Han Chen To Join Lansing Symphony Orchestra For Miller’s SHATTERED NIGHT In January 2026

GRAMMY-nominated pianist Han Chen will join the Lansing Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Jared Miller’s Shattered Night for Piano and Orchestra on Friday, January 9, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts in East Lansing.

Music Director Timothy Muffitt will conduct the program as part of the orchestra’s MasterWorks series, which will also include Verdi’s Nabucco Overture and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68.

PROGRAM

Giuseppe Verdi — Nabucco Overture
Jared Miller — Shattered Night for Piano and Orchestra
Johannes Brahms — Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

General admission tickets, priced from $35 to $70, along with $11.50 student tickets, are available on the Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s event page. Additional information is available on pianist Han Chen’s website.

Han Chen received a GRAMMY nomination in November for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement in D Minor, recorded with the Malmö Opera Orchestra under conductor John Jeter for the Naxos label. He has been noted for his interpretations of modernist repertory, with Alex Ross of The New Yorker naming Chen’s recording of the Ligeti Études and Capriccios a “Notable Classical Recording of 2023,” writing: “The Taiwanese pianist Han Chen, a noted interpreter of the Ligeti Études and other modernist repertory, has made a blistering album of the [Liszt] opera transcriptions.”

Recent performances include the project Infinite Staircase, featuring all 18 Ligeti Études alongside 18 world premieres. Reviewing the program for New York Classical Review, George Grella wrote, “…he was astonishing, with some of the finest pianism one has ever witnessed. Beyond sheer dexterity, this was tremendously musical playing, with every phrase clear and pointed in a certain direction, fluid control of dynamics and form, a combination of articulation and force that was hard to believe.” Lana Norris, writing for I Care If You Listen, described the event as “a marathon of canonical music and new works that displayed exquisite programming, stupendous technique, and forward-thinking expansion of classical music’s best traditions.”

Chen has earned recognition as Gold Medalist at the 2013 China International Piano Competition and as a prizewinner at the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition. Gramophone has praised him as “impressively commanding and authoritative,” while The New York Times has noted his “graceful touch,” “rhythmic precision,” and “hypnotic charm.”

His discography includes four solo Naxos albums devoted to Franz Liszt, Anton Rubinstein, Thomas Adès, and the complete Ligeti Études. Writing in Gramophone in August 2023, Jed Distler observed that Chen is “one of the few pianists who handles both gnarly contemporary scores and over-the-top Romantic showpieces with equal authority and style.”

Chen has performed as soloist with orchestras including the Calgary Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, China Symphony Orchestra, and Xiamen Philharmonic. He made his Lincoln Center debut in December 2022 with Riverside Symphony at Alice Tully Hall. As a chamber musician, he is a core member of Ensemble Échappé and frequently collaborates with The Metropolis Ensemble. In 2021, he launched Migration Music, a performance and interview series featuring immigrant composers.