Bax & Chung Piano Duo
The real life marriage of concert pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, with their abundant artistic chemistry, passion, and stunning virtuosity, has led to one of the most appealing and impressive piano duos of our time. In the words of the UK magazine Music and Arts, “Theirs is a marriage of wondrous colors and dexterous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one.”
Alessio Bax is praised for creating “a ravishing listening experience” with his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations, and dazzling facility. First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions, a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and a winner of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, he has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, NHK Symphony in Japan, St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony with Sir Simon Rattle. His much-lauded discography includes a 2015 album of Russian favorites by Scriabin and Mussorgsky, Mozart Piano Concertos K. 491 and K. 595, Alessio Bax Plays Brahms, Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice”), Bach Transcribed, and Baroque Reflections (a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”). Most recently he released the collection Lullabies for Mila on Signum Classics, which also features Chung and is dedicated to their young daughter, born in 2014.
First Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition, Lucille Chung has been celebrated for her “stylish and refined” performances by Gramophone. She was born in Montreal, and made her debut at the age of ten with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, after which Charles Dutoit invited her as soloist on the orchestra’s tour to Asia. She has since performed with orchestras around the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Seoul Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and Israel Chamber Orchestra, as well as all the major orchestras in Canada, among them the Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver Symphonies and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She has appeared with conductors such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Vasily Petrenko. Her solo discography includes the first volume of her recording of György Ligeti’s complete piano works on the Dynamic label, as well as Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Transcriptions, Mozart & Me, and a 2016 all-Poulenc album for Signum Classics.
The second volume of Chung’s Ligeti project on the Dynamic label comprises his works for piano four hands and two pianos, and marks the first recorded collaboration between Bax & Chung. The disc garnered the maximum R10 Classica from the French magazine Répertoire and five stars from Fono Forum in Germany. In 2006, the duo released Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals with the Fort Worth Symphony under Miguel Harth-Bedoya, with Michael York as narrator. Bax & Chung: Piano Duo appeared on Signum Classics in 2013, pairing Stravinsky’s four-hand version of his ballet Pétrouchka with music by Brahms and Piazzolla.
Together, Bax & Chung have performed in major festivals and concert halls around the world; in 2008 alone, they logged 20,000 miles by train as they toured their four-hand Pétrouchka across the far reaches of Stravinsky’s homeland. They have appeared at international festivals including Verbier in Switzerland; Við Djúpið in Iceland; the opening concert of the Chungmu Hall in Seoul, Korea; the Pau Casals, Castilla y León, Torroella de Montgrí, and Pamplona International Festivals in Spain; the Felicja Blumental Festival in Tel Aviv; Lübecker Kammermusikfest and Schloss Elmau in Germany; Ottawa International Chamber Festival in Canada; and Music@Menlo, Mainly Mozart, and the Bard Music Festival in the U.S.; besides giving performances in Aruba, Barbados, China, Cyprus, France, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Italy, Palestine, Russia, and the United Kingdom. In recent seasons they have performed at New York’s Lincoln Center; the Chopin Society in Saint Paul, MN; the Dumbarton Oaks series in Washington, DC; at Italy’s Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, where Bax assumes the role of Artistic Director in 2017; and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, playing Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the Filarmónica de Buenos Aires.
After meeting at the 1997 Hamamatsu Competition, Bax & Chung carried on a courtship by telephone and email while on separate tours, eventually marrying in 2004. Besides their individual solo careers and their newest duo collaboration as parents of two-year-old Mila, they are also co-artistic directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation in Dallas, Texas, created to cultivate the legacy of the Basque pianist and to support young pianists’ careers. Last fall they began a three-year appointment as Johnson-Prothro Artists-in-Residence at SMU Meadows School of the Arts.
Alessio Bax is praised for creating “a ravishing listening experience” with his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations, and dazzling facility. First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions, a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and a winner of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, he has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, NHK Symphony in Japan, St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony with Sir Simon Rattle. His much-lauded discography includes a 2015 album of Russian favorites by Scriabin and Mussorgsky, Mozart Piano Concertos K. 491 and K. 595, Alessio Bax Plays Brahms, Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice”), Bach Transcribed, and Baroque Reflections (a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”). Most recently he released the collection Lullabies for Mila on Signum Classics, which also features Chung and is dedicated to their young daughter, born in 2014.
First Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition, Lucille Chung has been celebrated for her “stylish and refined” performances by Gramophone. She was born in Montreal, and made her debut at the age of ten with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, after which Charles Dutoit invited her as soloist on the orchestra’s tour to Asia. She has since performed with orchestras around the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Seoul Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and Israel Chamber Orchestra, as well as all the major orchestras in Canada, among them the Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver Symphonies and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She has appeared with conductors such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Vasily Petrenko. Her solo discography includes the first volume of her recording of György Ligeti’s complete piano works on the Dynamic label, as well as Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Transcriptions, Mozart & Me, and a 2016 all-Poulenc album for Signum Classics.
The second volume of Chung’s Ligeti project on the Dynamic label comprises his works for piano four hands and two pianos, and marks the first recorded collaboration between Bax & Chung. The disc garnered the maximum R10 Classica from the French magazine Répertoire and five stars from Fono Forum in Germany. In 2006, the duo released Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals with the Fort Worth Symphony under Miguel Harth-Bedoya, with Michael York as narrator. Bax & Chung: Piano Duo appeared on Signum Classics in 2013, pairing Stravinsky’s four-hand version of his ballet Pétrouchka with music by Brahms and Piazzolla.
Together, Bax & Chung have performed in major festivals and concert halls around the world; in 2008 alone, they logged 20,000 miles by train as they toured their four-hand Pétrouchka across the far reaches of Stravinsky’s homeland. They have appeared at international festivals including Verbier in Switzerland; Við Djúpið in Iceland; the opening concert of the Chungmu Hall in Seoul, Korea; the Pau Casals, Castilla y León, Torroella de Montgrí, and Pamplona International Festivals in Spain; the Felicja Blumental Festival in Tel Aviv; Lübecker Kammermusikfest and Schloss Elmau in Germany; Ottawa International Chamber Festival in Canada; and Music@Menlo, Mainly Mozart, and the Bard Music Festival in the U.S.; besides giving performances in Aruba, Barbados, China, Cyprus, France, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Italy, Palestine, Russia, and the United Kingdom. In recent seasons they have performed at New York’s Lincoln Center; the Chopin Society in Saint Paul, MN; the Dumbarton Oaks series in Washington, DC; at Italy’s Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, where Bax assumes the role of Artistic Director in 2017; and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, playing Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the Filarmónica de Buenos Aires.
After meeting at the 1997 Hamamatsu Competition, Bax & Chung carried on a courtship by telephone and email while on separate tours, eventually marrying in 2004. Besides their individual solo careers and their newest duo collaboration as parents of two-year-old Mila, they are also co-artistic directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation in Dallas, Texas, created to cultivate the legacy of the Basque pianist and to support young pianists’ careers. Last fall they began a three-year appointment as Johnson-Prothro Artists-in-Residence at SMU Meadows School of the Arts.
Fisher Piano Duo
The FISHER PIANO DUO has been delighting audiences throughout the United States with innovative and engaging programming of piano duet and duo literature since 2004. As dedicated educators and proponents of collaborative music making, the duo frequently serves as featured artists and clinicians at university, community music school, and civic events. Passionate educators and scholars, the Fishers are co-authors of the revised and expanded edition of Piano Duet Repertoire (Indiana University Press).
KATHERINE FISHER is co-author of the Piano Safari method (www.pianosafari.com) which is used piano students and teachers around the globe. She serves on the faculty of the Athens Community Music School at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Her responsibilities include teaching private piano lessons as well as coordinating the Piano Preparatory Program (group lessons) for children who are beginners at the instrument. Katherine is an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, having most recently served as recording secretary for the OhioMTA. She presently serves in the capacity of Vice- President for Membership for the Southeast District of OhioMTA.
A native of Ohio, Katherine earned degrees from the University of Oklahoma (Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy) and the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music (Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance). Her former teachers include Jeongwon Ham, Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Karin R. Edwards, and Nancy Bachus.
