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Chinese pianist closes young artists series

Feb. 27, 2008

KALAMAZOO--The Young Concert Artists Series at Western Michigan University concludes its spring season with a performance by award-winning Chinese pianist Chu-Fang Huang. The program begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 9, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall, and will feature works by Scarlatti, Schumann, Ravel and Chinese composer Chu Wang-Hua.

All seating is general admission. Tickets are $10 and $5 for students and senior citizens. They may be purchased at the door or in advance through the Miller Auditorium Ticket Office at (269) 387-2300 or toll free (800) 228-9858.

Huang also will give a briefer performance at 1 p.m. Monday, March 10, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall as part of the School of Music's Convocation Series. Intended primarily for the WMU campus community, the Convocation Series is open to the public free of charge.

Huang's extensive orchestral and recital appearances throughout the U.S. and abroad have elicited enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics alike. The Birmingham News declared of one of her recent performances: "Clarity, poise, lucid phrasing and dead-on technique were in abundance at the electrically charged recital."

In addition to winning the 2006 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Huang claimed the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, Slomovic Orchestra Soloist Prize, Embassy Series Prize, Lied Center of Kansas Prize, Mortimer Levitt Piano Chair of YCA, and Mortimer Levitt Career Development Award for Women Artists.

The young musician made her Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall in November 2005 and recently took the stage at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in New York. She's performed internationally at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Klavier Festival in Germany, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the Beijing Zhong-shang Concert Hall and Liao-ning Grand Opera House in China.

Huang began playing the piano when she was just 7 years old, and received a full scholarship to the Shenyang Music Conservatory's pre-college division at the age of 12. She made her U.S. debut in the La Jolla Music Society's Prodigy Series when she was 15. She received a bachelor's degree in music from the Curtis Institute of Music and a master's degree from the Juilliard School, where she is currently pursuing postgraduate studies.

The Young Concert Artists Series is sponsored by the Donald P. Bullock Music Performance Institute in collaboration with the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation. For the past two decades, the series has introduced the Kalamazoo community to young classical musicians on their way to achieving international prominence.

Media contact: Kevin West, (269) 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu

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