Bobby Chen

Introduction:

Acclaimed by the Guardian in London and the Straits Times in Singapore, and described by International Piano Magazine as: "...an armour-clad player of complete technique, a thinking musician, a natural Romantic. Young bloods come no better", Bobby Chen burst on the scene in 1996 with a sensational season of concerts, which included a British tour with Lord Menuhin in a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto and a recital at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the South Bank Prokofiev Festival.

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About Bobby...

Acclaimed by the Guardian in London and the Straits Times in Singapore, and described by International Piano Magazine as: "...an armour-clad player of complete technique, a thinking musician, a natural Romantic. Young bloods come no better", Bobby Chen burst on the scene in 1996 with a sensational season of concerts, which included a British tour with Lord Menuhin in a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto and a recital at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the South Bank Prokofiev Festival.

After his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, he made his highly successful concerto début in 1998 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra playing Rachmaninov's Paganini Variations led to collaboration with conductors Maximiliano Valdes, Lan Shui, Sir Neville Marriner, Lord Menuhin, Pierre-Andre Valade and several orchestras including the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Warsaw Sinfonia and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, he has made appearances in British venues such as Bridgewater Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room and the Wigmore Hall as well as travelled to Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, China, the USA and most of Europe. In Kuala Lumpur, his performance at the Petronas Towers of Beethoven's first Piano Concerto with Sir Marriner was particularly well received.

Chen's commercial recordings include the acclaimed 'Live at the Wigmore Hall' recording and a solo CD of works by Haydn, Liszt, Schubert and Stravinsky, both for Jaques Samuel Recordings. Chen also recorded for the 'Cello Classics' label with cellist Leonid Gorokhov, for Illuminate Records of Piazzolla's piano trio music and broadcasted on Classic FM. He looks forward to two forthcoming commercial CD releases, one of them an all-Prokofiev solo piano disc for SOMM Recordings.

Recent highlights include Bobby Chen's performances of Rachmaninov's concerti with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra under Matthias Bamert and at the Midland Centre of the Arts in the USA, solo recitals at Fazioli Hall in Italy, Worcester Three Choirs Festival and Marlborough College Summer School, participating in the Complete Beethoven Sonatas Cycle as part of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts's 70th Anniversary Celebration in Singapore, chamber music performances at London Chamber Music Festival, Musica Nova Contemporary Music Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Lidköping Music Festival in Sweden, broadcasts and interviews for Radio Television Hong Kong and Pianoforte Chicago (USA), and celebrating Malaysia's 50th Anniversary as a sovereign nation with a world premiere performance of a piano concerto with London Sinfonietta at Cadogan Hall in London.

Forthcoming appearances include solo and chamber recitals organized with the help of Southern Highlands International Piano Competition in Australia, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and Music for Wexford in Ireland, and a 3rd return as a solo artist to London's Wigmore Hall. Bobby will also be giving world premiere performances at the Guilford International Music Festival and in Ireland.