has been described as one of the great personalities of the music world. Born in Taipei and raised in Germany, Chen's early studies fostered strong roots in Germanic classicism. He is regarded as an extraordinary interpreter of Beethoven’s music. Chen won First Prize in the Young Concert Artists’ Auditions, and top prizes in the Arthur Rubinstein, the Busoni and the Geza Anda International Piano Competitions, along with prizes in the Queen Elisabeth, Montreal, Van Cliburn, and Chopin International Competition. He is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Chen was Chair of the piano department of Shanghai Conservatory and continues to co-direct the International Piano Academy in Shanghai. He was on the faculty of Boston University and was a Distinguished Artist in Residence at Mount Royal University in Canada. In addition to his current work at New England Conservatory, he is a Professor at Yale University. Chen has adjudicated International Piano Competitions such as the Van Cliburn, Busoni, and Honens. In 1992, Chen suffered an injury to his hand that caused neurological damage and eventually resulted in Focal Dystonia. Through Qi Gong meditation and his own unique research, he was able to heal and return to his life as a concert artist. In 1998, his first post-accident solo recital received rave reviews, and he was described as a transformed artist. Following his 2006 Jordan Hall concert, Richard Dyer wrote in The Boston Globe: "Hung-Kuan Chen is back in prime technical form after years of struggle following an injury, but those years have made him a different pianist, and a better one. This man plays music with uncommon understanding and the instrument with uncommon imagination."

Niu Niu 牛牛 is the nickname and performing identity of Zhang Shengliang, born in China 1997. Niu Niu has studied with Professor Hung-Kuan Chen since age 10, first at the Shanghai Conservatory and at the New England Conservatory. At the 2007 Pearl Awards, Niu Niu performed at the London’s Royal Festival Hall in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles. In 2010 Niu Niu was made laureate of the PRIX Montblanc award to young emerging instrumentalists in the classical music world. In 2007 Niu Niu became the youngest pianist ever to sign an exclusive recording contract with an international classical label – EMI Classics now Warner Classics, releasing his debut album in 2008, followed by two others in 2010 and 2012. In 2013-14, Niu Niu will make his debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Muhai Tang, and return to the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra under Muhai Tang, performing Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in the first half and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 in the second. He will return to Japan for tours in 2014 with Maestro Yutaka Sado. Other engagements in 2014 include his debut with Maestro Belohlavek and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the Dvorak Prague Festival.

Chuang-Chuang (Peter) Fang 方壯壯 , born in Taiwan in 1992, started his piano with his father at four. At age 12, he entered the Affiliated High School of National Taiwan Normal University, studied with Alexander Sung. He also studied violin with Xian-Da Su, and composition with Fang-Long Ke. In 2010, Peter entered the Music Program of New England Conservatory at Walnut Hill School, studied with Professor Hung-Kuan Chen. Peter performed in Taiwan at Hsin Chu City Concert Hall and at Taipei KHS Hall. He appeared with Lev Klychkov, concertmaster of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, at the National Concert Hall in Taipei. Peter won the first prize of the 2012 Steinway Society Competition in Massachusetts, and he had performed at the Cohen Wing Symphony Hall in Boston. Peter is a sophomore at New England Conservatory studying with Professor Hung-Kuan Chen.

, Violinist

Violinist Ning Feng was born in Chengdu, China, and studied at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is quickly developing a reputation as an artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment.

Ning won first prize in the 2006 International Violin Competition “Premio Paganini” and has also won prizes at the Hannover International Violin Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, and also first prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Following his appearances as soloist with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra on tour in Beijing in October 2010, Maestro Fischer said :  “I found [Ning Feng] to be a special talent and an outstandingly musical artist. There is no doubt that he is a musician at the highest level and plays with genuine passion and a respect for the score. I recommend him without reservation.”

Upcoming dates for Ning’s 2011/12 season include concerts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic/Delfs, Galicia Symphony/Harth-Bedoya, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover/Gullberg Jensen, Calgary Philharmonic/Minczuk and Orchestre National de Lyon/Foster. Festival appearances in summer 2011 included Gstaad, Annecy, Colmar and Bad Kissingen. Ning Feng records for Channel Classics in the Netherlands. His most recent recording, Solo, featuring works by Paganini, Kreisler, Berio, Schnittke and others, received a first-class review by Audiophile Audition :  “You will be blown away by the artistry of this album, and blown away in great sound to boot. This is a stunning recording of solo violin works by a variety of composers […] and there are really few violinists who are able to pull it off. Ning Feng is one of those who can, not only for his sterling playing but also because of the rabid intelligence behind the selection of pieces here. None of these works is anything less than enthralling, and a few approach the incandescent. Milstein’s arrangement of the Paganiniana has never been bettered […] this is an unqualified recommendation of a wonderful album that demonstrates the highest artistic and programming skills possible.”

