Ya-Fei Chuang 莊雅斐, Pianist
Acclaimed by critics in the United States and abroad for performances of stunning virtuosity, refinement and communicative power, pianist Ya-Fei Chuang has appeared at international festivals include the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw with Christoph Eschenbach, Taipei International Music Festival, the European Music Festival(Stuttgart), , the Bach Festival in Leipzig, Schleswig-Holstein, , Ravinia, Sarasota, Gilmore, Tanglewood, the Celebrity Series in Boston, and the Oregon Bach Festival. She has appeared with the Spectrum Concerts in Berlin, at the Fromm Foundation concerts at Harvard, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge(USA), and at venues such as the Cologne and Berlin Philharmonic Halls, the Schauspielhaus Berlin, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, and Jordan and Symphony Halls in Boston. Ms. Chuang has performed as duo partner with Kim Kashkashian, Robert Levin, Steven Isserlis, and James Buswell. The Ruhr Piano Festival(Germany) has released two CDs of her performances there—her May 2007 solo recital, which was also distributed as a premium by the music magazine ‘Fono Forum’; and live performances of the Mendelssohn G-minor piano concerto and concerto for two pianos in A-flat. Her recent engagements include concerts and recordings in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic, appearances at the National Concert Hall Taipei, performances in England, Germany, Austria, South America and throughout the US. She has recorded solo, concerto and chamber music works for Naxos, Harmonia Mundi, ECM, New York Philomusica Records, and the Ruhr Piano Festival. Her recording of Hindemith’s chamber music works with Spectrum Berlin was awarded the special prize by the International Record Review 2009. Ya-Fei Chuang’s mastery of the most challenging solo and chamber repertoire is complemented by her commitment to contemporary music. She has given the world premieres of works by John Harbison, Stanley Walden and Thomas Oboe Lee. Ya-Fei Chuang is on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory and at the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division and SCE. She gives master classes throughout the US, Europe and Asia, including at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, at Tanglewood, and annually at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum, Salzburg. Prizewinner in the Cologne International Piano Competition at age 18, Ya-Fei Chuang first performed on television in her native Taiwan at the age of eight and gave her first public recital at age nine. She won first prize at the nationally televised ‘Genius vs. Genius’ Competition at age ten and first prize at the National Competition(Taiwan) at age eleven. The following year she received unprecedented fellowships and scholarships from several prestigious foundations in Germany and Taiwan that enabled her to pursue pre-college, undergraduate, and masters-level studies at the Freiburg Conservatory(Musik-hochschule) with Rosa Sabater and Robert Levin, completing the six-year course of study in four. During this time she was awarded numerous prizes, including the Basel-Colmar-Freiburg Arts Prize and the Mendelssohn Prize in Freiburg. She subsequently concluded her German studies with Pavel Gililov, receiving a concert diploma(final degree) at the Cologne Conservatory, and earned a graduate diploma at the New England Conservatory in Boston, USA, with Russell Sherman.
鋼琴家莊雅斐十八歲時即在科隆國際鋼琴大賽得名。自此經常於國際重要音樂節演奏，如華沙貝多芬音樂節與艾森巴哈合作，德國之歐洲音樂節(Stuttgart)，Schleswig-Holstein，柏林SpectrumConcerts，萊比錫巴哈音樂節、芝加哥Ravinia，Tanglewood，Gilmore與波士頓‘名門系列’。於2007-09年在德國魯爾鋼琴音樂節演出獲歐洲著名樂刊Fono Forum專 訪及專輯出版。多年來她的足跡踏遍世界重鎮，包括波士頓交響廳，柏林愛樂廳，柏林戲劇廳，萊比錫布商大廈廳等。近期音樂會除了重回歐美多個重要音樂節外，也包括與英國伯明罕市交，馬來西亞愛樂合作，以及在薩爾滋堡、柏林、紐約、南美等演出。近期也將由Naxos、ECM、紐約Philomusica等唱片公司發行專輯。莊雅斐也與依瑟列斯、卡許卡湘、R. Levin長期合作二重奏。
莊雅斐現任波士頓音樂院教授及新英格蘭音樂院CE鋼琴大師班主任。除了在世界各地教大師班之外，從2008起也是第一位受聘於莫札特音樂院暑期國際大師班的台裔鋼琴家。
出生台南的莊雅斐八歲時即在電視上演奏，九歲舉行個人獨奏會，十一歲全省鋼琴比賽冠軍。隔年前往德國佛萊堡音樂院師承當代莫札特權威列文(Robert Levin)獲得藝術文憑後，在科隆音樂院獲得最高階級演奏文憑，繼而在美國新英格蘭音樂院與鋼琴泰斗Russell Sherman學習。
Source from http://www.rayfieldallied.com/artists/ya-fei-chuang/
