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

30.05. 20:00
Long Beach Terrace Theater

Clara Schumann, Concerto for piano and orchestra A minor op. 7

Claire Huangci, piano

Eckart Preu, conductor

Long Beach Symphony

17.06. 19:30
Kongresshaus Biel

Sergej Prokofjew, Piano Concerto No. 5, g-Dur, op. 55

Sergej Prokofjew, Klavierkonzert Nr. 4 B-Dur op. 53

Claire Huangci, piano

Sinfonie Orchester Biel THEATER BIEL SOLOTHURN THÉÂTRE BIENNE SOLEURE

Kaspar Zehnder, conductor

19.06. 19:30
Kongress und Kulturzentrum Thun

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphonie Nr. 6 (Transkirption F. Liszt)

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphonie Nr.7 (Transkription F. Liszt)

Claire Huangci, piano

28.06. 19:30
Wartburg, Eisenach

Ludwig van Beethoven, 32 Variationen über ein eigenes Thema c-Moll WoO 80

Richard Strauss, Sonata for violin and piano Op 18 in E flat major

Sergej Prokofjew, Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94

Maurice Ravel, Tzigane

Claire Huangci, piano

Francesca Dego, violin

04.07. 15:00
Kloster Chorin

Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 G major, Op. 58

Claire Huangci, piano

Howard Griffiths, conductor

Konzerthausorchester Berlin

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 pianist Claire Huangci, winner of the first prize and the Mozart prize at the Geza Anda Competition in 2018, has succeeded in establishing herself as a highly respected artist, captivating audiences with her “radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity, keen interactive sense and subtle auditory dramaturgy” (Salzburger Nachrichten). Her unusually diverse repertoire, in which she also takes up rarely performed works, is illustrative of her remarkable versatility.

Claire Huangci has performed in solo recitals and in partnership with international orchestras such as the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, RSO Vienna, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Moscow Radio’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and at international concert venues including Carnegie Hall, the Wiener Konzerthaus, Konzerthaus Berlin, Gasteig Munich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, la Salle Cortot, Suntory Hall Tokoyo and Franz Liszt Akademie Budapest. She has made guest appearances at festivals such as the Kissinger Sommer, Verbier Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Rheingau Musik Festival.

In the 2019/20 season, the pianist makes her debut at the Lucerne Festival, Philharmonie de Paris and Festspielhaus Salzburg, returning with recitals to the Elbphilharmonie, the concert halls in Vienna and Berlin, Ruhr Piano Festival and MDR Musiksommer. She also performs with the orchestras of the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Bochumer Symphoniker and the Baseler Kammerorchester as well as internationally, travelling from Scandinavia to Spain and Portugal and on to Poland, Russia, Asia, and Latin and North America.

Claire Huangci began her international career at the tender age of nine with concert performances and competitive successes. She received significant input from her teachers Eleanor Sokoloff and Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and then studied under Arie Vardi at the University of Music, Drama and Media in Hanover. She especially stood out early in her artistic career as an expressive interpreter of Chopin’s music, winning first prizes at the Chopin Competitions in Darmstadt and Miami in 2009 and 2010. She also became 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: "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" (Marco Frei, Piano News). Following recordings of Beethoven's violin concerto in the piano version and Fantasia 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: this recording of the early piano concertos by Chopin and Paderewski shines with a dynamic, youthful energy on both beloved and lesser-known works.

2019/2020 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 I

Mozart	Sonata No. 13 in B Major, K. 333
Chopin	Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 35
Schubert	Piano Sonata No. 18 in G Major, D. 894
	or
Tchaikovsky	Sleeping Beauty Suite
	or
Rachmaninov	Preludes

Programme II

Bach	Toccata in C Minor, BWV 911
Mendelssohn	Fantasy in F Sharp Minor, Op. 28 'Sonate écossaise'
Beethoven	Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 'Waldstein'
	Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101
Liszt/Wagner	Tannhäuser Overture

Programme III

Corigliano	Etude-Fantasy
	or
Rochberg	Variations
Brahms	Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79
	Hungarian Dances (Selections)
Ravel	Tombeau de Couperin
Gershwin	Rhapsody in Blue

Programme Quartet

Claire Huangci (piano), Solenne Paidassi (violin), Adrien Boisseau (viola), Tristan Cornut (cello)
Mahler	Piano Quartet in A Minor
Fauré	Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15
Chausson	Piano Quartet in A Major, Op. 30

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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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News

Conversations with Claire

From 21 April onwards, Claire Huangci invites illustrious conversationalists to her new series Conversations with Claire every Tuesday at 6 pm. The prelude to the new format, presented and transmitted by the streaming platform Idagio, was an encounter with conductor Howard Griffith, with whom the pianist talked about Beethoven's Violin Concerto, among other things. The two musicians recorded the work together in the piano version and performed it repeatedly.

Conversations with Claire

Magazine

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.”...