Vivianne Cheng
Pianiste
Biografie
“An exceptionally gifted and accomplished young artist. Already a veteran performer in solo recital, chamber music, as well as with orchestra, Vivianne is thoughtful, imaginative, and approaches all of her work with great seriousness of purpose.”
Gary Graffman
“One of the most creative talents with whom I have had the pleasure of working. Always contemplative as a musician as well as an outstanding player, Vivianne proves that integrity can indeed go along with talent.”
Ida Kavafian
“Her work in the Beethoven Concerto was from start to finish superb… The second movement was played with great serenity and poetry. It was surely one of the finest performances this critic has yet heard, anywhere.”
CVNC Arts Journal
“…amazingly fast finger-work, lovely shimmering tone, with subtle shading of the dynamics… Cheng seemed unfazed by the daunting challenges of this rather sprawling work, playing it with unfailing concentration and purpose.”
News & Observer
One of the youngest Steinway Artists in the world, Vivianne Cheng, has performed extensively throughout Europe and the United States. She was born in North Carolina, where she gave her debut solo recital at the age of ten. Since then, Vivianne has made appearances in the most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Het Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Salle Cortot, Lincoln Center, Wonderfeel Festival, Festival Ljubljana, and Verbier Festival. Highlights of her current season include solo recitals in Austria, France, Latvia, Netherlands, Spain, USA; concerts at Mahler Festival in the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and live performance on Dutch national radio “NPO Radio 4”; guest soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra in Belarus and Germany; world premiere at the Aspekte Festival in Salzburg; and a new CD release consisting of 48 Préludes.
Vivianne is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions including Tureck International Bach Competition, New York International Piano Competition, Concurso Internacional de Piano CLaMo, Bartók-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition, Wideman International Piano Competition, Concours International de Piano de Lagny, Philadelphia Orchestra’s Albert M. Greenfield Concerto Competition, and the inaugural Arts Arena–Curtis Institute of Music Award. Vivianne has also been the recipient of the Jacques Vonk Fund, AHK Talent Grant, David H. Springman Memorial Fellowship, Vladimir Horowitz Piano Scholarship, and Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Grant.
Featured on television and radio programs, her performances have been broadcast on PBS, Y Arts ‘On Stage at Curtis’, The Classical Network (WWFM), Good Morning Television New Zealand, and in the acclaimed documentaries “On a Personal Note” (2010) and “Die Martins-Passion” (2004). As a chamber musician, Vivianne has performed alongside Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Efe Baltacigil, and has studied with Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Pamela Frank, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Aaron Rosand, and Thomas Riebl, among others. In addition, she has premiered many new works written for solo piano and mixed ensembles, and has played for prominent composers including William Bolcom, Reinhard Febel, and Ned Rorem.
Vivianne’s studies have included the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Naum Grubert, Universität Mozarteum Salzburg with Andreas Groethuysen and Pavel Gililov, and Curtis Institute of Music with Gary Graffman and Leon Fleisher. Prior to Curtis, Vivianne studied at The Juilliard School where she was accepted into the university programme at fifteen years old. Previous major teachers have included Ruth Slenczynska, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Nina Lelchuk, and Arkady Aronov. Furthermore, she has taken masterclasses with legendary pianists including Alicia de Larrocha, György Sándor, Claude Frank, Earl Wild, Boris Berman, Dmitri Bashkirov, Kirill Gerstein, Richard Goode, Robert McDonald, Menahem Pressler, Ferenc Rados, and Arie Vardi.
Currently, Vivianne is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and teaches on the Piano Faculty of the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.