ARTISTS


LUCILLE CHUNG
PIANO

GALLERY | BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | CONCERTO | DISCOGRAPHY | LINKS


GALLERY



Photography   Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

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BIOGRAPHY

Canadian pianist, Lucille Chung has been declared “a first-rate pianist…and a name to watch” (AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE). With performances described as “brilliant, crystalline” (BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE), “stylish and refined” (GRAMOPHONE), Ms. Chung has been making her mark from an early age. By the time she was ten years old she had made her debut performance with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and a few years later claimed first place in the Stravinsky International Piano Competition.

Since her early success, Ms. Chung has performed with over 50 leading orchestras around the world including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, KBS Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerífe, Staatskapelle Weimar, UNAM Philharmonic (Mexico), Lithuanian Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Flemish Radio Orchestra as well as all the major Canadian orchestras, such as Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, National Arts Centre, Calgary, Winnipeg, among others. She has also appeared with prestigious conductors including, Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Charles Dutoit to name a few.

In solo recital, Lucille has appeared in the finest concert halls including, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre, Washington’s Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection, the Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, and Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional. Festival appearances include the Felicja Blumental Festival in Israel, ChangChun Festival in China, MDR Summer Festival in Dresden, the Bard Festival in New York, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Soria Festival in Spain the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Santander International Festival, where she recently premiered the 6 Piano Etudes by I.D. Martínez.

Among Lucille’s many concerto appearances, this season, she will perform with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra and the Seoul Arts Centre Orchestra Festival in Korea. She will also appear as a featured performer at the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and at the Aruba Piano Festival. In addition to her solo activities, Lucille will be heard in recital with her husband Alessio Bax as part of the Bax & Chung piano duo throughout the Atlantic Provinces, Ontario, British Columbia and the Yukon.

Ms. Chung has received excellent reviews worldwide for her recordings of the complete works of Ligeti. In addition, her recording of Scriabin piano works on the Dynamic label garnered the maximum 5 Stars from the BBC Music Magazine and Fono Forum in Germany, as well; it received the R10 rating from Répertoire Classica in France. Recently, Lucille embarked on an exclusive contract with Disques XXI. So far, she has released two CDs, Piano transcriptions of Camille Saint-Saëns and Mozart & Me. Both CDs are earning critical praise and have been broadcast on the radio internationally.

Lucille graduated from both the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School before the age of 20. She then furthered her studies in Europe at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” Weimar and Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy, where she worked with the late Lazar Berman. The recipient of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council of the Arts, Lucille was awarded an Honors Diploma from the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. She was also recently named “Honorary Professor” of the Jilin Arts College in China and is on the faculty of the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas. Fluent in French, English, Korean, Italian, German and Russian, Lucille and her husband, Alessio Bax, are artistic co-directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation and perform together regularly as part of the Bax-Chung Piano Duo.

(as of September 2011)

REVIEWS

“…riveting, illuminating, fiery, transcendental pianism…”

- NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEW

“Ms. Chung, a first-rate pianist by any standard and a name to watch.”

- AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

“Chung exudes grace and poise at the keyboard, directing all of her energy toward making the music speak clearly.”

- TORONTO STAR

“…Chung’s blazing gutsy performance was exciting and rewarding…”

- THE WASHINGTON POST

“Lucille Chung’s stylish and refined performance…with imperturbable clarity and insight.”

- GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE

“Lucille Chung’s brilliant, crystalline performances are certainly very impressive indeed.”

- BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

“…a bravura display of extroversion and sensitivity.”

- SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Chung's concert is one to remember - This petite pianist plays with a power twice her size. Twenty years from now, it won’t be her that you remember, but her performance.”

- BUDAPEST WEEK MAGAZINE

“Elle allie la science à la spontanéité, avec une technique invisible. C’est tour l’art du naturel.

- RÉPERTOIRE, France

PREFERRED CONCERTO LIST
2011-2013

Adams   Grand Pianola Music
Bach   Concerto BWV 1056
Bartók   Rhapsody Op. 1
Beethoven   Concerto No. 2, No. 3 & No. 5
Brahms   Concerto No. 1
Chin   Piano Concerto
Chopin   Concerto No. 1
Franck   Les Djinns- Poème symphonique
Gershwin   Rhapsody in Blue
Grieg   Concerto
Ligeti   Concerto for Piano
Liszt   Concerto No. 1
Litolff   Concerto symphonique Op.102 "Scherzo"
Mendelssohn   Concerto No. 1, Concerto No. 2
Mozart   Concerto K. 271, K. 414, K. 459, K. 466, K. 488, K. 488 & Concerto K. 365 for Two Pianos
Piazzolla   The Four Seasons
Poulenc   Concerto for Two Pianos
Prokofiev   Concerto No. 1, Concerto No. 3
Rachmaninov   Concerto No. 1, Concerto No. 2
Ravel   Concerto in G Major
Saint-Saëns   Concerto No. 2, "Africa" for Piano and Orchestra, “Wedding Cake" for Piano and Orchestra, Carnival of the Animals
Schumann   Concerto in a minor
Scriabin   Prometheus: Poem of Fire
Shostakovich   Concerto No. 1
Stravinsky   Concerto for Piano and Winds
Tchaikovsky   Concerto No. 1

Recital repertoire available upon request
Master classes and workshops available
Other concerti available upon request


DISCOGRAPHY

Camille Saint-Saëns Piano Transcriptions   XX1 CD 2-1682
The Fazioli Concert Hall Series   Fazioli Series
Scriabin Piano Works   Dynamic CDS 416
LIGETI - Works for piano, two pianos and piano four hands   Dynamic CDS 434
György Ligeti: Piano Works   Dynamic CDS 358
Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals   FWSO Label
Felix Mendelssohn   CD RIC 29989
Lucille Chung: Début Recording   Palexa Label


LINKS

Artist Website
www.lucillechung.com

Recording Label
www.xxi-21.com


ACADEMIC AFFILIATION

SMU Meadows
www.smu.edu