On Saturday, Nov. 10 the Powell Piano Series featured a recital by renowned pianist Chu-Fang Huang. Every seat was filled in the Mathes Hall auditorium where the concert was held Saturday night. Huang played pieces by Schumann, Ravel, Haydn and Prokofiev, and floored the audience with her passionate performance.
At the age of seven, while most of us are getting rid of our training wheels and learning how to swim, Huang began studying piano. Now at the age of 23, she has performed in numerous concert halls around the world, including Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House.
“I think she is a fantastic performer,” said ETSU assistant professor of piano Dr. Chi-long Hu. “I think it was a very touching and effective concert.” Hu actually met Huang when they competed against each other a few years ago in China. “Unfortunately she beat me,” Hu said. “She’s basically unbeatable.”
Huang won first prize at the prestigious Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2006, which made her the first Chinese pianist ever to do so.
In April of 2007, the New York Times gave her a fantastic review of her performance in the Irene Diamond Concert. “Playing a repertory staple like the Grieg concerto takes some daring, since it is hard to distinguish yourself in the piece. But throughout the performance by the Chinese-born Huang, you sensed the excitement of a young pianist who could hardly wait to get her turn at it,” said New York Times critic, Anthony Tommasini.
Huang studied under Frank Claude, a German-born pianist who studied in Paris, while enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music. She then received her master’s degree from Juilliard School under Robert McDonald, a renowned American solo performer.
“She has already played with all the important orchestras and conductors around the world,” Hu said. “Next month she’s playing this same performance in Carnegie Hall. We are very lucky to have her playing here.”
Huang began her performance by playing Fantasie in C Major, op. 17, by Robert Schumann. She first gave the audience a biography of what was going on in Schumann’s life during the time that he wrote the piece. She then began playing with such emotion and drama that she appeared to forget that there were a couple hundred people staring at her.
“The Schumann was the most touching performance,” Hu said. “Her playing is so refreshing. It’s like something I’ve never heard before. There’s a lot of beauty in that piece that hasn’t been discovered.”
Hu said that after the performance he went home and practiced the Fantasie because he felt so inspired by her performance. Hu also commented on her ability to communicate with the listeners. “I think there is zero distance between her and the audience,” he said.
Huang is only one of many pianists the Powell Piano Series is featuring this year. The spring semester will bring in artists Hung-Kuan Chen on Feb. 1, Dmitri Vorobiev on Feb. 22 and Kay Zavislak on March 16.
For anyone interested in classical music, go to one of these concerts and you will think you have stepped into a European music hall and not Mathes Hall at ETSU.

Author