BOBBY CHEN piano recital

Event information

Described by International Piano Magazine as “an armour-clad player of complete technique, a thinking musician, a natural Romantic”, Bobby Chen was a pupil of Ruth Nye MBE and Hamish Milne at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal Academy of Music, and burst on the scene playing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in a British tour with Lord Yehudi Menuhin and the Warsaw Sinfonia, and a recital at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the South Bank Prokofiev Festival.
Since then, he has performed as concerto soloist with several orchestras including the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta, under the baton of conductors Matthias Bamert, Maximiano Valdés, Michał Nesterowicz, Sir Neville Marriner, Pierre-André Valade, Lan Shui, Jonathan Bloxham and Giancarlo Guerrero. He has broadcast live for UK’s Classic Fm, Ireland’s Raidió Teilifís Éireann (Radio Television Ireland), Hong Kong’s Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and USA’s Pianoforte Chicago.
He was one of the pianists selected for the South-East Asian début of the Complete Beethoven Sonatas Cycle in Singapore, and has performed solo recitals and piano concertos at Hong Kong’s City Hall, Italy’s Fazioli Concert Hall, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Kuala Lumpur’s Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, Singapore’s Victoria Concert Hall, Turku’s Sibelius Museum, and at UK’s Bridgewater Hall, Royal Concert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Purcell Room, Reid Concert Hall, Royal Overseas League and Menuhin Hall, including four solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall.
Highlights in 2024 included the world premiere performance with Douglas Finch of ‘Songs of the Chenfinch’ for two pianos composed by Arnold Griller, a solo recital towards the Humanitarian Relief Fund of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem through the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a solo recital towards the ‘Jubilee 175 Fundraising Campaign’ of Farm Street Church, a 2-piano performance with Simone Tavoni and four singers of the complete Symphony No,9 by Beethoven at the Reform Club in support of The David Nott Foundation as well as a duo recital with violist Sarah-Jane Bradley at the Old Divinity School St John's College Cambridge.

Bobby Chen will play:
Schubert - Four Impromptus D.899 Op.90
Haydn - Sonata in C major Hob XVI:50
Liszt - Transcendental Étude No. 9 in A major, “Ricordanza”
Stephanie Cant - Seven Fantasies based on "Turning the Tide"
Chopin—Three Mazurkas Op.59
Chopin—Four Mazurkas Op.17
Schubert-Liszt— Ave Maria S.558 No.12

Our piano, a fine 2015 Steinway Model B Grand, was chosen for us in Hamburg by Steinway’s Head of Concert & Artists’ Services, Ulrich Gerhartz, and Chopin Society President Rose Cholmondeley, assisted by Craig Terry, Managing Director of Steinway’s in London. It is maintained by Steinway & Sons, who tune it before each recital and service it regularly.

After the concert we offer an informal Reception and buffet tea consisting of freshly-made sandwiches, savouries, chocolate biscuits and cakes, accompanied by quality wine, coffee, tea, juice or mineral water, plus the chance to meet the artist and also make new friends. An extra charge is made for this if you wish to stay for it. We can cater for up to 70. Tea tickets are sold on the door for cash or cheques: £10 (standard), £5 (students), £4 (Youth Members).