Claire Huangci

Piano

contact

Xenia Groh-Hu

xh(at)karstenwitt.com

+49 30 214 594-224

Lisa Böttcher

lb(at)karstenwitt.com

+49 30 214 594-226

General Management

Dates

29.01. 20:00 — cancelled
Bühnenhaus Wesel

Frédérik Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1, E minor Op. 11

Claire Huangci, piano

Neue Philharmonie Westfalen

01.02. 20:15
Stadthalle Reutlingen

Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 17

Claire Huangci, piano

03.02. 20:00 — cancelled
Kronensaal Betriebs GmbH

Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 17

Claire Huangci, piano

04.02. 20:00 — cancelled
Das Wormser/Theater, Worms

Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 17

Claire Huangci, piano

07.02. 16:00
Schloss Ettlingen

Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata BWV 910 in f sharp minor

Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata in D Major BWV 912

Franz Schubert, Sonata in C minor, D. 958

Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dances No. 1-5

Claire Huangci, piano

07.02. 18:30
Schloss Ettlingen

Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata BWV 910 in f sharp minor

Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata in D Major BWV 912

Franz Schubert, Sonata in C minor, D. 958

Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dances No. 1-5

Claire Huangci, piano

16.02. 19:00
Slovenská Filharmónia, Bratislava

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 (Transcr. F. Liszt)

Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata in D Major BWV 912

Franz Schubert, Sonata in C minor, D. 958

Claire Huangci, piano

18.02. 19:00
Slovenská Filharmónia, Bratislava

Felix Mendelssohn, Piano concerto No. 1 g minor op. 25

Maurice Ravel, Piano Concerto for the left hand in D major

Claire Huangci, piano

Daniel Raiskin, conductor

Slovenská Filharmónia

19.02. 19:00
Slovenská Filharmónia, Bratislava

Felix Mendelssohn, Piano concerto No. 1 g minor op. 25

Maurice Ravel, Piano Concerto for the left hand in D major

Claire Huangci, piano

Daniel Raiskin, conductor

Slovenská Filharmónia

14.03. 10:00
Alte Oper Frankfurt

Camille Saint-Saens, Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 g-moll

Claire Huangci, piano

Jader Bignamini, conductor

Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester

14.03. 12:30
Alte Oper Frankfurt

Camille Saint-Saens, Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 g-moll

Claire Huangci, piano

Jader Bignamini, conductor

Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester

15.03. 17:00
Alte Oper Frankfurt

Camille Saint-Saens, Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 g-moll

Claire Huangci, piano

Jader Bignamini, conductor

Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester

15.03. 20:00
Alte Oper Frankfurt

Camille Saint-Saens, Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 g-moll

Claire Huangci, piano

Jader Bignamini, conductor

Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester

27.03. 19:30
KKThun

Robert Schumann, Klavierkonzert a-Moll op. 54

Claire Huangci, piano

Laurent Gendre, conductor

Thuner Stadtorchester

biography

If looking for characteristics of Huangci’s piano playing one finds them in her superior focus, imaginative abilities, and the resulting poetics of her interpretation. (Thomas Schacher, Neue Zürcher Zeitung)

The young American pianist Claire Huangci, winner of the first prize and the Mozart prize at the 2018 Geza Anda Competition, continuously captivates audiences with her “radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity, keen interactive sense and subtle auditory dramaturgy” (Salzburger Nachrichten). With an irrepressible curiosity and penchant for unusual repertoire, she proves her versatility with a wide range in repertoire spanning from Bach and Scarlatti to Bernstein, Gulda, and Corigliano.

In solo recitals and with international orchestras, Claire has appeared in some of the most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall Tokyo, NCPA Beijing, Paris Philharmonie, Munich Gasteig, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, and the Budapest Franc Liszt Akademie. She is a welcome guest in renowned festivals including Lucerne Festival, Verbier Festival, Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival and Klavier Festival Ruhr. Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, ORF Radio Orchester Vienna, Vancouver Symphony, and China Philharmonic Orchestra, together with Sir Roger Norrington, Eva Ollikainen, Mario Venzago, Cornelius Meister, and Elim Chan are among her esteemed musical partners.