Ning Feng is based in Berlin and plays a Stefan-Peter Greiner violin (Bonn 2007).
Ning Feng is represented by Intermusica.
2011/12

SOLO (album), Channel Classics
“You will be blown away by the artistry of this album, and blown away in great sound to boot. This is a stunning recording of solo violin works by a variety of composers … and there are really few violinists who are able to pull it off. Ning Feng is one of those who can, not only for his sterling playing but also because of the rabid intelligence behind the selection of pieces here. None of these works is anything less than enthralling, and a few approach the incandescent. Milstein’s arrangement of the Paganiniana has never been bettered … this is an unqualified recommendation of a wonderful album that demonstrates the highest artistic and programming skills possible.”
Audiophile Audition, February 2011

Elgar Violin Concerto
“The heart of the concert was Ning Feng's amazing performance of Elgar's… Concerto. He offered up playing of such idiomatic sureness, and fresh spontaneity, that I cannot recall another performance of the work as compelling. And what technical wizardry he has in his armory, and what a huge rich, sound he makes. He stands out, in my view, from almost all the myriad young violinists now on the world stage.”
John Button, Dominion Post (New Zealand), September 2010

“Ning communicates with immediacy and produces an extraordinary range of dynamics… all in immaculate intonation and phrasing. A slew of bravos greeted his dainty encore, a transcription of Tarrega's memories of The Alhambra. Paganini lives again.”
Singapore Straits Times, May 2010

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
“A terrific performance… The fascinating effect he created was not just brilliant technical execution; what stood out was the tonal beauty Ning Feng retained, even in the boisterous fireworks runs, the double stops, and the frequent extreme high register playing.”
Nordsee-Zeitung, April 2009

Paganini's Violin Concerto No.1
“Paganini's Violin Concerto No.1 can acquire a stature all of its own when its challenges are met head on. Chinese violinist Ning Feng did exactly that. An extraordinary powerhouse of a performer with an unforgettably dazzling technique, he made this tortuously difficult work look like a stroll in the park.”
The Australian, March 2009

“Ning's greatest asset is the pliant lyricism that pours from his violin, and few violinists can rival his spinning of a lighter-than-air scherzando.”
New Zealand Herald, August 2009

“…a distinguished reading of a great violin concerto…Ning Feng, winner of the Michael Hill
International Violin Competition in 2005 and winner of the Paganini competition since then, is blessed with a fantastic technique and a luxurously rich and flowing tone. His performance of the Dvorak,Violin Concerto showed he is also a truly intuitive musician. Playing Dvorak, particularly the unstoppable high spirits of the last movement, with the same panache with which he tackles Paganini.

He played as encore a cantabile that, with bowed melody and pizzicato accompaniment, created the unbelievable effect of two players, as though he were accompanying himself on the guitar. Just to watch the orchestral violinists' faces as he played told the non-violinists among us what impossible miracles he was so calmly tossing off. Ning is a master showman, and he's a musician as well.”
The Listener (New Zealand), September 2008

‘Hello Mr Paganini’ (album)
Ning Feng (violin), Thomas Hoppe (piano)
“Ning Feng is featured on the Dutch Channel Classics’ new label devoted to the music and musicians of China, and reveals a player of stunning accomplishment. The Paganini pieces might be musically a bit insubstantial, but they are all designed to show off a master player, and Ning Feng stands out, even in an age full of dazzling young string players. His virtuosity is breathtaking but he also possesses a real sense for the poetic, and he makes a wonderfully pure sound as well. His accompanist Thomas Hoppe abets him, when needed, with real style and the recording, made in Eindhoven, is almost holgraphically realistic. Five stars.”
Dominion Post, August 2008

“The music on this disc Hello Mr Paganini some of the most difficult ever written for violin, is not played easily, and even less played with conviction. Ning does both, and with a sort of insouciant arrogance that speaks not only of ability but of empathy with the composer as well. According to the notes, he wishes us to “sing along” and not simply be amazed by the wizardry that Paganini infused into this music, devilish or not. …I remain convinced that only a violinist who actually loves this music—aside from just being intimidated by it or finding it challenging—could put across the melodic emphasis with such grace and airiness without focusing so much on the difficulties of the formal technique involved.”
Audiophile Audition, February 2008

