Sean Chen
Host - Sounds Like with Sean ChenA “thoughtful musician well beyond his years” (The Republic), pianist Sean Chen shares his “alluring, colorfully shaded renditions” (New York Times) and “genuinely sensitive” (LA Times) playing with audiences around the world in solo and chamber recitals, concerto performances, and masterclasses, after having won the 2013 American Piano Awards, placing third at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and being named a 2015 Annenberg Fellow. Mr. Chen is the Jack Strandberg/Missouri Endowed Chair Associate Professor of Piano at the UMKC Conservatory.
Mr. Chen resides in the suburbs of Kansas City with his wife, Betty, a violinist in the Kansas City Symphony, and their daughters Ella and Maeve. When not at the piano, Mr. Chen enjoys tinkering with computers, and exploring math, science, and programming. Mr. Chen is a Steinway Artist and is managed by Jonathan Wentworth Associates, Ltd.
More at seanchenpiano.com.
-
When you pair together musical "hamburgers" and "hotdogs," it can be easier to make sense of difficult rhythmic phrases. -
An odd, three-note notification sound for a credit card machine is reminiscent of a famously difficult piano concerto. -
Did George Gershwin have Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 on the brain when he composed his “experiment in modern music,” Rhapsody in Blue? -
Composer Olivier Messiaen studied with Paul Dukas, who once told him to “listen to the birds! They are great teachers.” Messiaen clearly agreed, and took a deep dive into ornithology and the study and transcription of bird song. -
Gustav Holst’s influence on John Williams is undeniable. Discover how Holst and Williams use music to evoke the vastness of space, or impending danger from a Roman god of war, or a dark side Sith lord. -
Since electric vehicles make almost no noise, for safety reasons, something had to be added…something musical. -
In the fall of 1878, Johannes Brahms composed eight short pieces for piano, including a short capriccio with a melody that would make Walt Disney proud. -
This eight note sequence has become ubiquitous everywhere from concert halls to weddings to punk rock clubs. -
While struggling to write his second piano concerto, composer Sergei Rachmaninoff sought the help of a hypnotherapist. The work that emerged has become an audience favorite, and thanks to a singer-songwriter from Cleveland, Rachmaninoff would land on the pop charts 75 years later.
