Angela Cheng
Angela Cheng | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hong Kong |
| Occupations | Musician, educator |
| Instrument | Piano |
Angela Cheng (Chinese: 鄭美蓮; [1] is a Hong Kong-born Canadian classical pianist. She has performed internationally as a recitalist and as a guest soloist with orchestras. Cheng is a professor of piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Early life and education
[edit | edit source]Cheng was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Edmonton, Alberta, as a child.[1][2] She studied piano at Alberta College with Vera Shean and at the University of Alberta with Ernesto Lejano.[1][3] Anne Burrows, a local patron of the arts, established a foundation to fundraise for Cheng's further training.[4][5]
With the foundation's support, Cheng studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Sascha Gorodnitzki, earning a bachelor's degree in music.[1][5] She went on to earn a master's degree in music from Indiana University Bloomington, where she studied with Menahem Pressler.[1]
Career
[edit | edit source]In 1985, Cheng made her recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.[1] In 1986, she won third prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition.[6] In 1988, she won first prize at the Montreal International Music Competition (becoming the first Canadian to win the competition).[1][7] She was awarded a Medal of Excellence at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1991.[3]
Cheng went on to have an international performance career. She has performed as a guest soloist with every major orchestra in Canada (including Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra[8] and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra).[9] She has also performed with the Women's Philharmonic (San Francisco),[10] Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra,[1] and Boston Symphony Orchestra.[1]
In 1994, she joined Piano Six (also composed of pianists Janina Fialkowska, Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, André Laplante, and Jon Kimura Parker), which aimed to bring classical music to small communities across Canada.[3] In 2012, she made her Carnegie Hall debut, performing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.[11] That year, she also performed with Pinchas Zukerman at the Salzburg Festival.[11]
Cheng first started teaching piano at the University of Colorado.[1] She joined the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1999.[5] In 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta, in her hometown of Edmonton.
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Cheng is married to pianist and fellow Oberlin professor Alvin Chow, with whom she frequently performs.[3][12] They have two daughters.[8][13]
Selected discography
[edit | edit source]- Piano Concertos No. 9 and No. 17. Mozart (1991), with CBC Vancouver Orchestra. CBC Records.[1]
- The Women's Philharmonic. Mendelssohn, Schumann, Tailleferre (1992), with Gillian Benet (harp). Koch International Classics.[1]
- Piano Music of Clara & Robert Schumann (1996), CBC Records.[1]
- Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Albéniz, Turina, de Falla (1999), with Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. CBC Records.[1]
- The Overcoat: Music of Dmitri Shostakovich (2002), with Jens Lindemann (trumpet). CBC Records.[1][7]
- Préludes Op 28, Polonaises. Chopin (2006). Universal Music Canada.[1]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
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- 1959 births
- Living people
- Hong Kong emigrants to Canada
- Musicians from Edmonton
- Juilliard School alumni
- Indiana University Bloomington alumni
- Oberlin Conservatory of Music faculty
- 20th-century Canadian pianists
- 21st-century Canadian pianists
- Canadian musicians of Chinese descent
- 20th-century Canadian women pianists