“It's no surprise to learn that Ning Feng was the winner of the 2006 International Paganini Competition in Genoa; he's able to bring the great virtuoso's most extreme flights of fancy to life with exceptional beauxty and precision. The left hand pizzicati are uncommonly clear, even and rhythmic, and the notorious double harmonics are not only pure in tuning and tone quality, but sensitively and expressively phrased, too. Performed with this degree of finesse, Paganini's music takes on a surreal quality - a dreamlike extension of more normal ranges of expression… It's an enthralling, exciting recital.”
Gramophone

“Phrase by phrase, against Houstoun's limpid keyboard, Ning was the soul of elegance... Ning's violin soared in the outer movements and, with the sympathetic Houstoun, shaped the ebb and flow of its Andante cantabile to perfection. The

Finale was a heroic stand, with Ning in full arpeggiando splendour and Houstoun's piano hinting at worlds yet to be fully revealed in the composer's tone poems and operas.

Poulenc's Sonata shimmered like shot silk, a child of the salon and the jazz club in equal parts.”
Zealand Herald, June 2007

“This was a performance that swept all before it. It was impossible not to be won over by the Andantino barcarolle [of the Saint-Saëns concerto], especially when Ning's airy harmonics shadowed the clarinet so immaculately. There was little point in resisting a Finale that catapulted us from tzigane passion to Wagnerian ecstasy.”
New Zealand Herald, June 2007

寧峰  中國青年小提琴家

1981年生於四川成都, 現居柏林。 1992年考入四川音樂學院跟隨著名小提琴教育家胡惟民教授學習。 1998年秋, 寧峰被世界著名音樂學府英國 皇家音樂學院以全額獎學金錄取, 跟隨著名小提琴演奏家、教育家胡坤教授繼續深造。 1999年初, 他參加了大師梅紐因勳爵在皇家音樂學院舉辦的巴赫作 品大師班, 大師在聽完他演奏的巴赫“恰空”舞曲後評價說 : “他的演奏幾乎如我想像的一般完美。 ”梅紐因隨即邀請寧峰參加在德國舉行的“梅紐因基金會”慶 典音樂會。 1999年3月8日, 大師在生命中的最後一封推薦信裡寫到 : “寧峰的演奏深深地打動了我……他的音樂天賦與才能將使他的前途一片光明。 ”2003年, 寧峰成為皇家音樂學院建校近兩百年來的第一個以滿分成績畢業的學生。 畢業後, 寧峰被授予“皇家音樂學院會員(ARAM)”封號。

2003年9月, 寧峰在德國漢諾威舉行的“約阿西姆國際小提琴比賽”中獲得第三名；同年11月, 他獲得第十三屆“伊•高爾法斯小提琴比賽”第一名。 2005年6月, 在新西蘭舉行的“邁克•希爾”國際小提琴比賽中獲得第一名；同年9月, 在意大利熱那亞, 榮獲小提琴界最高榮譽之一的“帕格尼尼國際 小提琴比賽”金獎以及兩個特殊單項獎, 並應邀用意大利國寶——帕格尼尼自用的1743年制瓜內裡•德•吉蘇“大砲”小提琴演奏。

寧峰在著名的荷蘭Channel Classics唱片公司錄音。 該公司曾以SACD形式全球發行一張寧峰演奏的帕格尼尼作品的專輯和一張二重奏唱片。 寧峰曾多次在英國、德國、法國、意大利、比利時、加拿大、丹麥、俄羅斯、美國、新西蘭、日本等世界各地的著名音樂廳舉辦個人音樂會。 寧峰還與許多知名樂 團合作過, 包括布達佩斯節日管弦樂團, 北德廣播交響樂團, 巴伐利亞廣播交響樂團, 俄羅斯國家愛樂樂團, 薩爾茨堡室內樂團, 墨爾本交響樂團, 新加坡交響樂團, 馬來西亞愛樂樂團, 澳門樂團, 中國愛樂樂團, 上海交響樂團, 中國國家交響樂團等。

2010年秋, 寧峰與著名指揮大師伊万費舍爾率領的布達佩斯節日管弦樂團進行了一次成功的亞洲巡演。 巡演結與束後費舍爾大師對寧峰的演奏給予了極高的 評價 : “我認為寧峰是一位擁有特殊才能和天賦的出色音樂家。 毫無疑問, 他有著最高水平的演奏技藝和對音樂藝術極為飽滿的激情。 我毫無保留地推薦他。 ” 此次巡演中的出色表現也為寧峰帶來了一次難得的機會－－位於英國的世界著名古典音樂經紀公司Intermusica向他拋出橄欖枝, 他簽約負責代理 他在全球範圍的經紀事務。 寧峰也因此成為該公司成立以來簽約的的第一位中國藝術家。