Interview
by Taiwan News
2017/06/13
2017/06/13
Rueibin
Chen to bring music to Chiayi City Concert Hall
Internationally
renowned Taiwan-born Austrian pianist Rueibin Chen will perform on the evening
of June 24 at Chiayi City Concert Hall for the Chaiyi Arts Festival, with some
pieces specially played for the very first time in Taiwan.
As
the late Russian pianist Lazar Berman’s only disciple of Asian descent, Chen
has a reputation for brilliant technique and intense artistic expression, as well as having an expertise on the
works of Russian composers. This time, Chen will perform renowned classic piano
works from Russian-born composer and pianist, A.Tcherepnin, including “Punch
and Judy” and “Shadow Play.”
Chen Ruei-bin received his first piano lessons from
his father at the age of five, practicing on an old piano in their living room,
which he described “now must be a hundred years old.”
At the age of 13, Chen was selected by the Taiwanese
government in a national talent search and was sent to Vienna, Austria, the
first time he ever stepped onto an airliner – to begin his formal education in
music. However, the pianist says that other than a passport, the government did
not offer any other support.
Chen has performed in major concert halls all over the
world such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City, Walt Disney
Concert Hall and Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Sydney Opera House and the
Hong Kong Cultural Center etc.
Asked which concert impressed him the most, Chen
relates an experience in Russia, how once a man came to him with tears after
the performance, which he later learned from the translator that the man was so
touched by his music, saying that he couldn’t believe how a Chinese-Austrian
pianist can interpret the works of Russian composer perfectly, and it was like
they speak the same language, the language of music.
In between concert engagements, Chen has also ventured
into compositions of new music with East West elements in recent years which
will be part of a series of new recordings.
