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing Concert Hall in Beijing, and
Shanghai Concert Hall in Shanghai, China. He has been heard and seen on
WQXR in New York, WGBH in Boston, NPR in U.S.A, National Radio Station
of Spain, National Radio Station of France, National Television of
Poland, China Central TV, and Beijing Music Radio.
As a
soloist, Mr. Sheng has performed with the Gran Canaria Philharmonic and
Tenerife Symphony of Spain, Oradea State Philharmonic of Romania,
Kazakhstan National Symphony, National Symphony of Cuba, National
Philharmonic of the Philippines as well as China Philharmonic and most
of the major orchestras in China. As a chamber musician, Mr.
Sheng is a founding member of the China Trio together with violinist
Vera Tsu and cellist Yi-Bing Chu. He has performed with the Shanghai
String Quartet, violinists Aaron Rosand, Arnold Steinhardt, Vadim
Repin, Dong-Suk Kang, Rachel Barton Pine, Siqing Lu as well as cellist
Young Chang Cho and Andres Diaz.
Mr. Sheng’s performances and
research on the music of Bach have attracted international attention in
recent years. The New York Times wrote, “The A-major and A-minor
Preludes and Fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, were
models of clarity, balance and proportion. That is not to say that they
were straightforward or unmediated: Mr. Sheng made the A-minor Prelude
into a fiery drama, with the equally energetic but stunningly voiced
Fugue as an otherworldly rejoinder.” The International Piano Magazine
considered Yuan Sheng “The nation (China)’s premier interpreter of
Bach.”
His understanding and command of harpsichord and early
pianos has also generated highest acclaim. He has performed the music
of J.S. Bach and other Baroque composers on harpsichord regularly in
recent years. In reviewing his all-Beethoven recital program on the
Frederick Collection’s c.1805-1810 Katholnig piano, the Boston Musical
Intelligencer states: “Sheng had absorbed this music so thoroughly that
a listener might easily have imagined the composer at the keyboard.”
Mr.
Sheng records under the Piano Classics label. His two CD recordings of
works by Bach and a Three-Disc Set of works by Chopin performed on the
Frederick Collection’s 1845 Pleyel piano have been released
internationally. In the next ten years Mr. Sheng will record and
release all major keyboard works by J.S. Bach and complete works of
Chopin. In addition, he will also record major keyboard works by Bach
on harpsichord for NCPA (China National Center for the Performing Arts)
Record label.
Born to a family of musicians in Beijing, Yuan
Sheng began his music studies with his mother at age five, continuing
them later at the Central Conservatory with Professors Qifang Li, Huili
Li, and Guangren Zhou. From 1991 to 1997 Yuan Sheng was a
scholarship student of Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of
Music in New York City, where he completed his Bachelor and Master of
Music degrees. His interest in the music of Bach inspired him to study
intensively with Rosalyn Tureck.
Yuan Sheng is a professor of piano at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music.
Having
performed for us the first time in 2009, this is Yuan Sheng's twelfth
appearance in our series of Historical Piano Concerts. We feel honored
and most fortunate each time.