Pianist Joel Fan to Present Daring Program in his New York Solo Debut

CONTACT:

Nell Mulderry, Tel. 212-741-7959, e-mail: nell@bosssounds.com
Widya Widjaja, Tel. 212-741-7959, e-mail: widya@bosssounds.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: February 22, 2008

PIANIST JOEL FAN TO PERFORM WORLD-INFLUENCED PROGRAM FOR METROPOLITAN MUSEUM'S ACCOLADES SERIES ON MARCH 14, 2008

A Member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, Fan Makes His New York City Solo Recital Debut, Including Premiere of Leon Kirchner's Sonata No. 3, The Forbidden, Written for Fan in 2006

NEW YORK, NY, February 22, 2008 -- Pianist Joel Fan will give his New York City solo debut as part of the Metropolitan Museum's Accolades Young Artists Series on March 14, 2008 at 7:00 PM, offering a program of world-influenced music and a profound cross-cultural experience of Western and non-Western connections. Inspired by his experience with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, Fan will present an amalgam of repertoire ranging from Chopin to Dia Succari, Beethoven to Villa-Lobos, Prokofiev to Adnan Saygun, Liszt to Qigang Chen, and more.

Eclectic programming has become a Fan trademark. His recital program mixes the familiar with the unfamiliar and expresses two themes: varied, folk-influenced contemporary classical works are placed amidst great sonatas from the classical canon, culminating with the New York premiere of Leon Kirchner's Sonata No. 3, The Forbidden, written for Fan in 2006. The Saygun piece blends Turkish "aksak" rhythm with a pentatonic theme that might be found in a piece from China; the Succari and Chen pieces blend native qualities from Syria and China, the latter revealing the composer's influence stemming from his studies in France with Messiaen, as his last pupil. Villa-Lobos contains an indigenous element with use of a South American Indian melody in the middle theme.

Joel Fan combines virtuosity with a gift for lyricism. He's been called "superb" (Boston Globe), "a soaring talent" and "technical wonder" (Los Angeles Times), and a "versatile and sensitive pianist" (Washington Post). Much of the recital program repertoire can be heard on Fan's debut solo album, World Keys, released on Reference Recordings in 2006, which jumped to #3 on the Billboard Classical Chart and met with wide critical acclaim. On it he plays additional works by William Bolcom (U.S.), Peteris Vasks (Latvia) and Peter Sculthorpe (Australia). Fan's recording of the Kirchner sonata is included on the album Leon Kirchner: Works for Solo Piano (Albany), released in 2007. Fan's recordings with the Silk Road Ensemble are available on Sony BMG Masterworks.

About the Artist

Fan is a native New Yorker who began his performing career at age 11 with the New York Philharmonic after winning the orchestra's Young People's Concert Auditions. He has been guest artist with orchestras throughout the United States as well as in Europe and the Far East. Recent notable performances include: May 2006, performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the New York Philharmonic and cellist Yo-Yo Ma under conductor David Zinman; August 2006, his debut at the Saito Kinen Festival of Matsumoto, Japan; and November 2006, performing the world premiere of Kirchner's Sonata No. 3 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fan will appear with conductor Alan Gilbert and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in Messiaen's TurangalˆÆla Symphony in April 2008. As a member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble Fan has appeared at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and on the national television programs Good Morning America and Late Show with David Letterman.

He completed Pre-College studies at Juilliard, earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, and holds a Masters in Music degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory, studying under Maestro Leon Fleisher. His repertoire spans the traditional piano classics, piano concertos, his own piano transcriptions and cadenzas, and newly commissioned works.

Fan is a prizewinner of several international competitions, such as the D'Angelo Young Artists International Competition in the United States and Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy. In addition he was named a Presidential Scholar by the National Foundation for the Arts.

The Metropolitan Museum Accolades Young Artist Series

The Accolades series continues the tradition of young artists at the Museum. The Metropolitan Museum has been championing young artists for more than half a century -among the artists who have made debuts in its series are Richard Goode, Peter Serkin, Arnold Steinhardt, and Murray Perahia. The Xerox Foundation makes this series possible. For tickets and more information please call the Concerts & Lectures Department at (212) 570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, for updated schedules and programs.

March 14, 2008 at 7:00 PM - Friday evening
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue. New York, New York 10028

Concert Program
Adnan Saygun - Pentatonic Sketch on Aksak Rhythm #10 (1976) (Turkey)
Prokofiev - Sonata No. 3 in A Minor, Opus 28
Dia Succari - La Nuit du Destin (1978) (Syria)
Qigang Chen - "Instants d'un Opera Pekin" (2000) (China)
Beethoven - Sonata in A flat Major, Opus 110
- Intermission -
Villa-Lobos - Choros No. 5, "Alma Brasileira"
Leon Kirchner - Sonata No. 3, "The Forbidden" (2006)
Chopin - Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor, Op. 35 ("Funeral March")
Liszt - Concert Paraphase of Verdi's Rigoletto

To learn more about Joel Fan call or email Nell Mulderry, 212-741-7959, nell@bosssounds.com; or Widya Widjaja, 212-741-7959, widya@bosssounds.com.

Nell Mulderry, President
Boss Sounds, LLC
1133 Broadway Suite 630
New York, NY 10010
212.741.7959 (ph)
212.504.3092 (fax)