Han Chen

Pianist Han Chen, partly trained in China and the U.S., has made a growing impact in both traditional repertory and the New York avant-garde music scene. He is active as a composer as well. Chen was born in Taichung, Taiwan, in 1992. His talents were identified early, and he enrolled in the Shanghai Conservatory Middle School in 2004. Early on, he notched performances with the China Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and the Xiamen Orchestra. In 2010, Chen moved to the U.S. to study at the Juilliard School in Manhattan, where he worked with Yoheved Kaplinsky. In 2013, he won first prize at the China International Piano Competition. He continued his studies in 2016 at the New England Conservatory with Wha Kyung Byun and later at the City University of New York Graduate Center with Ursula Oppens. In the 2010s, he added further concerto appearances to his résumé with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting), the Fort Worth Symphony, and the Lexington (Kentucky) Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Chen has also given solo recitals in the U.S., China, and Taiwan. As a recording artist, Chen has focused on the virtuoso repertory. In 2016, he released his debut, an album of Liszt opera transcriptions, on the Naxos label; he has continued to record for Naxos. At Juilliard, he became involved with avant-garde musicians in New York, and he has continued to pursue an interest in new music. He performed John Cage's Concerto for prepared piano with the Juilliard student ensemble AXIOM and is a member of New York's Ensemble Échappé. Chen performed a solo concert of music by New York composers at the influential new music venue Spectrum. A composer himself, Chen has heard his music performed in New York, Taiwan, and Aspen, Colorado, among other places. He continued to focus on virtuoso repertory but oriented himself more toward new music. In 2020, he released an album on Naxos featuring the Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 of Anton Rubinstein, but he followed that up later that year with a collection of piano music by Thomas Adès. Chen returned in 2023 with the album Ligeti: Études, Capriccios.
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