Reviews
Washington Post
"Hsu played with a power, authority, and self-assurance that would be impressive in any pianist."
The Baltimore Sun
"Her performance was masterly in its strength and authority and was sustained by exquisite lyricism."
The Orange County Register
"Hers was a carefully voiced, sensitive, clear and warmly hued interpretation [of the Schumann concerto]..."
Piano Artistry Magazine (China)
She played [the Beijing premiere of Huang Concerto No.2] with masculine authority. Her performance was grand, forthright, and powerful...and emotionally moving... her technique was effortless."
The Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
"She played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with sweep and intelligence... the magic of her will-o'-the-wisp fanfares and filigrees caught the ear."
China Music Weekly (Beijing)
"Hsing-ay Hsu's musical sense is extremely sensitive and truly exquisite. She performed with distinct character, conviction, and brilliance."
The Greenville News
"She is one young artist who deserves every piece of gold, silver and bronze she's won. Hsu's eloquent ideas created a magical rendition of a composition, endowed with beautiful harmonics and a dreamy tone...Hsu gave a broadly dramatic yet carefully nuanced reading."
MetroWest Jewish News (New Jersey)
"Hsing-ay stole the show with her technically dazzling, crystal-clear reading...[she] brought the audience to its collective feet in a wave of deserved applause [in Alice Tully Hall]. "
Star-Telegram
"Chinese-born, Juilliard-trained American Hsing-Ay Hsu belies her tender years and smallish physique with gigantic strength and mature, majestic grasp in a program of Prokofiev's Sixth Sonata and J.S. Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue."
The Herald-Tribune (Florida)
"The Piano Concerto no.1 in G minor...benefited from the impressive virtuosity of young pianist Hsing-ay Hsu."
Since making her stage debut at age four, Hsing-ay Hsu has performed at such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (a sold-out recital), and abroad in Beijing, Kromeriz, Nice, Sendai, Shanghai, Taipei, and others. Her Brahms D minor Concerto performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was reviewed by the Washington Post to be full of "power, authority, and self-assurance." Hsu has also performed with the Pacific, New Jersey, Norwalk, Cathedral, China National, Xiamen-Aiyue, and Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestras. Her interest in new music has been displayed at the Tampa Bay Composer's Forum, Focus Festival (NYC), Czech Republic Contemporary Festival, theTanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, and the 1998 Gilmore International Keyboard Festival for which she commissioned a new work. She has premiered numerous works including Ned Rorem's Aftermath (2002) for baritone and piano trio. Television and radio broadcasts include NPR's "Performance Today", TCI's "Grand Piano Recital"(CA), and China Central National TV and Radio. Her solo CD from Pacific Records (China) has received critical acclaim. Upcoming performances include the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago and the New York Rock Hotel Pianofest.
Ms. Hsu is the 2000 Juilliard William Petschek Debut Pianist. Other honors include the 2001 McCrane Foundation Artist Grant, the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award in 1997, and the 1996 William Kapell International Piano Competition second prize at the age of nineteen. As a 1995 United States Presidential Scholar of the Arts, she was awarded a USA Gold Medallion by the President at the White House. She has given masterclasses at the Universities of Ohio, QingHua (Beijing), Xiamen, and the NHS Music Institute at Northwestern University. Recently she recorded a 4-disc masterclass series for the Lorenz Corporation, and was featured at the 2002 MTNA convention. This season, she is a visiting faculty member at Ohio.
Born in BeiJing, she began piano studies with her parents at age three. Her teachers include Fei-Ping Hsu, Herbert Stessin at Juilliard, and Claude Frank at Yale University, which she attended after winning a 1999 Paul & Daisy Soros Graduate Fellowship. She has participated and performed in the Ravinia Steans Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Prague Piano Masterclasses, and L'Academie d'Ete de Nice.
Read more...