CHRISTOPHER FISHER is Professor of Piano at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where he chairs the Keyboard Division, directs the undergraduate and graduate piano performance and pedagogy programs, and serves as artistic director for the Ohio University Piano Pedagogy Seminar. He is Director of Studies for the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College Music Program. Recognized for his teaching, Dr. Fisher was the 2010 recipient of the Ohio Music Teachers Association Collegiate Teacher of the Year Award and the Ohio University School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award.
Dr. Fisher is the author of Teaching Piano in Groups (Oxford University Press, 2010), the only comprehensive group piano pedagogy textbook of its kind. A Chinese translation of Teaching Piano in Groups is also available. Dr. Fisher is the co-author of the revised and expanded edition of Piano Duet Repertoire (Indiana University Press, 2016). He has published in leading keyboard journals including Keyboard Companion, American Music Teacher, Clavier, and Clavier Companion. He is a contributing composer for the innovative piano method, Piano Safari (www.pianosafari.com), which is used by piano teachers and students around the globe. His educational compositions are published by Alfred Music and Piano Safari.
In demand as a workshop clinician, Dr. Fisher has presented lectures nationally and internationally, including the National Conferences of the Music Teachers National Association (Washington, D.C., 2001; Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2007; Atlanta, 2009; San Antonio, Texas, 2016; Orlando, Florida, 2018), the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (Lombard, Illinois, 2013; 2017), the Music & Drama Education Expo (London, England, 2018), the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum (Norman, Oklahoma, 2006; Austin, Texas, 2010), the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference (Canberra, Australia, 2008), Encontro Internacional de Pianistas de Piracicaba (Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2016), The Curious Piano Teachers Live Conferences (Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2018 and Oxford, England, 2018) and the American Music Therapy Association (Orlando, Florida, 2005). He has served as a guest lecturer at leading universities and conservatories across the U.S. including a recent engagement at The Juilliard School.
As a performing artist, Dr. Fisher frequently plays both solo and collaborative recitals, including duet and duo piano performances with wife, pianist Katherine Fisher. The Fisher Piano Duo was awarded first prize in the Adult Duo Division of the Graves Piano and Organ Company/OhioMTA Piano Competition in 2007. As a recording artist, Dr. Fisher can be heard on the MSR Classics label (Samplings: New Music for Bassoon and Piano; MS1547).
Dr. Fisher is an active member of Music Teachers National Association and has served as Vice-President for Conferences and Vice-President for Membership for the Ohio Music Teachers Association; he presently serves as Collegiate Chapter Chair. He is the faculty advisor for the Ohio University Collegiate Chapter of MTNA, which was the recipient of the 2015 MTNA Benjamin Whitten Collegiate Chapter Award. Dr. Fisher maintains a studio of pre-college students who have been successful at state, regional, and international piano competitions and festivals. He frequently serves as an adjudicator and master class clinician at piano festivals and competitions throughout the United States and abroad, including the MTNA Stecher & Horowitz Two Piano Competition, the OHIO International Piano Duet & Duo Competition, and the United States Virtuoso Artists International Piano Competition.
A native of Missouri, Dr. Fisher holds degrees from Wichita State University (Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy) and Northwest Missouri State University (Bachelor of Arts). He was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma where he was the recipient of the prestigious Alumni Graduate Fellowship. His piano and piano pedagogy teachers include Edward Gates, Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Julie Bees, Sylvia Coats, Richard Bobo, and Betty Preston.
Dr. Fisher resides in Albany, Ohio with his wife Katherine and their children Isaiah and Anna.
www.chrisfisherpiano.com
Visit http://www.chrisfisherpiano.com/fisher-piano-duo.html for more information.
KATHERINE FISHER is co-author of the Piano Safari method (www.pianosafari.com) which is used piano students and teachers around the globe. She serves on the faculty of the Athens Community Music School at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Her responsibilities include teaching private piano lessons as well as coordinating the Piano Preparatory Program (group lessons) for children who are beginners at the instrument. Katherine is an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, having most recently served as recording secretary for the OhioMTA. She presently serves in the capacity of Vice- President for Membership for the Southeast District of OhioMTA.
A native of Ohio, Katherine earned degrees from the University of Oklahoma (Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy) and the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music (Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance). Her former teachers include Jeongwon Ham, Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Karin R. Edwards, and Nancy Bachus.
