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Evelyn Chen

piano

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The New York Times hailed Evelyn Chen as “a pianist to watch,” praising her “brilliant technique, warm, clear tone, and exacting musical intelligence.” Ms. Chen’s recent engagements have included performances on five continents at venues including David Geffen Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Symphony Hall in Boston, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Wolf Trap near Washington DC, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Cultural Center of Hong Kong, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, among others.

A Steinway Artist, Ms. Chen has performed with numerous orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the New Zealand Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and the State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, and has collaborated with renowned conductors including Riccardo Muti, Leonard Slatkin, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Zdenek Macal, Joseph Silverstein, and JoAnn Falletta.

Ms. Chen’s recordings have received international critical acclaim. Her recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Leonard Slatkin and the Philharmonia Orchestra for Sony/BMG was among the top ten best-selling classical recordings in the UK.  Ms. Chen’s recording of Miklós Rózsa’s Piano Concerto with James Sedares and the New Zealand Symphony for Koch International Classics also received rave reviews, including the Gramophone Awards issue which proclaimed her a “dazzlingly secure, marvelously sympathetic exponent” of the concerto.

Ms. Chen has been featured on the CBS Evening News, and her performances have been broadcast across the United States, as well as throughout Taiwan and Great Britain (Classic FM).  She has collaborated in chamber music with violinists Cho-Liang Lin and Frank Huang, cellists Brinton Averil Smith and Leslie Parnas, violist James Dunham, and pianist Charles Wadsworth, and members of the New York Philharmonic, the Dallas and  Houston Symphonies, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. While touring Asia as soloist with the Harvard Orchestra, Ms. Chen performed before prominent dignitaries including the Princess of Thailand and the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

A winner of several international competitions, Ms. Chen is the recipient of Juilliard’s Petschek Award, which awarded her a fully sponsored New York debut recital at Alice Tully Hall.  She is also the First Prize Winner of the Mieczyslaw Munz International Competition and the Grand Prize Winner of the Piano Guild International Recording Competition.  As the youngest competitor at the age of fourteen, Ms. Chen captured First Prize in the Bach International Competition in Washington DC.

Ms. Chen received a Bachelor of Arts in composition, Magna Cum Laude with Highest Honors, from Harvard University, a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Juilliard School.  Her teachers include pianists Russell Sherman, Earle Voorhies, and Jerome Lowenthal, and composer Leon Kirchner.  She is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City, and a co-founder of the Moody Mansion Music in Galveston, Texas. She resides in Houston with her husband, cellist Brinton Averil Smith and daughter, Calista.

Meet the Musicians

FIRST VIOLIN
Carmelo de los Santos
Karen McKinnon Concertmaster Chair
Sarah Tasker •••
Assistant Concertmaster
Ana María Quintero Muñoz
Heidi Deifel 
Olivia DeSouza
Maia Lorenzo Gallegos
Juliana Huestis
Barbara Rivers
Nicolle Maniaci
Barbara Scalf Morris

SECOND VIOLIN
Rachel Jacklin •
Carol Swift •••
Julanie Lee
Lidija Peno-Kelly
Megan Lee Karls
Liana Austin
Sheila McLay
Jessica Retana
Jocelyn Kirsch

Brad Richards

VIOLA
Laura Chang
Kimberly Fredenburgh •••
Allegra Askew
Christine Rancier
Laura Steiner
Michael Anderson
Lisa DiCarlo
Joan Hinterbichler
Laura Campbell

CELLO
Amy Huzjak
Carla Lehmeier-Tatum
Ian Mayne-Brody
Dana Winograd
David Schepps
Lisa Collins
Elizabeth Purvis

BASS
Joe Weldon Ferris •
Mark Tatum •••

Katherine Olszowka
Terry Pruitt
Marco Retana
Frank Murry

FLUTE
Valerie Potter
Esther Fredrickson
Noah Livingston ••

PICCOLO
Esther Fredrickson

OBOE
Kevin Vigneau
Amanda Talley

ENGLISH HORN
Melissa Peña ••

CLARINET
Marianne Shifrin
Lori Lovato •••
Jeffrey Brooks

E-FLAT CLARINET
Lori Lovato

BASS CLARINET
Jeffrey Brooks

BASSOON
Stefanie Przybylska •+
Denise Turner +
Zoe SirLouis •++
Avery Dabe ++

HORN
Peter Erb •+
Allison Tutton
Maria Long
Andrew Meyers
Katya Jarmulowicz ••••

TRUMPET
John Marchiando
Brynn Marchiando
Sam Oatts ••

TROMBONE
Aaron Zalkind
Byron Herrington

BASS TROMBONE
David Tall +

TUBA
Richard White

PERCUSSION
Jeff Cornelius
Kenneth Dean
Emily Cornelius

HARP
Carla Fabris •

Principal •
Associate Principal ••
Assistant Principal •••
Assistant ••••
Leave +
One-year position ++
Half-year position +++