Pianists Amy I-Lin Cheng and Steve Beck to premiere “The Plus One” on 7-2 at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival.
Program note: The Plus One is a sum of two pieces for solo piano that when played together create something greater than the sum of its parts. This work can be performed as a duo or as a three-movement piece: Piano I (solo), Piano II (solo) and Piano I + Piano II (duo).
Born in Taiwan, pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng has appeared on the concert stage in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Taiwan, Brazil, Canada, France, and Israel. She has been described by the New York Concert Review as a pianist whose “control of the keyboard is complete, technique easy and relaxed, with a wide range of touch.” Late pianist Claude Frank described her as “a brilliant, sensitive, imaginative and most beguiling pianist.” Cheng’s live performances have been heard on WGBH, KCSC, WHYY, La Radio Suisse Romande-Espace 2, and NPR. She has presented recitals at venues such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, and National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as on concert series across the United States. Cheng made her Boston concerto debut at the age of 17 at Jordan Hall under the direction of Benjamin Zhander. Since then, she has appeared as a concerto soloist with the ‘Musica Viva’ Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Taichung Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Pines in Texas, University Symphony Orchestra (University of Michigan), and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, among others. In 2015, she gave the North American premiere of the Kaprálová Piano Concerto at the Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor as part of the week-long Kaprálová Festival, hosted by the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. In Summer 2017, she gave the U.S. premiere of Improvisation on Misirlou, a single-movement piano concerto by Israeli-American composer Daniel Rein, with the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra during the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. In 2019, she gave the world premiere of the Double Concerto for YangQin and Piano by Taiwanese composer Chun-Da Huang, collaborating with the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan (NCO), at the University of Michigan. Her recording of the Kaprálová piano concert was released in Summer 2021 on the Naxos label, with outstanding reviews.
In the 2019–20 season pianist Steven Beck performs Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals with the New York Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. He also reprised his annual Christmas Eve performance of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic, the Brooklyn-based venue that has become a New York institution.
Mr. Beck is an experienced performer of new music. He has worked with composers including Carter, Boulez, Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, Perle, and Fred Lerdahl, and performed with ensembles such as Speculum Musicae and the New York New Music Ensemble. Mr. Beck is a member of The Knights, Talea Ensemble, and Da Capo Chamber Players. He is also a member of Quattro Mani, a piano duo specializing in contemporary music. He has appeared as an orchestral keyboard player with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra, and many others.
Steven Beck’s discography includes Lieberson’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (for Bridge Records) and Carter’s Double Concerto (Albany Records). He is a Steinway Artist.
nd just like that, the Sewanee Summer Music Festival came to an end. What an intense four weeks! Composers thrived with 20 premieres, an orchestral reading session, a full week of scoring for media and much more. WOW, what a group of bright, curious creative artists, I can’t wait to know more about your upcoming endeavors. Endless thanks to John Kilkenny (and all the SSMF staff) for your constant support of new music, to the amazing Gene Moon and Mathew Ward for making the reading sessions possible, to Vinny Oppido for sharing your expertise with us, and to Aaron Hunt for helping co-pilot this project. Until the next time!
