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Foundation for Chinese
Performing Arts Summer FREE Concert @ NEC 2023 夏日系列音樂會 at New England Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts Aug 10 to 26, 2023 All concerts Admission Free, suggested donation $10 at door Age 6 and under not admitted |
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photos: Chung Cheng 
event photos: Xiaopei Xu and Chi Wei Lo |
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Chelsea
Guo
郭紫堯,
pianist and soprano “A prize-winner at last year’s National Chopin Piano Competition, Guo delivers an entrancing performance of the 24 preludes and other piano works, and then she self-accompanies a handful of vocal treasures. A very fine pianist with a beguiling voice; here is a rare talent.” – Acclaim for Chelsea Guo’s first recording, Chopin in My Voice, BBC Music Magazine Chelsea Guo stands out as a remarkable new kind of musical artist, equally inspired and highly regarded as both a classical pianist and a soprano. As she forges her own unique, multi-faceted path, Chelsea is gaining increasing recognition from all corners of the classical musical world. Chelsea won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 2022 as both a pianist and vocalist – the double award a first in YCA history – a particular seal of approval from an organization with a long-established record of spotlighting and promoting major artists in the early years of their careers. Another highlight of her year was being named one of British radio station Classic FM’s “Rising Stars: 30 Brilliant Musicians We’re Celebrating in 2022.” That accolade led to her participation in a live filming by Sky TV that featured a group of Classic FM’s Rising Stars. These honors build upon the Orchid Classics release of Chelsea Guo: Chopin in My Voice, her debut recording from 2021. True to her artistic vision, Chelsea not only presented interpretations of classics from Chopin’s beloved solo piano repertoire, but augmented them with performances of two of the same composer’s songs, and an aria by Rossini, in which Chelsea accompanied herself. Many have commented on Chopin having been influenced by bel canto opera, but few artists have ever had the capacity to do justice to that musical interconnection with bravura renditions of both pianistic and vocal parts. The music world took notice, with Gramophone Magazine including the CD among its “Essential New Albums” (“As both a pianist and a singer Chelsea Guo is clearly a special talent”), while the New York classical radio station WQXR and Naxos China both cited the recording among their “Best Albums of the Month,” as Chopin in My Voice reached #7 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. Through all this, Chelsea Guo’s concert career is flowering internationally, including performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as other prominent venues in the United States, Canada, England, Austria, France, Poland and China. Highlights of recent seasons include her German debut at the Moritzburg Festival in a series of six concerts, as both a pianist and soprano, as well as her performances at Italy’s Fazioli Piano Festival, and Spain’s Sociedad Filarmónica de A Coruña. A guest artist of the Leeds Inaugural Piano Festival, Chelsea has also been presented by the Mozarteum Summer Series in Salzburg, by the Chopin Foundation of the United States in a series of recitals, by the Miami International Piano Festival and the Grand Piano Series in Naples, Florida. She made her Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall in collaboration with the New Jersey Symphony and Maestro Xian Zhang and, as both pianist and soprano, at the season opening gala of the Stamford Symphony, led by Michael Stern. She has also been featured on WQXR’s Young Artist Showcase several times in recent years. Chelsea’s current concert season is marked by her debut recitals in Singapore, Malaysia, as well as in Chicago with Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, a longstanding series of live concerts simultaneously broadcast on radio station WFMT, in which she presents music by both Robert and Clara Schumann as both a pianist and a vocalist. Her engagement with San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival, its orchestra composed of concertmasters and principal players from America’s leading orchestras, featured her as the soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and, two nights later, as soloist in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. A standout in both international piano competitions and vocal competitions, Chelsea was a winner at the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition in Miami, while her vocal gifts were acknowledged when she was named a 2019 National YoungArts winner, and with her First Prize at the 2019 Schmidt Vocal Arts Competition. New York born and raised in Connecticut, Chelsea Guo is currently completing her Bachelor of Music degree in piano at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen, while continuing her vocal studies with Jason Ferrante. She is also mentored by the renowned soprano Barbara Bonney. (06-2023)   |
Thank you for your
generous contribution to
Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts
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中華表演藝術基金會 Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Lincoln, Massachusetts |