On June 5, 2005, *Sa Chen* was awarded third prize and became the first recipient of the Crystal Award at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In addition to a cash prize, the award included three years of U.S. concert engagements, and a compact disc recording on the harmonia mundi usa label. Born into a musical family in Chongqing, China, Sa Chen shares with Lang Lang and Yundi Li the distinction of being named one of today’s top three Chinese virtuoso pianists by the legendary artist and teacher Fou Ts’ong: “I will be happy if they do better than me.”
When Ms. Chen was still a teenager, she was named first-prize winner of the 1994 China International Piano Competition. Winning fourth prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition 1996, as the youngest contestant in the competition, marked the beginning of Sa Chen’s international career. Also a top prizewinner of the 2000 Chopin Competition, she has quickly become known to audiences throughout Europe and Asia over the last decade. She has collaborated with the Berne, Birmingham, Shanghai, and Latvian Symphony Orchestras, as well as with the China, Israel, Straasbourg, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras. Conductors with whom she has performed include Sir Simon Rattle, Leonard Slatkin, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Ilan Volkov, Kazimierz Kord, Bernhard Gueller, Muhai Tang, and Long Yu. In recital, she has appeared in prestigious venues in major cultural capitals worldwide including Basel, Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Milan, Minneapolis, Sydney, and Vancouver. A frequent guest artist in Japan, Ms. Chen was among those artists featured in the prestigious 2002 Tokyo series, “The 100 Great Pianos of the Twentieth Century.” She has been invited to perform with Gidon Kremer and Nicolaj Znaider at the Kronberg and Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festivals and has participated at the Duszniki (Poland) Chopin Festival; Les Musiques festival in Basel, Switzerland; and the Beijing Music Festival and Gulangyu Piano Festivals in China.
During the 2005-2006 concert season, Sa Chen toured the United States on several occasions, including appearances with the Pacific, Springfield (MO), Tupelo, and Yakima Symphony Orchestras, as well as with the National Symphony Orchestra of Santo Domingo. Recital engagements brought her to new audiences in Anchorage, Burlington, Flint, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Steamboat Springs. She also performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Salzburg Camera at the Tonhalle in Zurich and gave recitals in Hamburg, Milan, and Shanghai. In the summer of 2006, Ms. Chen will make her debut at the Canton International Summer Music Academy under the direction of Janos Furst and will return to the prestigious Les Musiques and LockenhausFestivals at the invitation of violinist Gidon Kremer. In 2006-2007, she has been engaged as guest soloist with the Amarillo, Flagstaff, and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras in the United States. She will also perform recitals in Chicago, Fort Worth, Louisville, San Jose, Stuttgart, and Tokyo next season.
Ms. Chen’s debut disc Chopin Impression was released in 2003 under the JVC label. Her prize-winning performances of Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit and Liszt’s Spanish Rhapsody at the 2005 Cliburn Competition are among the works included on the harmonia mundi disc released in early fall 2005. She appears in In the Heart of Music, the film documentary about the 2005 Cliburn Competition, which aired on PBS stations across the United States beginning October 2005. She is also highlighted in the Encore! Series –; six short films featuring the Twelfth Cliburn Competition winners in performance, which premieres in the spring of 2006.
Having begun her musical studies at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and the Shenzhen School of Arts, Sa Chen was offered a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London following her success at the Leeds Competition in 1996. Since 2001, she has studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover.
