Biography
Recording label harmonia mundi released a live CD of his Cliburn Competition performances in November 2013, featuring Beethoven’s monumental “Hammerklavier” sonata, as well as works by Brahms and Bartók, which Gramophone praised for “ravishing tone and cogently contoured lines,” and Limelight proclaimed to be “bold and fresh-faced.” In 2014, another solo album was released on the Steinway label with works by Scriabin and Ravel, including his own revelatory arrangement of Ravel’s La valse.
Born in Florida, Mr. Chen grew up in Oak Park, California and has collected awards that include the 2010 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship, Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Award, and an NFAA ARTSweek award. He now resides in New Haven, Connecticut, where he completed his artist diploma at the Yale School of Music under Hung-Kuan Chen in May 2014. He previously studied with Jerome Lowenthal and Matti Raekallio at The Juilliard School, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. When not at the piano, Mr. Chen enjoys composing and tinkering with computers.
Press Quotes
“[Sean Chen’s] ebullient personality lights up the stage the instant he walks onto it… He played the Debussy Suite Bergamasque masterfully. His Clair de Lune shimmered, his Prelude, Menuet, and Passepied were dazzlingly executed, full of colors and nuance. I had enjoyed everything before [his performance of La valse], but was nevertheless astonished by the pianist’s musical fireworks at the service of music that so richly deserves them.” –Arts Fuse (Boston)
“Mr. Chen’s charisma, remarkable musical depth and talent for coaxing subtle and surprising colors and textures from each work on the recording are only a few reasons to listen to La Valse more than once.” –LA Music Examiner
“He caps Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata with an unflappable rendition of the near-impossible fugue. Best of all is Brahms’s Op. 21, No. 1 Variations, where Chen orchestrates the thick textures with ravishing tone and cogently contoured lines, and links each section by way of assiduous transitions and unified tempo relationships.” –Gramophone
Source: http://www.cliburn.org |