CHRISTOPHER FISHER is Professor of Piano at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where he chairs the Keyboard Division, directs the undergraduate and graduate piano performance and pedagogy programs, and serves as artistic director for the Ohio University Piano Pedagogy Seminar. He is Director of Studies for the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College Music Program. Recognized for his teaching, Dr. Fisher was the 2010 recipient of the Ohio Music Teachers Association Collegiate Teacher of the Year Award and the Ohio University School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award.
Dr. Fisher is the author of Teaching Piano in Groups (Oxford University Press, 2010), the only comprehensive group piano pedagogy textbook of its kind. A Chinese translation of Teaching Piano in Groups is also available. Dr. Fisher is the co-author of the revised and expanded edition of Piano Duet Repertoire (Indiana University Press, 2016). He has published in leading keyboard journals including Keyboard Companion, American Music Teacher, Clavier, and Clavier Companion. He is a contributing composer for the innovative piano method, Piano Safari (www.pianosafari.com), which is used by piano teachers and students around the globe. His educational compositions are published by Alfred Music and Piano Safari.
In demand as a workshop clinician, Dr. Fisher has presented lectures nationally and internationally, including the National Conferences of the Music Teachers National Association (Washington, D.C., 2001; Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2007; Atlanta, 2009; San Antonio, Texas, 2016; Orlando, Florida, 2018), the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (Lombard, Illinois, 2013; 2017), the Music & Drama Education Expo (London, England, 2018), the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum (Norman, Oklahoma, 2006; Austin, Texas, 2010), the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference (Canberra, Australia, 2008), Encontro Internacional de Pianistas de Piracicaba (Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2016), The Curious Piano Teachers Live Conferences (Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2018 and Oxford, England, 2018) and the American Music Therapy Association (Orlando, Florida, 2005). He has served as a guest lecturer at leading universities and conservatories across the U.S. including a recent engagement at The Juilliard School.
As a performing artist, Dr. Fisher frequently plays both solo and collaborative recitals, including duet and duo piano performances with wife, pianist Katherine Fisher. The Fisher Piano Duo was awarded first prize in the Adult Duo Division of the Graves Piano and Organ Company/OhioMTA Piano Competition in 2007. As a recording artist, Dr. Fisher can be heard on the MSR Classics label (Samplings: New Music for Bassoon and Piano; MS1547).
Dr. Fisher is an active member of Music Teachers National Association and has served as Vice-President for Conferences and Vice-President for Membership for the Ohio Music Teachers Association; he presently serves as Collegiate Chapter Chair. He is the faculty advisor for the Ohio University Collegiate Chapter of MTNA, which was the recipient of the 2015 MTNA Benjamin Whitten Collegiate Chapter Award. Dr. Fisher maintains a studio of pre-college students who have been successful at state, regional, and international piano competitions and festivals. He frequently serves as an adjudicator and master class clinician at piano festivals and competitions throughout the United States and abroad, including the MTNA Stecher & Horowitz Two Piano Competition, the OHIO International Piano Duet & Duo Competition, and the United States Virtuoso Artists International Piano Competition.
A native of Missouri, Dr. Fisher holds degrees from Wichita State University (Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy) and Northwest Missouri State University (Bachelor of Arts). He was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma where he was the recipient of the prestigious Alumni Graduate Fellowship. His piano and piano pedagogy teachers include Edward Gates, Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Julie Bees, Sylvia Coats, Richard Bobo, and Betty Preston.
Dr. Fisher resides in Albany, Ohio with his wife Katherine and their children Isaiah and Anna.
www.chrisfisherpiano.com
Visit http://www.chrisfisherpiano.com/fisher-piano-duo.html for more information.
Stephanie Wu
Pianist Stephanie Wu debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age twelve, under the baton of Yaron Traub, and has since then appeared as soloist with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, Wheaton Symphony Orchestra, Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Symphony Orchestra, Interlochen Symphony Orchestra, the Youth Symphony of DuPage, and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Encore Chamber Orchestra, among others.
