Ching-Yun Hu: From Taipei to the World
NEW YORK, NY "It's like breathing to me," says Ching-Yun Hu of her professional career as a solo concert pianist. It is this passion that has critics praising the 23-year-old Taipei native as "an artist with the soul of Chopin." Just finishing the European leg of a world tour, Hu is the latest artist to receive a Yamaha endorsement, and one of the youngest.
After making her professional soloist debut at age 13 with the Poland Capella Cracoviensis Chamber Orchestra while they were touring Asia, Hu soon moved to the United States, where she played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Aspen Concert Orchestra before enrolling in The Juilliard School of Music pre-college program. She eventually graduated from Juilliard with Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, having studied with the legendary Yamaha artist Oxana Yablonskaya and Herbert Stessin.
"I love performing and I love the process of competition," says Hu, "Sure, it's great to win, but no matter what the outcome is I enjoy the excitement of hearing the work of so many talented young artists. It's what drives me to always play better."
Given this passion to perform, Hu has found herself in the winners' circle at such events as the Taipei International Piano Competition, where she won the Second Prize and the Most Potential Pianist Prize in 1998 as the youngest competitor; the Chopin International Competition of Taipei in 1999; the Puigcerda International Piano Competition in 2001; and both the California International Young Artist Competition and the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition in 2003.
Among other prestigious accolades garnered by Ching-Yun Hu are the Young Artist Award from the National Cultural and Educational Committees and Career Sponsorship from the Taiwanese Government, and awards from the Chi-Mei Music and Art Foundation in Taiwan.
In her experience as an internationally acclaimed solo pianist, Hu says, "It always gives me a great sense of security when I arrive for a concert and see they have a Yamaha on the stage. I know I can depend on the instrument and won't have to worry about the sound, the response, the tuning or any compromise in the feeling of what I want to achieve with the music. I have been to the Yamaha factory in Hamamatsu. After seeing how these pianos are made, it gave me a profound understanding of why they are such special instruments especially the Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand, which I just love."
In 2006 Ching-Yun Hu's New York City appearances will include: on Friday, March 24 at 7:30pm performing the "Mozart Concerto no.5 in D major, K175" with the New York Sinfonietta, conducted by Nathan Brock at the Church of the Good Shepard, 152 West 66th Street (this concert is a part of the Yamaha All Mozart Piano Concerti Series), and on Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30pm playing Solo Recital, at the YASI Piano Salon, 689 5th Avenue. Hu has also expressed a desire to make New York her permanent home.
For more information on Yamaha, write Yamaha Corporation of America, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.
 Yamaha Artist Ching-Yun Hu |
"I love performing and I love the process of competition," says Hu, "Sure, it's great to win, but no matter what the outcome is I enjoy the excitement of hearing the work of so many talented young artists. It's what drives me to always play better."
Given this passion to perform, Hu has found herself in the winners' circle at such events as the Taipei International Piano Competition, where she won the Second Prize and the Most Potential Pianist Prize in 1998 as the youngest competitor; the Chopin International Competition of Taipei in 1999; the Puigcerda International Piano Competition in 2001; and both the California International Young Artist Competition and the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition in 2003.
Among other prestigious accolades garnered by Ching-Yun Hu are the Young Artist Award from the National Cultural and Educational Committees and Career Sponsorship from the Taiwanese Government, and awards from the Chi-Mei Music and Art Foundation in Taiwan.
In her experience as an internationally acclaimed solo pianist, Hu says, "It always gives me a great sense of security when I arrive for a concert and see they have a Yamaha on the stage. I know I can depend on the instrument and won't have to worry about the sound, the response, the tuning or any compromise in the feeling of what I want to achieve with the music. I have been to the Yamaha factory in Hamamatsu. After seeing how these pianos are made, it gave me a profound understanding of why they are such special instruments especially the Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand, which I just love."
In 2006 Ching-Yun Hu's New York City appearances will include: on Friday, March 24 at 7:30pm performing the "Mozart Concerto no.5 in D major, K175" with the New York Sinfonietta, conducted by Nathan Brock at the Church of the Good Shepard, 152 West 66th Street (this concert is a part of the Yamaha All Mozart Piano Concerti Series), and on Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30pm playing Solo Recital, at the YASI Piano Salon, 689 5th Avenue. Hu has also expressed a desire to make New York her permanent home.
For more information on Yamaha, write Yamaha Corporation of America, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.
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