World-renowned pianist Tai-Cheng Chen will perform a Sunday, Nov. 16, piano recital to benefit The All-Steinway School Initiative at Cal Poly Pomona.
Chen will perform several works by Franz Schubert and Frederic Chopin, including Schubert’s Sonata in E Flat Major and Chopin’s Grande Polonaise Brillante predecee d’un Andante spinato, Opus 22.
Chen, a native of Taiwan, attended school at Vienna Musikhochschule in Austria, where in addition to winning competitions he graduated with the highest honor of Unanimous Distinction. The following year, he won the prestigious Vienna International Music Festival Competition, in a performance that was televised throughout the world.
He then moved to New York to attend The Juilliard School. While attending Juilliard, he won the Gina Bachauer Scholarship Award and the opportunity to play Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto with the Juilliard Philharmonic Orchestra. Shortly after earning his DMA degree from Juilliard, he returned to Taiwan to teach at Taipei National University of the Arts.
Chen has given numerous international performances, including venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, and the Grosser Musikverein Saal in Vienna. As professor of music, hen has inspired generations of students, many who have gone on to win national and international competitions.
The concert will be held at 4 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall. All proceeds will benefit the Steinway Initiative, a campaign to raise $2.5 million to outfit the campus exclusively with 29 Steinway pianos, which are considered the gold standard in the music industry. The campaign would also create an endowment to maintain the pianos.
Tickets for the event are $25 and are available online at https://csupomona.tix.com. They also are available at the Music Recital Hall Box Office, Building 24-188, one hour before show time and Monday through Friday from noon to 1 p.m.