International Piano Series: Junyan Chen

Junyan Chen came away from the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition with an armful of awards: silver medal from the main competition, the chamber music prize, and the work by a woman composer prize. Until recently a post-graduate student with Joanna MacGregor at the Royal Academy of Music, Junyan is praised for ‘exhilarating and technically thrilling’ performances.

Apart from a lovely set of variations by American composer Amy Beach, Junyan’s programme looks to France and first to the sumptuous Baroque court of Louis XIV, where François Couperin wrote these intriguingly named short pieces for the 2-manual harpsichord.

Ravel was an admirer of Couperin and all things Baroque, and Tombeau de Couperin – an elegant suite of Baroque-style dance movements – is his tribute. La Valse was started with a similar idea, as a tribute to Johann Strauss, but World War I intervened. The Viennese ballroom erupts with distorted rhythms and clashing harmonies to spin ever faster to a shuddering conclusion. A stunningly dramatic finale and a very exciting new pianist on the circuit.

Our thanks to Professor Graham Falconer for his generous support of this concert.

Programme

Couperin Les Barricades Mistérieuses, Le Tic-Toc-Choc ou Les Maillotins, Les Ombres Errantes, Les Tricoteuses
Messiaen Préludes – La colombe, Un reflet dans le vent
Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin
Interval
Beach Variations on Balkan Themes
Ravel La Valse

Tickets

Tickets for this concert are available here: https://www.ticketsoxford.com/book/instance/1031201