With a vibrant concert schedule, a legacy of 28 CDs, and a stream of superlatives

from major critics around the globe, pianist Frederic Chiu occupies a special place in

the world of classical music. In an eclectic career encompassing unusual

collaborations and little-played repertoire, along with explorations into the

psychology of performance, Mr. Chiu has demonstrated an ability to go beyond

boundaries. Not coincidentally, this long-term Yamaha Artist also helped the

instrument establish its brand as one the world’s great piano makers by providing

important feedback to technicians as they developed the newest models, both

acoustic, digital and hybrid.

 

The accolades tell part of the story. Reviewers have called his recorded

performances “playing on an exalted level” (Fanfare), and “stunningly virtuosic…

[with a] sense of spontaneity [that] is often incandescent” (BBC Music Magazine).

The New Yorker included his version of Liszt’s Années de Pélérinage, Italie among

their “Best Classical Albums of 2001.” His Mendelssohn Sonatas—selected as

“Record of the Year” by Stereo Review—became a best-seller in the classical piano

category.

 

Live performances continue to play a major role in his life. Mr. Chiu has toured

Europe and the U.S. with the Orchestre de Bretagne and Stefan Sanderling. He has

played with the Hartford Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony,

Indianapolis Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, Estonia

National Symphony, China National Symphony, the FOSJE Orquesta in Ecuador,

among others. In recital he performs in the world's most prestigious halls including

the Berlin Philharmonic, Kioi and Suntory Halls in Tokyo, Lincoln Center in New

York and Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Mr. Chiu's musical partners include

Joshua Bell, Pierre Amoyal, Elmar Oliveira, Gary Hoffman, David Krakauer, Matt

Haimovitz and the St. Lawrence, Shanghai and Daedalus string quartets. He has

worked with many composers, including George Crumb, Frederick Rzewsky, Bright

Sheng, Gao Ping and David Benoit.

 

But recordings have always represented a strikingly unique aspect of his life’s work.

His most recent discs include Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5,

Saint-Saën’s Carnival of the Animals (with storyteller David Gonzalez), and Hymns

and Dervishes—music by Gurdjieff and de Hartmann (out on Centaur in February

2016). The latter demonstrates the pianist’s ongoing adventurousness.

 

Mr. Chiu’s interest in the mystical Gurdjieff was sparked by philosophical pursuits,

encourage by a book written by Gurdjieff student Thomas de Hartmann about his

life with his teacher. “I read it,” he reports Mr. Chiu, “realized he was also a

composer, and found a bunch of scores in the Library of Congress.” Gurdjieff’s music

had been notated and arranged by de Hartmann, a student at the St. Petersburg

Conservatory when Prokofiev was also there. In an effort to do justice to the music,

Mr. Chiu began studying Middle Eastern scales. “I consulted Julien Weiss, who

started a Middle Eastern musical ensemble called Al Kindi, and he gave me a lot of

insights.” The result is a recording that uses both standard “equal temperament,”

and alternate tunings, which give the music “a sense of inspiration and expiration.

We had a tuner adjust the piano before each piece,” he explains.

 

That presented a new challenge: how to create that unusual musical context in live

performance. “I was able to accomplish the right effect using a Yamaha keyboard

that allowed changes of intonation on individual pitches,” he reports. “Through the

help of Yamaha’s technicians, I found that I could go back and forth between the

sound of an acoustic instrument in equal temperament and a midi instrument with

delicately shaded tunings. The changed scales have specific references to particular

Middle Eastern traditions, and the sound really gets to your gut somehow. It’s

subtle. Listeners don’t think, ‘That’s a nice intonation.’ Yet they know something

different is going on. It’s a great effect.”

 

Frederic Chiu’s early career followed traditional avenues. His awards and

competition wins included the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Juilliard’s

Petschek Award, and wins at contests run by the Music Teachers National

Association and the Beethoven Foundation (now the American Pianists Association).

He was a “non-winner” of the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition, where his elimination

from the finals caused an uproar in the press.

 

Frederic Chiu has been a Yamaha Artist since 1988, when he began practicing on

pianos in the company’s Paris studios during his years living in France. “I was one of

the first people to buy a GranTouch,” he reveals. “I saw a prototype made for

Sviatoslav Richter, who needed a practice piano for traveling. I practiced exclusively

on one for years, using it as a silent keyboard, for low-volume practicing—which

pushes your muscles—and employing earphones to develop right brain/left brain

coordination. Over the years, I also witnessed the development of the CFX, an

amazing instrument.”

 

One of the fruits of that association is the forthcoming Yamaha recording, Frederic

Chiu: Distant Voices, which includes piano music of Claude Debussy and Gao Ping.

Technological advances have been stunning, he says. “In just three days we were

able to produce an audio product, a video shoot, and a Disklavier program,” he says

with amazement.

 

What is next on the horizon? No doubt there will be ongoing collaborations, such as

his work with Shakespearean actor Brian Bedford, hip-hop artist Socalled, and

psychologist/writer/clown Howard Buten. And provocative audience-participation

projects, like his ongoing series, Classical Smackdown (ClassicalSmackdown.com). As

always, Mr. Chiu will also find time for writing, painting and cooking, and leading

activities at Beechwood Arts, an arts immersion non-profit he co-founded with his

wife, Jeanine Esposito, in Connecticut, his current home. A major addition to his

activities is his teaching – he is on the faculty at both Carnegie Mellon University, as

well as The Hartt School. He accepts a limited number of undergraduate and

graduate students, who learn the lesson that Chiu himself has learned: Music is not

an escape from life; it is a doorway into life.