Biography
Frederic Chiu, born in the United States to parents who had emigrated from China, draws on a heritage that reviewers regard as an asset for expanding his interpretive outlook. Even so, the programs he presents stay anchored in the core European classical piano canon. During childhood he regularly supplied keyboard support for his violinist brother, an experience that sharpened his instincts for ensemble work.
Chiu completed a double major in piano performance and computer science at Indiana University under Karen Shaw, whose playing was noted for its forceful technical command. He also appeared often as accompanist in the violin studio of the late Josef Gingold, where he first encountered Joshua Bell, one of Gingold’s most celebrated students. Chiu has since shared stages with both Bell and Pierre Amoyal, although separate recording contracts have so far blocked a joint release by the two prominent American instrumentalists.
After Indiana, Chiu continued his studies at the Juilliard School with Abbey Simon, who had earlier taught Shaw, then chose Paris as the center of his professional life. In 1991 he and violinist Philippe Graffin established the Consonance Festival in Saint Nazaire; Chiu returns regularly, collaborating there with Jeremy Menuhin, the St. Lawrence Quartet, Christian Ivaldi, Gary Hoffman, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
Already viewed as one of the fastest-rising young pianists, Chiu entered the 1993 Van Cliburn competition. His dismissal before the final round provoked an outcry comparable to the 1980 Chopin Competition controversy surrounding Ivo Pogorelich. The resulting attention exceeded that given the winner, and The New York Times began describing him as a “maverick pianist.” Subsequent distinctions include the Petscheck Award, the American Pianists Association Fellowship, and the 1996 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has performed widely throughout the United States and Europe with leading orchestras and in major recital halls.
On the French Harmonia Mundi label Chiu has released successive volumes of a widely praised survey of all Sergey Prokofiev’s piano music, encompassing the unpublished early works and his own transcription of the suite from the film Lt. Kizhe. He is also drawn to neglected Romantic repertoire such as the Mendelssohn piano sonatas and the virtuoso transcriptions of the period, especially those by Franz Liszt. He has presented lecture-recitals devoted to Liszt’s keyboard version of Schubert’s Schwanengesang, which he later recorded for Harmonia Mundi, and has documented additional transcriptions of Rossini as well as the piano music of Ravel and Chopin’s Opus 10 etudes.
Chiu completed a double major in piano performance and computer science at Indiana University under Karen Shaw, whose playing was noted for its forceful technical command. He also appeared often as accompanist in the violin studio of the late Josef Gingold, where he first encountered Joshua Bell, one of Gingold’s most celebrated students. Chiu has since shared stages with both Bell and Pierre Amoyal, although separate recording contracts have so far blocked a joint release by the two prominent American instrumentalists.
After Indiana, Chiu continued his studies at the Juilliard School with Abbey Simon, who had earlier taught Shaw, then chose Paris as the center of his professional life. In 1991 he and violinist Philippe Graffin established the Consonance Festival in Saint Nazaire; Chiu returns regularly, collaborating there with Jeremy Menuhin, the St. Lawrence Quartet, Christian Ivaldi, Gary Hoffman, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
Already viewed as one of the fastest-rising young pianists, Chiu entered the 1993 Van Cliburn competition. His dismissal before the final round provoked an outcry comparable to the 1980 Chopin Competition controversy surrounding Ivo Pogorelich. The resulting attention exceeded that given the winner, and The New York Times began describing him as a “maverick pianist.” Subsequent distinctions include the Petscheck Award, the American Pianists Association Fellowship, and the 1996 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has performed widely throughout the United States and Europe with leading orchestras and in major recital halls.
On the French Harmonia Mundi label Chiu has released successive volumes of a widely praised survey of all Sergey Prokofiev’s piano music, encompassing the unpublished early works and his own transcription of the suite from the film Lt. Kizhe. He is also drawn to neglected Romantic repertoire such as the Mendelssohn piano sonatas and the virtuoso transcriptions of the period, especially those by Franz Liszt. He has presented lecture-recitals devoted to Liszt’s keyboard version of Schubert’s Schwanengesang, which he later recorded for Harmonia Mundi, and has documented additional transcriptions of Rossini as well as the piano music of Ravel and Chopin’s Opus 10 etudes.
Albums
