SMS Online - Bobby Chen 2003

Malaysian-born pianist Bobby Chen entered the Yehudi Menuhin School as a pupil of Ruth Nye in 1991. During his 4 years at the School, he participated in masterclasses with Fanny Waterman, John Lill, Charles Rosen, Rolf Hind, Nikolai Demidenko and Krystian Zimmerman during which time he won no fewer than 8 coveted awards, including that for the best final recital. Further masterclasses in Salzburg with Dimitri Bashkirov culminated in a solo recital at the Mozarteum.

In 1996, Chen was selected as a soloist in a CD issue on the Classic FM label entitled ‘Yehudi Menuhin’s Young Virtuosi’ and toured Britain with Lord Menuhin and the Warsaw Sinfonia performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. 1997 saw an appearance at the Royal Festival Hall playing the 4^th Prokofiev Sonata as part of the South Bank Prokofiev Festival.

Chen has travelled extensively giving recitals and concerto performances in London, the Home Counties and Scotland, Malaysia, Singapore and China – his concerto début in 1998 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lan Shui playing Rachmaninov’s Paganini Variations and a further invitation to play Beethoven’s 2^nd Concerto in 2000; a tour in October 2000 with Nicholas Daniel, the Britten sinfonia and the Cavendish Singers as part of the John Lewis Partnership’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations where he performed with renowned Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko; and the first Malaysian pianist to play at the concert hall at the Petronas Twin Towers, KL, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, with Beethoven’s Concert No. 2

“...his playing is truly beautiful…”
- Lord Menuhin -

“..an amazing talent..”
- Sir Neville Marriner -

“ ..his Prokofiev was fantastic…”
- Dimitri Bashkirov -

“...he stands apart from his contemporaries..”
- Nikolai Demidenko -

PROGRAMME

Image Book I by Claude Debussy

·        Reflets dans l’Eau
·        Hommage à Rameau
·        Mouvement

Wanderer Fantasy by Franz Schubert
.

Interval

Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky

Promenade
Depicts the composer as the viewer.

Gnomus
This is a small gnome with bow legs.

The Old Castle

with a troubadour singing.

The Tuileries Gardens

In Paris where children are playing and taunting.

Bydlo

Depicts a Polish oxcart.

Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks

Inspired by some designs Mussorgsky’s friend Hartmann drew up for a ballet.

Samuel Goldenburg and Schmuyle

Depicts two Polish Jews, rich and poor.

Limoges

A marketplace in France.

Catacombae

A Roman burial ground in Paris with skulls lying around.

With the Dead in a Dead Language

on Mussorgsky’s thoughts about his friend Hartmann:

The creative genius of the late Hartman leads me to the skulls and invokes them; the skulls begin to glow.

Baba-Yaga

Depicts the witch from Russian mythology who lives in The Hut with Fowl’s Legs and eats little children.

The Bogatyr Gate of Kiev

This is the design for the Great Gate of Kiev.
.