Dang Thai Son Masterclass

Schedule

Sun Aug 06 2023 at 10:30 am to 01:30 pm

Location

Academy of Vocal Arts | Philadelphia, PA

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Dang Thai Son
About this Event

Dang Thai Son, Professor at the New England Conservatory & Oberlin Conservatory, will be giving a masterclass on Sunday, August 6 from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm at the PYPA Piano Festival!

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Dang Thai Son

An outstanding international musician of our time, Vietnamese - Canadian pianist Dang Thai Son was propelled to the forefront of the musical world in October 1980, when he was awarded the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Xth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. It was also the first time that a top international competition was won by an Asian pianist.

He began piano studies with his mother in Hanoi. Discovered by the Russian pianist Isaac Katz, who was on visit in Vietnam in 1974, he pursued his advanced training at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia with Vladimir Natanson and Dmitry Bashkirov.

Since winning the Chopin Competition, his international career has taken him to over forty countries, into such world renowned halls as the Lincoln Center (New York), Barbican Center (London), Salle Pleyel (Paris), Herculessaal (Munich), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Opera House (Sydney), and Suntory Hall (Tokyo).

He has played with numerous world-class orchestras such as The Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic , City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, St-Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal , Czech Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic Oslo Philharmonic, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Hungarian State Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National Symphony, as well as Virtuosi of Moscow, Sinfonia Varsovia, Vienna Chamber, Zurich Chamber, Royal Swedish Chamber Orchestras, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. Also, he has appeared under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy , Pinchas Zukerman, Mariss Jansons, Pavvo Jarvi, Ivan Fisher, Frans Bruggen, Vladimir Spivakov, Dimitri Kitaenko, Sakari Oramo and John Nelson among others.

In the field of chamber music, he has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Octet, the Smetana String Quartet, Barry Tuckwell, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Pinchas Zukerman, Boris Belkin, Joseph Suk, Alexander Rudin, and he has played duo-piano with Andrei Gavrilov.

Other career highlights include a New Year's Day concert (1995) with Yo Yo Ma, Seiji Ozawa, Kathleen Battle, and the late Mstislav Rostropovich, in a major international event produced by the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK; in January 1999, a Gala-concert opening the Chopin year, where he was the only foreign artist invited to appear as soloist with the Warsaw National Opera Theatre Orchestra; concerts in Isaac Stern's last festival in Miyazaki, Japan in 2001, which included three performances with Pinchas Zukerman; a special performance in 2005 as the only guest artist at the Opening Gala Concert of the XVth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where he was also a member of the jury; and on Chopin's 200th Birthday, March 1st, 2010, he played at the Gala Concert the Concerto in f-minor with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under the direction of Frans Bruggen at the Warsaw National Opera Theatre.

Dang Thai Son is frequently invited to give master classes around the world - such as the special class in Berlin in October, 1999, where he taught alongside Murray Perahia and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He has sat on the juries of prestigious competitions such as the Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition (2005, 2010, 2015, 2021), Cleveland (USA), Clara Haskil (Switzerland), Artur Rubinstein (Tel-Aviv), Hamamatsu, Sendai (Japan), Piano Masters of Monte Carlo, Sviatoslav Richter (Moscow), Prague Spring International, Montreal International Piano Competition, and Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition among others. His pupils garnered top international prizes including Bruce Liu, the most recent winner of the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition 2021 in Warsaw, Poland.

During the 2012-2013 season, Dang Thai Son toured around the world with an ambitious program of all five Beethoven's piano concertos, the Beethoven Marathon. This colossal project was considered the most significant since his winning at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1980.

Dang Thai Son has recorded for Deutsche Grammophone, Melodya, Polskie Nagrania, CBS Sony, Analekta, Victor JVC, and the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

Mr. Dang's album "Chopin's Concertos" on Fryderyk Chopin Institute label was awarded in 2013 a Platinum Disc by the Polish Association of Audio-Video Producers for sales of over 10,000 copies. This disc features recordings of the Chopin Piano Concertos on a 1849 Erard piano and period instruments under the baton of the late Frans Bruggen and his Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, documenting two memorable events in the festival "Chopin and his Europe" in 2005 and 2006.

Two exciting recording projects were released in 2017. The first one is a Schubert recording with Victor Kenwood Japan, a company that Dang Thai Son has worked with since 1995. The second recording devotes to Paderewski's compositions which includes the Piano Concerto in a minor and a selection of Paderewski's solo works. The Piano Concerto on this CD was recorded live with the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy during the "Chopin and his Europe" Festival in Warsaw on August 29th, 2015. This recording was selected as "La clef du mois" (Disc of the Month) by ResMusica (Paris, France.)

Dang Thai Son was chosen by Deutsche Grammophone, in partnership with The Frederyk Chopin Institute, to be featured as one of the artists in their recently released 2-volume recording of music of Chopin on period instruments. Album can be ordered here.

Dang Thai Son is the featured artist in the television program "Tomorrow", produced by NHK (Japan Broadcast Corporation) in which he visited music students that were the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in the Tohoku area in Fukushima (Japan). He shared with them his musical experiences but most importantly he encouraged them to continue their music education, to fight on, and to look forward to the future. The program was broadcast worldwide in February 2013.

Dang Thai Son has received the "Doctor Honoris Causa" from the Music Academy in Bydgoczsz, Poland.

Mr. Dang is the subject of the biography "A pianist loved by Chopin - The Dang Thai Son Story", published by Yamaha Music Media Corporation in 2003.

Mr. Dang is the winner of the Prix Opus (equivalent of a Grammy Award in Quebec, Canada) in the 2016 "Concert of the Year" category for his concert presented by the Fondation Arte Musica at the Musee de Beaux Arts' Bourgie Hall in Montreal, Canada.

In September of 2018, Dang Thai Son received the Gold Medal "Zasluzony Kulturze Gloria Artis" (Medal for Merit to Culture) from the Ministry of Culture of Poland. This is the highest level of distinction awarded to people for their distinguished contributions to Polish culture and national heritage. What an extraordinary news and humbling honor for Mr. Dang whose career has been dedicated to music of Chopin and recently music of Paderewski!

Dang Thai Son joined the piano faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Ohio, USA) in 2018 where he works with undergraduates. Since 2020, he has been teaching graduate students at the New England Conservatory in Boston (Massachusetts, USA). In 2018, Mr. Dang was appointed Professor of Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Chinese National School of Music and the China Conservatory of Music. In 2019, he was invited to be the honorary Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.

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About PYPA Piano Festival

2023 PYPA Piano Festival is coming back to Philadelphia in summer of 2023! We have prepared 9 days of in-person events, including concerts, masterclasses, lectures, and Philadelphia International Competition, July 29-August 6, 2023!

PYPA Summer Piano Festival was founded in 2013. For the first five years, the festival took place at the Curtis Institute of Music, and since 2018, it has been in residence at the historic Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

Each summer, the piano festival offers an intensive nine-day program that encompasses master classes, lectures, and concerts performed by international renowned pianists, as well as PYPA young artists. The Summer Piano Festival also presents the annual Philadelphia International Piano Competition.

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Where is it happening?

Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

USD 12.50

PYPA Piano Festival

Host or Publisher PYPA Piano Festival

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