For an intense start of the 2020/21 season, Claire paid homage to Beethoven’s anniversary with a compelling interpretation of his Pastorale symphony arranged for solo piano by Franz Liszt, with concerts at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr and the Rheingau Musik Festival, where her recital was recorded for T-Mobile‘s streaming platform MagentaMusik 360. After appearances as a piano duo with Alexei Volodin at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and the release of a new album with her Trio Machiavelli, a major highlight in the Fall 2020 are her solo recitals at the main halls of Philharmonie Berlin and Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Later in the season, a further exciting debut takes place in the „Great Performers Series“ at New York‘s Lincoln Center. Among her orchestra engagements are dates with the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken, Museumsorchester Frankfurt, Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, she will direct concertos of Mozart and Chopin from the keyboard.

Claire Huangci began her international career at the age of nine with concert performances and competition successes. After studying with Eleanor Sokoloff and Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, she moved to Germany in 2007 for further studies with Arie Vardi at the Hannover Musikhochschule, completing them with honors in 2016. Early in her artistic career, she stood out as an expressive interpreter of Chopin, winning first prizes at the Chopin competitions in Darmstadt and Miami in 2009 and 2010. She was also the youngest participant to receive second prize at the International ARD Music Competition in 2011.

After recording her debut CD with solo works of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev and her prizewinning double album of Scarlatti sonatas (German Record Critics’ Award and Gramophone Editor’s Choice), she released highly acclaimed recordings of Chopin’s Nocturnes in 2017 and in 2018 of Rachmaninoff’s complete Préludes: Following recordings of Beethoven's violin concerto in the piano version and Fantasy for piano and orchestra by Schubert / Kabalewski with the RSO Vienna, her first orchestral album with the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken under Shiyeon Sung was released in autumn 2019. In summer of 2020, her first chamber music album was released withTrio Machiavelli, whose interpretations of Ravel trio and Chausson piano quartet proved „a wholly exhilarating debut (...) splendidly transparent, and always expressive.“ (BR Klassik).

2020/2021 season

This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.

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reviews

[Claire Huangci’s] piano skills are just as astoundingly sophisticated and deeply felt as her stylistic sensibilities.
Musik und Theater, Werner Pfister, January/February 2020, on the Paderewski-Chopin Orchestra CD

In the rising cadenza [in the first movement of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 53], [Claire Huangci] brings the kind of depth of virtuosity that makes a good pianist outstanding.
Luzerner Zeitung, Roman Kühne, 4/01/2020

[Claire Huangci] gives an arc to her interpretation of the four pieces [of Schubert's Impromptus op. 142]. Distinguished, delicate, in a flowing melodic current, full of dramatic shading and expressive modulations.
Schwäbische Zeitung, Gerd Kurat, 1/9/2019

Stylistic idiosyncrasies are addressed with a subtle but never intrusive meticulousness, and overall [Claire Huangci] proves to be a lively musical draftswoman who, with a clever pianistic sense of proportion, is able to give each piece its characteristic form.
Musik und Theater, Werner Pfister, May/June 2019 edition, about Rachmaninoff CD

Bringing equal measures of elegance and athleticism to the keyboard, Huangci proved herself every bit the “rock star” that Liszt himself was. […] Huangci’s strength, stamina, technique, and expressive power were absolutely jaw-dropping.
Masslive.com, Clifton Noble Jr., 24/3/2019

Her performance of [Rachmaninoff] Préludes is brilliant, clear, and flowing, with a remarkable sense of polyphonic structures while at the same time poetic and dynamic in the tonal qualities.
Pianist, first edition 2019, Mario-Felix Vogt, 15/3/2019

If looking for characteristics of Huangci’s piano playing […] one finds them in her superior focus, imaginative abilities, and the resulting poetics of her interpretation.
NZZ, Thomas Schacher, 2/3/2019

Numerous songs without words unfold here […]. Everything becomes part of a narrative flow that at the same time perfectly captures Rachmaninoff’s creative essence and intentions […]: absolutely worth a listen.
Piano News, Marco Frei, January 2019

Huangci plays [Beethoven's Piano Cpncerto Op. 61a] with bell-clear precision [...]. The first movement comes along singing and sparkling, exquisitely delicate in certain moments, woven into the orchestra, and then returning with breathtaking virtuosity and incredibly precise trills at a nearly inconceivable tempo [...] free of pathos and affectation.
Bochumer Zeitung Online, 9/12/2018

Her Schubert has lyrical grace and extroverted power, compelling effects and soft vocalism. […] Schubert has rarely been heard so thrilling, so modern, so replete with tension.
Badische Zeitung, Roswitha Frey, 27/11/2018

