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PIANO RECITAL BY DANG THAI SON
FRIDAY 24 MAY 2024
8:15PM
VICTORIA CONCERT HALL
“With each composition, [Dang] displayed the highest caliber of intellectual clarity and artistic elegance.” (South Florida Classical Review)
This marks the return to Singapore of the prince of the piano – Dang Thai Son. Dang won the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1980, a stunning victory for a completely unknown pianist from Vietnam at the time. Since that eventful year, he has become much sought after as recitalist, concerto soloist, competition adjudicator as well as master teacher. His students include some of today’s most notable pianists, including Bruce Liu, Kate Liu, Eric Lu, Tony Yang, and JJ Bui.
Dang has performed under the direction of conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pinchas Zukerman and Ivan Fischer. Since winning the Chopin Competition, he has maintained a close connection with Poland. In 2005, he was the only guest artist at the Opening Gala of the 15th International Chopin Competition. In 2018, Poland’s Ministry of Culture awarded him the Gloria Arts Gold Medal for Merit to Culture.
A prolific recording artist with an extended discography, Dang has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Melodiya, Polskie Nagrania Muza, SONY, Analekta, Victor JVC, as well as the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.
PROGRAMME
FAURÉ - Nocturne in E-Flat minor, Op. 33 No. 1
FAURÉ - Barcarolle in A minor, Op. 26 No. 1
DEBUSSY - Two Arabeques
DEBUSSY - Masques
DEBUSSY - Children’s corner
CHOPIN - Dances:
- Three Ecossaises, Op. Posth.
- Four Mazurkas, Op. 24
- Tarentella in A-flat major, Op. 43
- Five Waltzes
- Two Polonaises
(Programme subject to change at the artist's discretion)
THE ARTIST
DANG THAI SON, piano
“A genuine musician” (Isaac Stern)
An outstanding international musician of our time, Vietnamese-Canadian pianist Dang Thai Son was propelled to the forefront of the musical world in October 1980, when he was awarded the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Xth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. It was also the first time that a top international competition was won by an Asian pianist.
He began piano studies with his mother in Hanoi. Discovered by the Russian pianist Isaac Katz, who was on visit in Vietnam in 1974, he pursued his advanced training at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia with Vladimir Natanson and Dmitry Bashkirov.
Since winning the Chopin Competition, his international career has taken him to over forty countries, into such world renowned halls as the Lincoln Center (New York), Barbican Center (London), Salle Pleyel (Paris), Herculessaal (Munich), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Opera House (Sydney), and Suntory Hall (Tokyo).
He has played with numerous world-class orchestras such as The Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, St-Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal , Czech Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic Oslo Philharmonic, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Hungarian State Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National Symphony, as well as Virtuosi of Moscow, Sinfonia Varsovia, Vienna Chamber, Zurich Chamber, Royal Swedish Chamber Orchestras, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. Also, he has appeared under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy , Pinchas Zukerman, Mariss Jansons, Pavvo Jarvi, Ivan Fisher, Frans Bruggen, Vladimir Spivakov, Dimitri Kitaenko, Sakari Oramo and John Nelson among others.
In the field of chamber music, he has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Octet, the Smetana String Quartet, Barry Tuckwell, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Pinchas Zukerman, Boris Belkin, Joseph Suk, Alexander Rudin, and he has played duo-piano with Andrei Gavrilov.
Other career highlights include a New Year’s Day concert (1995) with Yo-Yo Ma, Seiji Ozawa, Kathleen Battle, and the late Mstislav Rostropovich, in a major international event produced by the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK; in January 1999, a Gala-concert opening the Chopin year, where he was the only foreign artist invited to appear as soloist with the Warsaw National Opera Theatre Orchestra; concerts in Isaac Stern’s last festival in Miyazaki, Japan in 2001, which included three performances with Pinchas Zukerman; a special performance in 2005 as the only guest artist at the Opening Gala Concert of the XVth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where he was also a member of the jury; and on Chopin’s 200th Birthday, March 1st, 2010, he played at the Gala Concert the Concerto in F minor with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under the direction of Frans Brüggen at the Warsaw National Opera Theatre.
