Chelsea’s 2021-22 season began with her German debut at the Moritzburg Festival as both pianist and soprano, and appearances in both capacities with the Stamford Symphony and Michael Stern in their season opening gala, as well as an hour-long return visit to radio station WQXR’s Young Artist Showcase. It continued similarly with the New Jersey Symphony and Maestro Xian Zhang, her Spain debut with the prestigious Sociedad Filarmonica La Coruña, her collaboration with the Oregon Mozart Players and Kelly Kuo in the closing concert of their 40th anniversary season, and her debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the New Jersey Symphony and Maestro Zhang. After having won a top prize in the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition in Miami, Chelsea’s 21-22 season also included recitals in Florida for the Chopin Foundation of the United States, the Grand Piano Series, and the Miami International Piano Festival. In July of 2022, Chelsea was proud to be included in “ Classic FM’s Rising Stars: 30 Brilliant Musicians We’re Celebrating in 2022.”

In addition to tonight’s recital, which marks Chelsea’s Boston debut, her appearances in the 2022-23 season include a recital in Cremona, Italy, at the invitation of the Fazioli family and as part of the Cremona Musica and Fazioli piano festivals, as well as concerto appearances with the New Jersey and New Haven symphonies.

Chelsea’s solo piano performances have taken her to Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as prominent venues throughout the United States, England, Austria, France, Poland, Italy, Spain.China, Japan and Canada. A guest artist of the Leeds Inaugural Piano Festival, she was also featured in Europe in solo recitals presented by the Mozarteum Summer Series in Salzburg, and in China, in a six-concert tour under the auspices of the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival. Her orchestral appearances have included the Ft. Worth Symphony, under the baton of Maestro Barry Douglas, and the Torun Symphony Orchestra in Poland. Chelsea was honored to be a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang Foundation, a young artist of the Artemisia Akademie at Yale, and a recipient of the US Chopin Foundation scholarships for four consecutive years.

Chelsea’s passion for piano was mirrored by her love of singing from an early age. Having debuted as a pianist with the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra at age nine, she returned in 2018 as vocal soloist under the baton of Maestro Muhai Tang. She has been recognized for her vocal gifts as a 2019 National YoungArts winner, the first prize winner in the 2019 Schmidt Voice Competition, and recipient of scholarships from the George London and Gerda Lissner foundations.

Chelsea graduated with honors from the Juilliard School’s Pre-College as a double major in piano and classical voice, studying with Hung-kuan Chen, Tema Blackstone and Lorraine Nubar. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in piano at Juilliard under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen and continuing her vocal studies with Jason Ferrante.
(updated July 17, 2022)


Xiaopei Xu 徐小培, collaborate pianist
"A sensitive pianist and talented artist." — Martha Argerich

Hailed by The Boston Globe as "a world-class pianist" and the BMInt as "spellbinding and expressive", Xiaopei Xu has been featured as a soloist on three continents, striving for creativity in her artistic expression. She made her Boston Symphony Hall debut in 2018, performing Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 with Maestro Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops.

Xu has received international acclaim with top prizes at the New York International Piano Competition, Oberlin International Piano Competition, Tureck International Bach Competition, Richmond Piano Competition and the Washington D.C. International Young Artist Competition. She has been invited to major festivals including Pianofest in the Hamptons, PianoTexas, Banff Music Centre, Sarasota Music Festival, Russia Young Artist Festival, and the Walnut Hill Music Festival. Xu has also been invited regularly to give masterclasses and lectures in Nanjing, Beijing, Qingdao, amongst other cities in China. Xu has been exclusively interviewed by Shanghai Morning Post, Qilu Evening news, Music Weekly, Yanzhao Metropolis Daily, and Shanxi Evening News. Her concerts have been reported by The Boston Globe, Sing Tao Daily, Boston Musical Intelligencer, Lancaster New Era, and more. Xu's recent performances have been presented by the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Harvard Musical Association, Foundation for the Chinese Performing Arts, The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, German Society of Pennsylvania, Lancaster International Piano Festival, Chinese American Museum(LA), Ukraine Forward, College Music Society… etc.

In addition to her musical endeavors, Xu integrates her love for visual arts with music, creating multidisciplinary collaborations as a way to enhance the artistic experience. A painter herself, she has been commissioned for several installations and collaborative projects. Xu created a combined art and concert experience at the Germany Society of Pennsylvania, as well as an exhibition of her artwork in "The Seven Deadly Sins," an interdisciplinary concert at the New England Conservatory. Collections of her drawings have been published by the Clara Haskil Competition's Jeune Critique.

Xu holds her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University, Master's degree from Yale University and Bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. Her principal teachers include Hung-Kuan Chen, Xun Pan, Meng-Chieh Liu, and Boaz Sharon. She has also worked with influential musicians such as Claude Frank, Richard Goode, and Paul Badura Skoda.