Claire Huangci´s fine and delicate virtuosity, well-rounded emotionality, and elegant shaping let these gems of the piano repertoire shine with a harmonious lightness. Rachmaninov is seldom played so empathically and lucidly.
BR Klassik Online, Michael Schmidt, 13/11/2018

[In the recording of all préludes by Sergej Rachmaninow Claire Huangci] has managed a wonderfully balanced dramaturgy of eruptive features and contemplative pausing - calmly and without big gestures, but decidedly pointed.
Frankfurter Journal, Cited as a Top 1 CD release, October 2018

Claire Huangci’s fanciful, highly intimate and refined playing [captures] the Shakespearean summer night magic and takes works by Beethoven, Scriabin and Chopin on a magical journey.
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Stephan Schwarz-Peters, 9/7/2018

In [Huangci’s] interpretation, Beethoven's Opus 61a became the perfect addition to his "official" piano concertos.
Fono Forum, Thomas Schulz, July 2018

Her Mozart Concerto was captivating, a flawless performance with lively, sparkling runs, and an abundance of musical ideas.
SRF, Moritz Weber, 13/6/2018

A whirlwind at the keyboard with an immense enthusiasm for playing, the pianist has also developed a musicality and a colour-rich tone, which, along with her apparent technical ease, is merely a springboard for a wholly individual musical conception.
Rondo, Christoph Forsthoff, February 2018

In Claire Huangci’s playing, the flow of the music does not run away with itself or become arbitrary, but rather remains intensely alert: her attack is delicate yet distinct. (…) Claire Huangci follows the poetry of the cycle sensitively, taking care to differentiate the polyphonic voices. Irresistible yet always considerate and alert, Claire Huangci lets herself become captured by the magic of [Chopin’s] music.
PianoNews, Hans-Dieter Grünefeld, September 2017

She’s aware of the importance of Chopin’s Classical side and there are many instances where she favours restraint over cheap emoting, which is much to the good. There’s also a real range of interpretation, which makes the set consistently appealing. (…) One of the most impressive readings here is of the C minor Nocturne, Op 48 No 1, in which an innate solemnity grows to extraordinary depths in Huangci’s hands. (…). An impressive addition to the Chopin catalogue from a pianist from whom I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more.
Gramophone, Harriet Smith, July 2017, on the Chopin-CD

Huangci plays Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a theme by Handel op. 24 accurately, precisely, virtuosically, and from time to time shrewdly accentuated, with an expansive tone that is never applied too thickly.
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Andreas Pernpeintner, 9/4/2017

Do we need another recording of Chopin’s Nocturnes? Not really! But when one hears this brand new double-CD from Claire Huangci, which comes out on 5th May, the answer is yes!
Süddeutsche Zeitung, CD-Tipp, 6/4/2017

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Orchestral repertoire

J. S. Bach	Piano Concerto in D minor BWV 1052
C. Baker	From Noon to Starry Night, Concerto for Piano and Chamber
	Orchestra
B. Bartók	Piano Concerto No. 3 in E major Sz. 119, BB 127
L. v. Beethoven	Piano Concertos
	No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
	No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19
	No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
	No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
	No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 "Emperor Concerto"
	No. 6 in G major, Op. 61a
	Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80
	Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56
L. Bernstein	Symphony No. 2 'The Age of Anxiety' for piano and orchestra
J. Brahms	Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83
F. Chopin	Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
	Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21
C. Debussy	Fantasy für Piano and Orchestra
C. Franck	Symphonic Variations, M. 46
G. Gershwin	Rhapsody in Blue
	Piano Concerto in F major
E. Grieg	Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
J. Haydn	Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. XVIII: 2
	Piano Concerto in G major, Hob. XVIII: 4
F. Liszt	Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, S. 124
	Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S. 125
	Hungarian Fantasy in E major for piano and orchestra, S. 123
	Totentanz (Dance of death), S. 126
C. Meijering	ISIS Concerto for piano and orchestra
F. Mendelssohn	Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
	Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40
W. A. Mozart	Piano Concertos
	No. 9 in E-flat major, K.271 "Jeune homme"
	No. 13 in C major, K.415
	No. 17 in G major, K.453
	No. 18 in B-flat major, K.456
	No. 19 in F major K.459
	No. 20 in D minor, K.466
	No. 21 in C major, K.467
	No. 23 in A major, K.488
	No. 24 in C minor, K.491
	No. 26 in D major, K.537
	No. 27 B-flat major, K.595
	Rondo D major, K.382
F. Poulenc	Concerto for two pianos in D Minor, FP 61
S. Prokofiev	Piano Concertos
	No. 1 in D-flat major, Op. 10
	No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
	No. 3 in C major, Op. 26
	No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 53 (for the left hand)
	No. 5 in G major, Op. 55
S. Rachmaninoff	Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1
	Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
	Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
	Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40
	Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in A minor, Op. 43
M. Ravel	Piano Concerto in G major
	Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)
A. N. Scriabin	Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 20
C. Schumann	Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7
R. Schumann	Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
C. Saint-Saëns	Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
	Rhapsodie d'Auvergne, Op. 73
D. Shostakovich	Piano Concerto No. 1 for piano, trumpet and string orchestra
	in C minor, Op. 35
	Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102
R. Strauss	Burleske in D minor
I. Stravinsky	Capriccio for piano and orchestra
P. Tschaikovsky	Piano Concerto No. 1 in B minor, Op. 23
	Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44
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recital programmes

