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Historical Piano Concerts Series
About the Musicians

Shuann Chai

Artist Name, instrument

Pianist Shuann Chai is an active and engaging performer, critically acclaimed for interpretations on both modern and historical instruments. Her projects reflect a wide range of interests: performing the 32 Beethoven sonatas on historical pianos (seasons 2013-17), collaborations with modern dancers featuring the music of John Cage (2013) and Sergei Prokofiev (2015), and chamber music programs in La Folle Journée (Tokyo, Japan) and the festival Bach en Combrailles (France). She was also a featured performer in this year's Beethoven Festival Zutphen (NL) where she was the soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend. Resident in the Netherlands since 2008, she has performed throughout Europe from Finland to Spain and the Ukraine to the UK, and maintains an active profile in Asia as well as in her native USA.

Shuann completed degrees in both Piano Performance and Biology at Oberlin College and earned Master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (NL). Her teachers have included Jack Radunsky, Norma Fisher, David Breitman, and Claus-Christian Schuster.

Alongside her concert appearances, Ms. Chai has been increasingly in demand as a teacher. She has conducted master classes at conservatories and universities in the UK, Norway, China, Taiwan, and throughout the USA. She is a Lecturer on the Historical Development of early keyboards and pianos at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and also serves as the Artistic Director of the Pianoforte Festival of Zaandijk (NL), now in its seventh year. Her first solo CD, featuring Beethoven Sonatas on the fortepiano, was released in 2012 to critical acclaim.
 
Among other things, Shuann Chai is grateful for having two inspiring musical companions: a concert grand Steinway signed by jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Ahmad Jamal; and an original 1820 Rosenberger fortepiano, generously provided on permanent loan by the National Musical Instruments Foundation of the Netherlands (NMF).

This is Shuann Chai’s eighth appearance on our concert series.

You can follow Shuann on her web site, shuannchai.com/ .