As recitalist, Dr. Wu has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia, appearing in New York’s Steinway Hall and Yamaha Piano Salon, in Chicago’s Preston Bradley Hall, in France’s Palais de Fontainebleau, and in China’s Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Her performances have been broadcast on Performance Today, New York’s WQXR 96.3, Chicago’s WFMT 98.7, and National Public Radio’s From the Top.
Dr. Wu has garnered top prizes from Iowa International Piano Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the Steinway Society, the Society of American Musicians, the Chinese Fine Arts Society, the Musician’s Club of Women, and the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation piano competition, among others.
Frequently collaborating with NYC-based musicians, Dr. Wu enjoys performing with Juilliard students as a staff pianist and serving as pianist at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. In addition, she has been invited to play at DaCapo Alliance (Paris), Berkshire Summer Music (Massachusetts), and Special Music School (New York), and she enjoys working with and promoting the works of living composers. Most recently, she premiered the piano trios of NYC-based composers Mark Stambaugh and Kyle Werner, performed a wind-trio by saxophonist and composer, David Bixler, and recorded “Tracing,” an exciting cello-piano duo by Turkish-American composer, Kamran Ince.
Serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at Ohio University beginning in Fall of 2017, Dr. Wu has also served as adjunct faculty at The Juilliard School for Piano Topics and Keyboard Studies and has held teaching assistantships in music history and secondary piano. She is on the faculty at Geneva Conservatory of New York and OPUS Chamber Music in Illinois and maintains a thriving private studio, ranging from ages 4-92.
As a C.V. Starr Fellow, Dr. Wu earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Julian Martin. Her doctoral dissertation, “The Orchestration of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin as Guide to its Interpretation,” sheds light on practical applications for pianists and was written under the guidance of composer, Philip Lasser. Dr. Wu holds her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance also from The Juilliard School, where she was awarded the Adele Marcus Piano Scholarship, the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, the Richard S. Becker Scholarship, and the Jack Katzen Scholarship.
Dr. Wu is a Steinway Educational Partner. She began piano studies with her mother and continued with the late Emilio del Rosario and is passionate about sharing the joy and beauty of music and life with others.
As recitalist, Dr. Wu has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia, appearing in New York’s Steinway Hall and Yamaha Piano Salon, in Chicago’s Preston Bradley Hall, in France’s Palais de Fontainebleau, and in China’s Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Her performances have been broadcast on Performance Today, New York’s WQXR 96.3, Chicago’s WFMT 98.7, and National Public Radio’s From the Top.
Dr. Wu has garnered top prizes from Iowa International Piano Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the Steinway Society, the Society of American Musicians, the Chinese Fine Arts Society, the Musician’s Club of Women, and the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation piano competition, among others.
Frequently collaborating with NYC-based musicians, Dr. Wu enjoys performing with Juilliard students as a staff pianist and serving as pianist at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. In addition, she has been invited to play at DaCapo Alliance (Paris), Berkshire Summer Music (Massachusetts), and Special Music School (New York), and she enjoys working with and promoting the works of living composers. Most recently, she premiered the piano trios of NYC-based composers Mark Stambaugh and Kyle Werner, performed a wind-trio by saxophonist and composer, David Bixler, and recorded “Tracing,” an exciting cello-piano duo by Turkish-American composer, Kamran Ince.
Serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at Ohio University beginning in Fall of 2017, Dr. Wu has also served as adjunct faculty at The Juilliard School for Piano Topics and Keyboard Studies and has held teaching assistantships in music history and secondary piano. She is on the faculty at Geneva Conservatory of New York and OPUS Chamber Music in Illinois and maintains a thriving private studio, ranging from ages 4-92.
As a C.V. Starr Fellow, Dr. Wu earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Julian Martin. Her doctoral dissertation, “The Orchestration of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin as Guide to its Interpretation,” sheds light on practical applications for pianists and was written under the guidance of composer, Philip Lasser. Dr. Wu holds her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance also from The Juilliard School, where she was awarded the Adele Marcus Piano Scholarship, the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, the Richard S. Becker Scholarship, and the Jack Katzen Scholarship.
Dr. Wu is a Steinway Educational Partner. She began piano studies with her mother and continued with the late Emilio del Rosario and is passionate about sharing the joy and beauty of music and life with others.
