Pianist Haochen Zhang
Haochen Zhang
Piano
Since his gold medal win at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, 26-year-old Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang has captivated audiences in the United States, Europe, and Asia with a unique combination of deep musical sensitivity, fearless imagination and spectacular virtuosity.
He has already appeared with many of the world’s leading festivals and concert series and following his performance of Liszt Concerto No. 1 at the BBC Proms with Yu Long and the China Philharmonic received rave reviews: ‘He made the Allegretto dance with Mendelssohnian lightness and Lisztian diablerie, and played the melody of the Quasi Adagio with melting softness.’Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph.
A popular guest soloist for many tour orchestras in his native China, Haochen made his debut in Munich with the Munich Philharmonic and the late maestro Lorin Maazel in April 2013, preceding their sold-out tour. Haochen has also toured in China with the Sydney Symphony and David Robertson, in Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai with the NDR Hamburg and Thomas Hengelbrock and following a performance in December 2014 with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in Beijing, Mo. Gergiev immediately invited him to his Easter Festival in Moscow, Russia.
Highlights of the 16/17 season include a new recital CD, to be released by BIS in February, which includes works of Schumann, Brahms, Janacek and Liszt; extensive recital and concerto tours in Asia with performances in China, Hong Kong and Japan; return engagements with Philadelphia Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.Haochen will also give recitals in San Francisco, Palma de Malloca, Imola, Helsingborg, among others. He makes his debuts with the RTV Slovenia and Asturias Symphony Orchestras, and will tour Europe with the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra having been their resident artist in the previous season.
In past seasons, Haochen Zhang has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, London Symphony, Japan Philharmonic Singapore Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestras.In recital he has performed at Spivey Hall, La Jolla Music Society, Celebrity Series of Boston, CU Artist Series, Cliburn Concerts, Krannert Center, Wolf Trap Discovery Series, Lied Center of Kansas and UVM Lane Series, among others. International tours have taken him to cities including Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Dresden, Rome, Tivoli, Verbier, Montpellier, Helsingborg, Bogota and Belgrade.Haochen is also an avid chamber musician, collaborating with colleagues such as the Shanghai String Quartet, Benjamin Beilman and is frequently invited by chamber music festivals in the US.
Haochen’s performances at the Cliburn Competition were released to critical acclaim by Harmonia Mundi in 2009. He is also featured in Peter Rosen’s award-winning documentary chronicling the 2009 Cliburn Competition, A Surprise in Texas. His complete competition performances are available on www.cliburn.tv.
Haochen is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied under Gary Graffman. He was previously trained at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Shenzhen Arts School, where he was admitted in 2001 at the age of 11 to study with Professor Dan Zhaoyi.e der Künste.
Maestro Tania Miller
Tania Miller
Guest conductor
In 2016-2017 Tania Miller will celebrate her fourteenth season as Music Director of the Victoria (BC) Symphony in a position that she has occupied with great distinction and growing acclaim. As the first Canadian woman to be Music Director of a major Canadian symphony orchestra, Tania Miller and the Victoria Symphony celebrated the orchestra’s 75th anniversary in 15-16 by touring Canada with performances in Vancouver, Ottawa, Quebec City and Toronto.
On the podium, Maestra Miller projects authority, dynamism and sheer love of the experience of making music. As one critic put it, she delivers “a calm intensity . . . expressive, colorful and full of life . . . her experience and charisma are audible.” Others call her performances “technically immaculate, vivid and stirring”. She has been a driving force behind new growth, innovation and quality for the Victoria Symphony, and has gained a national reputation as a highly effective advocate and communicator for the arts. As curator, she has distinguished herself in Canada as a visionary leader and innovator.
Tania Miller has appeared as a guest conductor in Canada, the United States and Europe with such orchestras as the Toronto Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Bern Symphony Orchestra (Switzerland), Oregon Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, Vancouver Symphony, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Hartford Symphony, and Wroclaw Philharmonic (Poland).
Maestra Miller’s early passion was opera; she conducted numerous productions for Michigan Opera Works in Ann Arbor (where she served as Artistic Director) and Opera McGill in Montréal. She obtained her doctoral and master’s degrees in conducting from the University of Michigan.
Recently Maestra Miller received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Royal Roads University in Victoria in recognition of her exemplary work as a leader and for her extraordinary artistic achievements in the community.
