About Shuann Chai

"She showed superb command of her instrument [in Beethoven’s First Concerto]…Crisp passage work, cadenzas that bounced effortlessly and seemingly weight-free from the keyboard, poignancy in the expressive Largo, and both exuberance and wit in the closing Rondo. In all this, she had emotional and technical consonance with the orchestra..."

Biography

Chinese-American pianist Shuann Chai is an active and engaging performer, critically acclaimed for interpretations on both modern and historical instruments as well as for the colorful spoken introductions that accompany her adventurous programming. Recent projects include a concert tour of China (including Tsingdao, Wuhan, and at the Forbidden City Concert Hall of Beijing) with baritone Mattijs van de Woerd; concerts at the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam (NL), Duke University, Wake Forest University (USA), and performances in the Chopin Bicentennial at the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands Park (UK) featuring the composer’s own Pleyel grand piano. Last season, she twice performed the complete cycle of Beethoven’s works for cello and piano (in the USA and in Germany), and was the featured artist and guest programmer of the Early Music Festival at the Honig Breet Huis Museum in Zaandijk (NL).  As a concerto soloist she has performed with the Gliere Festival Orchestra in Kiev (Ukraine), Kamerorkest Vroeg Klassiek (NL) and the Bloomington Early Music Festival Orchestra (USA) with conductor Stanley Ritchie. Shuann has also been featured in live radio broadcasts on WGBH Boston (with cellist Pieter Wispelwey), Harmonia Early Music Radio, Hong Kong Radio 4, and Radio- Canada.

Shuann completed degrees in Piano and Biology at Oberlin College and earned a Master's degree at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Her teachers have included Jack Radunsky, Norma Fisher, David Breitman, and Claus-Christian Schuster of the Altenberg Trio. She has long fostered an active interest in early pianos, and completed a graduate degree in fortepiano at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague under the tutelage of Bart van Oort and Stanley Hoogland. In 2010 she received a full scholarship at the Banff Centre (Canada), where she was one of eight pianists from around the world selected to take part in an exclusive Beethoven Seminar and Master Class with Anton Kuerti.

Alongside her concert appearances, Ms. Chai has been increasingly in demand as a teacher. She has conducted master classes and lecture-demonstrations at UC Davis (USA), the Grieg Conservatory in Bergen (Norway), the Central Conservatory of Beijing (China), National University of Taipei (Taiwan), and Duke University (USA). Last year she also received an appointment at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she is now a Visiting Lecturer in the History of Early Keyboards and Pianos.

Upcoming projects include conducting a series of master classes at the Gulangyu Piano Academy in Xiamen, China; recitals at the Fourth Church of Chicago (USA), the Cruquius Museum (NL), Cantos Collection (Canada), and a 3-concert series for Stichting de Graafschap (NL) in addition to a Residency at the Banff Centre.  Autumn 2012 will bring a concerto performance with the New Dutch Academy under Simon Murphy as well as the release of two new CD recordings: works by Brahms, Robert Schumann and Clara Schumann supported by the Cobbe Collection (UK), and a recording to supplement a new edition of Piano Music of the 18th and 19th centuries in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Shuann Chai’s first solo CD, featuring Beethoven Sonatas on the fortepiano, was released in 2011 to critical acclaim.

last updated: January 2012