Bill Deeds, former provost at Morningside College, called Yi-Yang Chen one of the world’s greatest pianists, shortly before Chen took the stage for a performance at the Sioux City, Iowa, college.
Deeds wasn’t exaggerating. And don’t let Chen’s age fool you.
Barely 30 years old, Chen has performed on four continents, in venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Melbourne Recital Centre, National Concert Hall in Taipei, Banff Music Centre in Canada and the Assembly Hall in Worthing, UK.
He’s been playing the piano since he was eight. He holds a Master of Music from The Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He’s assistant professor of piano and music theory at East Tennessee State University, and received his doctorate in piano performance at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, where he also received his Bachelor of Music.
“I first met Yi-Yang in New York several years ago,” said Isaac James, manager of the Gulf Theater and himself a concert pianist. “He’s a powerhouse on the keys and gives off an aura of complete virtuosity that isn’t seen in many pianists his age.”
Chen added, “I want to show music lovers that not only can fireworks light up the stage, but so can the depth and expressiveness of the simple beauty of melodic lines.”
Originally planned as the concluding performance of Gulf Theater’s first season, Chen’s concert was canceled due to COVID-19. It now launches the new season with a completely revised, uplifting new program that triumphs over the musical silence imposed by the pandemic.
Chen recently commented, “I would like to offer music that fills the gaps that its absence left in our souls, and comfort people who suffered loneliness and the loss of family and friends. I would also like to dedicate some of the pieces to the community as a prayer for hope to go forward after COVID.”
He will include compositions from Mozart to the present, different genres and moods, and diverse composers spanning the globe’s races, nations and genders.
“As much as I value ‘classics’ from the past,” he said, “it’s important to increase awareness and understanding of what is happening right now. There are many composers still around us. And I believe that bringing people of diverse backgrounds to a common place creates a platform for greater understanding.”
The four-part repertoire (like the four acts of an opera) begins with a classical prologue: the three movements of Mozart’s upbeat and intricate “Piano Sonata No. 17 in B flat, K. 570.”
The second grouping presents two prayers for humanity, both by 30-year-old composers, including Chen himself.
Chen’s own “In Memoriam: Japan, March 11, 2011. I. Twisting Path and II. Oblivion”— originally composed in response to Japan’s devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami — is as appropriate today, during a global pandemic, as it was then.
“I am not a man who is good with words,” Chen said of his powerful piece. “So I decided to express my sorrow in my composition. I also dedicate this piece to victims of COVID-19 and those who have lost their loved ones. We won’t be defeated. There is still hope for humanity. Each setback gives us more strength to rebuild a better society, compassion for others and openness.”
Concluding the performance’s first half is a stirring 2017 arrangement of “Amazing Grace” by 30-year-old Mississippi-based pianist Cecil Price Walden.
After intermission, American composer Charles Ives’ “The Alcotts” from Concord Sonata continues the American theme in the key of C, evoking the mid-nineteenth-century transcendentalists of Concord, Mass.
Two nocturnes, also in C but in different modes —”Notturno Op. 54, No. 4,” by Norwegian Edvard Grieg, and “Nocturne Op. 48, No. 1, in C minor,” by Frederic Chopin of Poland — slow the pace and temper the mood before the concert’s sparkling conclusion.
Ending the performance with typical Chen virtuosity are four century-spanning etudes — technically complex short exercises for piano — including Chopin’s “Etude Op. 10, No. 1, in C major (“Waterfall”),” Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s “Piano Etudes Op. 125, No. 22, in B-flat minor,” Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s “Etudes IV “Fourths” (1969)” and H. Leslie Adams’ deeply moving “Piano Etudes, Part II, Nos. 2, 10.”
Chen’s message throughout is clear: “Humanity is strong. We will recover and continue to thrive.”
Press release from: https://www.yoursun.com/coastal/entertainment/piano-virtuoso-yi-yang-chen-coming-to-punta-gorda/article_e1cdd434-12fc-11eb-9d01-0fc060b5e74a.html