Award-winning pianist Sean Chen will take concertgoers on a journey through the classics this weekend at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea.
Chen, 26, takes the stage Saturday evening to share his program of classics featuring such works as Johannes Brahms’ “Variations on an Original Theme, op.21,” “Etudes” by Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Alexander Scriabin, Bela Bartok, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Gyorgy Ligeti, Maurice Ravel’s “Sonatine,” and Richard Wagner’s “Overture to Tannhauser.”
The evening-length show — the second in Chen’s first series in Hawaii and only performance on the Big Island — gets underway at 7 p.m.
“The piece I’m starting off with begins pretty peacefully and then it builds — it’s one of my favorite pieces,” Chen said, referring to Brahms’ “Variations on Original Theme.” The show then heads into “Etudes” by Chopin before breaking for intermission. The second portion of the show is more about the piano, he said.
“The last piece … it is exciting because it is like an orchestra on the piano,” Chen added.
In its entirety, the classical concert should tweak the interest of concertgoers because many of the pieces he plays — while fairly standard — are not the usually go-to for such performances.
“Comparatively to most classical concerts, it’s a little bit more diverse. It’s got more spice to it, I think,” said Chen.
Chen won over fans and critics at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, taking the third place Crystal Award, and being the first American to earn the award since 1997. That came just months after being named the 2013 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellow of the American Pianists Association.
The Cliburn award netted him $20,000, career management, and U.S. concert tours for three concert seasons following the competition, as well as a live recording. Chen’s other Hawaii performances are part of the Cliburn deal.
“I’ve been playing on this level for about two years — ever since I got the Van Cliburn prize in 2013,” Chen said, “And, then it started to get a little crazy from there.”
Born in Florida, Chen grew up in California and now resides in New Haven, Conn., where he completed his schooling at the Yale School of Music under Hung-Kuan Chen in May 2014. He previously studied with Jerome Lowenthal and Matti Raekallio at The Juilliard School, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He has collected numerous awards, including the 2010 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship, Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Award, and an NFAA ARTS award.
Chen’s parents introduced him to music, as well as a plethora of other activities, as a child, and over the years he has tried and moved on from some of them. The piano was his first instrument, among others such as the violin, and it’s still his favorite today.
“I like how you have control over everything — you have the harmony, the melody, the rhythms,” he explained. “It’s kind of like a mini-orchestra in a way.”
In an effort to share his love for the piano with local youngsters, Chen performed in a special Kahilu Theatre Youth Show for area youngsters today.
“What’s really the point for me in doing these things is that music, any sort of art, is for enjoyment and it should be for fun — I do it for my job, but I also really enjoy just doing it, I really enjoy music, I’m a big music nerd and for kids to even be exposed, it doesn’t matter if they eventually study the instrument or not, is good,” he said. “I think where the music education lacks is that we’re afraid to listen to music, to look at art, and if it’s very complicated, we get very turned off by it, but I think it’s important for kids to know that there really is no wrong way to appreciate art and to use all the experience that you have, whether it’s imagination, or visual connections or books or video games, or whatever. Art isn’t isolated, so it’s nice when they feel connected and get involved and get excited about it.”
Saturday’s Kahilu performance is made possible by sponsorship from Marcia and Stanley Wishnick and the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
Tickets to Chen’s performance are $66/$46/$36/$20 and can be purchased online at kahilutheatre.org or by calling 885-6868. Tickets can also be purchased today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Kahilu Theatre Box Office at 67-1186 Lindsey Road in Waimea.