CONTACT: Brad White
Marketing and Publicity Manager
Center for the Arts, Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263
(310) 506-4055
brad.white@pepperdine.edu
BOX OFFICE: (310) 506-4522
http://arts.pepperdine.edu/

Photos available upon request



PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
CENTER FOR THE ARTS
2012-13 Recital Series

presents

HAOCHEN ZHANG, PIANO

"Such a combination of enchanting, sensitive lyricism and hypnotizing forcefulness is a phenomenon encountered very rarely."--The Jerusalem Post

Sunday, October 7, 2012, 2 p.m.
Raitt Recital Hall, Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA

The Pepperdine University Center for the Arts 2012-13 Recital Series begins with a performance by pianist Haochen Zhang, Gold Medalist of the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 7, at Raitt Recital Hall on Pepperdine's Malibu campus.

Tickets, priced at $25 for the public and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787. Information online: http://arts.pepperdine.edu/ or http://zhanghaochen.com/

Zhang will perform Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 ("Moonlight") by Beethoven; Carnaval, Op. 9 by Robert Schumann; Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante in E-flat Major, Op. 22 by Chopin; and Preludes, Book I by Debussy.

Since his victory at the Cliburn Competition, the 22-year-old Chinese pianist has captivated audiences in the United States, Europe, and Asia with a unique combination of deep musical sensitivity, fearless imagination, and spectacular virtuosity.

His return to Fort Worth as part of the 2010-11 Cliburn Concerts series was lauded by The Dallas Morning News as "the kind of program you'd expect from a seasoned master, served up with dazzling virtuosity where wanted and astonishing sophistication elsewhere" and hailed among the top 10 performances of 2010 by both The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Zhang's Boston debut under the auspices of the Celebrity Series met with high praise by audiences and critics, making the year-end lists as part of the Boston Phoenix's top 10 classical music stories of the year. Boston Globe critic Matthew Guerrieri remarked that Zhang displayed "poetic temperament as much as technical power.... [He is] a pianist with ample reserves of power whose imagination seems nonetheless most kindled by subtle delicacy."

A passionate and insightful programmer, Zhang continues to cultivate his reputation through major performances and debuts every year. Highlights of his 2011-12 season included return engagements with the San Francisco and Fort Worth symphony orchestras; performances at the Kravis Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Carmel Center for the Performing Arts; and a tour of Japan. He made his Paris debut with a recital at the Louvre Museum and his Vienna debut with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Zhang performed with the Tokyo String Quartet in a special gala event for the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and with the Shanghai Quartet as part of the Mountain Music Festival in the Berkshires.

In past seasons, Zhang has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic. He has traversed the United States for performances with such prestigious series as Spivey Hall, La Jolla Music Society, Celebrity Series of Boston, Colorado University Artist Series, Cliburn Concerts, Krannert Center, Wolf Trap Discovery Series, Lied Center of Kansas, and University of Vermont Lane Series. International tours have taken him to Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Rome, Tivoli, and Belgrade, among other cities.

Zhang's Cliburn Competition performances of Stravinsky's Trois mouvements de Petrouchka; Chopin's Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28; Mason Bates' White Lies for Lomax; and Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody were released to critical acclaim by harmonica mundi USA in 2009. He is also featured in Peter Rosen's award-winning documentary chronicling the 2009 Cliburn Competition, A Surprise in Texas, which was sold out within two weeks of release and subsequently re-released. Zhang's complete competition performances are available on: www.cliburn.tv

Zhang has a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity that is nurtured through his continuing studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia under the guidance of Gary Graffman. He has previously trained at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Shenzhen Arts School, where he was admitted in 2001 at the age of 11 to study with Professor Dan Zhaoyi.

A voracious reader with an interest in a variety of subjects, including literature, science, and history, Zhang also writes poetry and improvises pop music. In his leisure time, he excels at Ping-Pong and snooker. Born in Shanghai, Zhang now makes his home in Philadelphia.

The 2012-13 Pepperdine Recital Series is sponsored by the Kwong family. Performances in the Recital Series feature emerging artists and typically take place in the intimate 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall. Other artists performing in the series include Rachel Lee, violin, on Sunday, November 18; Sebastian Baverstam, cello, on Sunday, February 10; and Petrit Ceku, 2012 Parkening International Guitar Competition Gold Medalist, on Sunday, March 3.

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