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About
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Shuann Chai
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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/ .