Sean Sean Chen THE CLIBURN WINNERS. ROOTS AND RIBS FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND FOOD.

PIANIST SEAN CHEN. VAN CLIBURN WINNERS.

Pianist Sean Chen is
being hailed as a rising star with a "million-volt smile" and a
"formidable set of fingers" (Dallas Morning News).

In 2013 Chen
won the American Pianists Association's DeHaan Classical Fellowship, one
of the most lucrative and significant prizes available to an American
pianist; he also won Third Prize at the 14th Van Cliburn International
Piano Competition, becoming the first American to reach the finals since
1997. He received Second Prize at the 2011 Seoul International Music
Competition, Third Prize at the 2013 Morocco Philharmony International
Piano Competition, Best Performance of an American Work at the 2009
Cleveland International Piano Competition, and he was a semifinalist at
the 2012 Leeds International Piano Competition.

The 25-year-old
American pianist has appeared as soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony
Orchestra under Gerard Schwarz, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under
Leonard Slatkin, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Suwon City
Philharmonic, New West Symphony, and the Juilliard Orchestra. He has
performed solo recitals under the auspices of the McGraw-Hill Company,
New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, New West Symphony, National Chopin
Foundation, Scriabin Society, Ventura Music Festival, and the Young
Artist Guild of the Music Teachers Association of California. He has
performed new works by Lisa Bielawa, Michael Williams, Nicco Athens,
Michael Gilbertson, and Reinaldo Moya, among others. Upcoming CD
releases include an album of Michael Williams's solo piano works on the
Parma label, live recordings from the Cliburn competition, and a solo
recording on the Steinway label as part of his American Pianists
Association prize.

Born in 1988 in Margate, FL, Chen grew up in
the Los Angeles area of Oak Park, CA. His impressive achievements before
college included receiving an NFAA ARTSweek award, a prize at the
California International Young Artist Competition, the Los Angeles Music
Center's Spotlight Award, the Evelyn Bonar Storrs Scholarship, and the
Glenn Miller Scholarship. These honors combined with his extraordinary
intellect facilitated offers of acceptance by MIT, Harvard, and the
Juilliard School; choosing to study music, Chen earned his Bachelor's
and Master's degrees at Juilliard, where he won the 2010 Gina Bachauer
Piano Competition, the 2010 Munz Scholarship, and first prize at the
2008 Juilliard Concerto Competition. While attending Juilliard, Chen was
the recipient of a notable third-party scholarship: the 2010 Paul and
Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Chen is currently
pursuing his Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music as a George W.
Miles Fellowship recipient. He is studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Tema
Blackstone, and his former teachers include Jerome Lowenthal, Matti
Raekallio, and Edward Francis. Chen's performances have been broadcast
live on From the Top, American Public Media's Performance Today, WQXR
(New York), WGBH (Boston), and WFYI (Indianapolis). The webcast of his
April 2013 performance of Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the
Indianapolis Symphony – which, according to International Piano, "blazed
with color and excitement" – can be viewed at americanpianists.org.
When not at the piano, Chen enjoys tinkering with computers and
composing. In the coming seasons, he will be performing under the
management of the American Pianists Association, touring the U.S. and
presenting recitals worldwide.