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Solo Piano Competition Winner Recital

Piano Spotlight Series: Solo Piano

SOUND WAVES

2023 fellow SZUYU SU was astonishing in last summer’s competition. Her anticipated recital includes a commissioned world premiere by ANTHONY CHEUNG.

Program

duration: approx. 60 minutes / no intermission

Anthony Cheung

in place, at hand WORLD PREMIERE

Frédéric Chopin

Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2

Frédéric Chopin

Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38

Frédéric Chopin

24 Preludes, Op. 28

A NOTE FROM COMPOSER ANTHONY CHEUNG:
in place, at hand

The works and performances that I respond to most, whether improvised or fully notated, are both intuitively free and physically embodied, giving the illusion of being generated in the moment. This piece explores some of those qualities: chords float in and out of time, gradually becoming more sure of themselves; when they return it is between multi-layered streams of activity, which can appear both chaotic but also constructed. Melodies and “solos” appear, even more improvisatory but also patterned with enough irregular frequency to break the illusion. The hands continually lie in place and in wait.

In place and at hand are allusions to the Latin terms in situ and in promptu, the latter of which is directly tied to the word impromptu. That word took on a new meaning in the 19th Century as a character piece for the piano — made famous by Schubert and Chopin – unfixed in form and characteristic of improvisation. The ideal pianist for this piece “discovers” the material as it initially unfolds, as if for the first time, but also dashes off capricious passages of calculated virtuosity. Readiness-at-hand meets sleight-of-hand. I am grateful to Music Academy of the West for the opportunity to write for Szuyu Su, whose enormous range and imagination influenced the multiple directions of this piece.

Artists

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Szuyu Su

piano

ABOUT
Alumni
2023
Music Academy Award
2023 Solo Piano Competition winner

Born in Tainan City, Taiwan, Szuyu began to learn the piano at the age of four. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and master’s degree from The Juilliard School. She is currently pursuing her doctorate degree in piano performance at Rice University under the instruction of Jon Kimura Parker. Szuyu is the winner of the 2023 Solo Piano Competition at the Music Academy of the West. She is a recipient of the CHIMEI Arts Award and the second prize winner at the 2022 Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition. In 2019, she won Second Prize and best mazurka performance at Beijing Chopin Piano competition. She participated in the 2021 Warsaw Chopin International Piano Competition and advanced to the second stage. Since then, she has been invited to play with orchestras and give recitals in major venues.

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Anthony Cheung

composer

ABOUT

Composer/pianist Anthony Cheung writes music that explores the senses, a wide palette of instrumental play and affect, improvisational traditions, reimagined musical artifacts, and
multiple layers of textual meaning. His music has been commissioned and performed by leading groups such as the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, New York Philharmonic,
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Scharoun Ensemble, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and many others. From 2015-17, he was the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra. He is the recipient of a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as a 2012 Rome Prize, and received First Prize at the 2008 Dutilleux Competition. As a co-founder of New York’s Talea Ensemble, he served as pianist and artistic director of the group. Recordings include three portrait discs: Cycles and Arrows (New Focus), Dystemporal (Wergo), and Roundabouts (Ensemble Modern Medien). He studied at Harvard and Columbia, and was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. He taught at the University of Chicago from 2013-20, and is currently Associate Professor of Music at Brown University.

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