Claire Huangci
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Claire Huangci (; born March 22, 1990) is an American classical pianist. She lives in
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
.


Early life

Huangci was born in
Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
to Chinese immigrant parents, both scientists. Claire started playing piano at the age of six. Until she was 11 years old, Huangci studied with pianist Ursula Ingolfsson-Fassbind at the
Settlement Music School Settlement Music School is a community music school with branches in and around Philadelphia. Founded in 1908 by two young women, Jeannette Selig Frank and Blanche Wolf Kohn, it is the largest community school of the arts in the United States. I ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Aged 8, she won a gold medal at the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, being the youngest medalist in the pre-college division to perform with an orchestra at the prize winners’ concert of the International division.


Education

Huangci was supported with scholarships from DAAD and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben for two years. Having completed four years of study at the
Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...
from 2003 to 2007 where she studied together with notable pianists such as
Yuja Wang Yuja Wang () is a Chinese-born American pianist. Born in Beijing, she began learning piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. By age 21, s ...
under
Gary Graffman Gary Graffman (born October 14, 1928) is an American classical pianist, teacher and administrator. Early life Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of ...
, she continued her musical education in Germany at the
Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (, abbreviated to HMTMH) is a university of performing arts and media in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. Dating to , it has reorganised and changed names as it developed over the years, ...
with Professor Arie Vardi from 2007 to 2016.


Career

Huangci won First Prize in the 2009 Europäischer Chopin Klavierwettbewerb in Darmstadt and the Orpheum Music Prize in Zurich; the First and Special Prize at the 2010 National Chopin Competition in Miami, Florida, US, and the Second Prize at the 2011 ARD International Music Competition as its youngest participant. ARD International Music Competition 2011 Huangci was also a finalist in the 2010
Queen Elisabeth Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition (, ) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in City of Brussels, Brussels. The competition is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876–1 ...
. In 2018 she won the Concours Geza Anda in Zurich


Orchestras and performances

Huangci has appeared as a soloist performing with well-known orchestras such as the
Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription concerts, n ...
, the
Indianapolis Symphony The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) is a major American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The largest performing arts organization in Indiana, the orchestra was founded in 1930 and is based at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtow ...
, the
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (German: ''Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR'') was a German radio orchestra based in Stuttgart in Germany. History The ensemble was founded in 1945 by American occupation authorities as the orches ...
under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Vancouver Symphony, the
Munich Chamber Orchestra The Munich Chamber Orchestra (, or MKO) is a German chamber orchestra based in Munich. Its primary concert venue is the Prinzregententheater, Munich. The MKO also gives concerts in Munich at such venues as the Pinakothek der Moderne and the ', an ...
, the China Philharmonic, the Cannes Orchestre, the St. Petersburg Symphony, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, the
Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie The Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie (DSP) (''German String Philharmonic'') is a German string youth orchestra, based in Bonn. History The ensemble was founded in 1973 as the selection string orchestra of the music schools of the German Democrat ...
, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, and the Santa Fe Symphony as well as the Istanbul State Symphony. She has performed in venues such as
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
, Zürich Tonhalle,
Konzerthaus Berlin The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated from 1 ...
, Gasteig Munich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Salle Cortot Paris, Oji Hall in Tokyo and Symphony Hall in Osaka. Additionally, she is a guest artist at festivals such as the
Kissinger Sommer The Kissinger Sommer is a classical music festival held every year in the summer in the city of Bad Kissingen in Bavaria, Southern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986. At the beginning the focus of the festival was on the improvem ...
,
Verbier Verbier () is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederatio ...
, Ravinia, Łódź Rubinstein Festival,
Menuhin Festival Gstaad The Menuhin Festival Gstaad is a music festival founded by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin held every summer since 1957 in the Swiss alpine town of Gstaad, after being asked by the director of tourism to "enhance the summer season with some concerts". ...
, Mozartfest Würzburg and the Schwetzinger Festspiele.


Discography

In the summer of 2013, Huangci released her solo debut recording of solo works by
Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...
and
Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
under the Berlin Classics label. She has released a second solo album in 2015 featuring
sonata In music a sonata (; pl. ''sonate'') literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cantare'', "to sing"), a piece ''sung''. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until th ...
s by Scarlatti. In 2019 she released a CD of concertos by Chopin and
Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (;  r 1859– 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman who was a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the nation's prime minister and foreign minister during which time he signed the Tre ...
.


References


External links

* *
Yamaha Artists15 Questions to Claire Huangci
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huangci, Claire 1990 births Living people American women classical pianists Musicians from Rochester, New York Curtis Institute of Music alumni 21st-century American women pianists Classical musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American classical pianists