Programme 1

Bach:	Toccatas c minor BWV 911 and D major BWV 912
Mozart:	Sonata B major KV 333
Schubert:	Piano Sonata D 958 / D 959 / D 960

Programme 2

Beethoven:	Piano Sonata d minor Op. 31 No. 2
Chopin:	Piano Sonata No. 2 b minor Op. 35
Mussorgsky:	Pictures at an Exhibition

Programme 3

Corigliano:	Etude-Fantasy
Brahms:	Two Rhapsodies Op. 79 / Hungarian Dances
Ravel:	Le Tombeau de Couperin
Gershwin:	Rhapsody in Blue

Trio Machiavelli - ith Solenne Païdassi, violin / Tristan Cornut, cello

Debussy:	Piano Trio G major
Tschaikowsky:	Piano Trio a minor Op. 50

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media centre

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discography

Paderewski & Chopin: Piano Concertos

Claire Huangci
Berlin Classics, B07T4RYMLT, 2019

Rachmaninov Preludes

Claire Huangci
Berlin Classics, 0301075BC, 2018

A Chopin Diary

The Complete Nocturnes
Berlin Classics, 0300905BC, 2017

Claire Huangci · Domenico Scarlatti

Piano Sonatas
Berlin Classics, 885470006031, 2015

The Sleeping Beauty

Works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Sergei Prokofiev
Berlin Classics, 885470005621, 2013

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Links

Website

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Magazine

From Solo to Duo and Trio: Claire Huangci

"I'm one of those people who always want to discover something new, that's why I like to occupy myself with diverse repertoire," Claire Huangci explained to us two years ago in an interview. At the moment, her the path to “the new” means, among other things, not only mastering great works in pianistic solitude or working with orchestras as a guest soloist, but also seeking new challenges with musical partners. Accordingly, she will be performing as a chamber musician in many places in the coming weeks: With her Trio Machiavelli in Bayreuth, and in piano duos with Alexei Volodin at the Elbphilharmonie and with Mario Häring in Blaibach. And as the first fruit, so to speak, of this orchard that has been growing for quite some time, she will release a chamber music CD in mid-August....

Claire Huangci: in the studio with Rachmaninov

„I get very nervous when I am making records (...) when the stage is set for the final recording and I realise that this will remain for good, my hands get tense.“ No, this isn’t Claire Huangci, who recently recorded Sergei Rachmaninov’s complete piano preludes for Berlin Classics, but rather the Russian composer himself who admitted to nerves. One of the greatest pianists of his time, Rachmaninov made landmark recordings of both his own works and music by other composers, but always had a certain mistrust of sound recordings.Nearly a hundred years later, committing any works to disc still presents its own exciting challenges. This is especially true in the case of the preludes, which are not only technically difficult, but since many of the individual works are relatively unknown, the whole cycle has been rarely recorded in its entirety. Claire Huangci confirms this: “There are a couple of favourites which everybody knows, and everybody plays. These few preludes, which Rachmaninov recorded himself, overshadow the rest of the cycle. I find this a great pity – for me, there isn’t a single prelude that is a little sub-par. Every piece is simply so unique and a small masterpiece in its own right.”...