Interview by Taiwan News
Dec. 10 , 2013
Chen Ruei-bin thrilled a full house of music lovers Saturday night, December 7, with his program of "Total Rachmaninoff" at Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California. The evening was another stop in a wide-ranging tour of Asia and other areas that Chen has undertaken in celebration of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 140th birthday on April 1 and in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of his death on March 28 this year. The Rachmaninoff tour is a follow-up to a similar series of concerts he staged from 2008 to 2010 for the 200th anniversary of Frederic Chopin’s birth.
Described as having the fingers of an angel, Chen Ruei-bin has won a well-deserved worldwide reputation as a classical pianist. He was the youngest ever Rachmaninoff International Competition winner and lists as his greatest influences the composers Franz Liszt, Alexander Siloti,a Alexander Goldenweiser and Rachmaninoff as well as his teacher Lazar Berman .
Chen’s repertoire for this performance included several of Rachnaninoff’s most popular piano transcriptions which have been used in movie soundtracks and in commercial advertising, such as Gavotte from a Partita by J. S. Bach, Minuet from L’Arlesienne by Georges Bizet and Lullaby by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He also demonstrated his extraordinary skill at the piano keyboard with interpretations of Rachmaninoff 's famous Liebeslied and Liebesfreud and Preludes as well as the composer’s three Nocturnes. Chen won another measure of recognition when he was the first Chinese to perform the three Nocturnes – written when Rachnmaninoff was only 14 – in Asia. His performance Saturday also marked the debut of the three pieces in Southern California.
In 2014 Chen Ruei-bin will continue his worldwide tour with many concerts in China, performing both concertos with orchestras and solo recitals. Wherever he goes around the world, Chen is certain to attract many of his ardent fans and win over new followers to him and to classical music.
