DANBURY, CONN. — Internationally acclaimed pianists Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow will perform together in a recital at noon on Wednesday, April 27, at Western Connecticut State University.

Cheng, member of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music artist faculty, and Chow, chair of the Oberlin Conservatory piano department, will join in performance of piano works for four hands, a duet form composed for a single piano. Their program will include compositions by Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure and Antonin Dvorak. The recital, sponsored by the Keyboard Club and the WCSU department of music, will be at noon in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Admission will be free and the public is invited; donations to support the music department will be accepted.

Cheng and her husband, Chow, have established successful careers in performance with orchestras and chamber groups as well as in individual recitals at venues across the United States and around the world. Both pianists studied with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University and Sascha Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School.

The artists’ biographical notes describe Cheng, a native of Canada, as one of that nation’s “most distinguished and respected pianists, hailed by critics for her remarkable technique, tonal beauty and musicianship.” She has been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops and symphonies across North America from Montreal and Toronto to St. Louis, Houston and San Diego. She also has toured extensively to present recitals and perform with chamber ensembles including the Takacs, Colorado and Vogler quartets.

At the invitation of world-renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman, music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Cheng has toured China, Europe, South America and the United States with the Zukerman Chamber Players. Her performances available on CD recordings range from two Mozart concertos with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra to Clara Schumann’s Concerto in A Minor with JoAnn Falletta and the Women’s Philharmonic, and an all-Chopin solo program.

Cheng was the first Canadian to win top honors at the Montreal International Piano Competition. Among her many awards, she received the Gold Medal at the Arthur Rubenstein International Piano Masters Competition, the Medal of Excellence for Mozart interpretations from the Salzburg Mozarteum, a Career Development Grant from the Canada Council, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta.

A native of Miami, Fla., Chow has performed as a soloist with symphonies across North America and Asia including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Pan-Asia Symphony of Hong Kong, and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, Austria. Prior to joining the Oberlin faculty, he served as a professor of music at the University of Colorado.

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland, he earned the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano at the Juilliard School. His performances have been recognized with awards at the University of Maryland International Piano Competition, the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition, and the New York Piano Teachers Congress International Piano Competition.

Chow also performs frequently in chamber music ensembles with his wife and with his twin brother, Alan.

For more information, contact the WCSU department of music at (203) 837-8350.

 

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