Pianist Han Chen to be Presented In Chicago's Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts

The pianist Han Chen will be presented by Classical Music Chicago in a solo recital on Wednesday afternoon September 3, 2025 at 12:15 p.m. CDT at Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist. Part of the Classical Music Chicago's celebrated Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, this concert will feature Mr. Chen performing works by Florence Price, Ligeti, and Rachmaninoff.

Inspired by legendary pianist Dame Myra Hess's lunchtime concerts during World War II, recitals in this series are livestreamed by 98.7 WFMT and will also be broadcast on Classical Music Chicago's official YouTube Channel.

The full program follows:

Florence Price, Fantasie Nègre No. 1 in E minor

György Ligeti, Musica ricercata

I. Sostenuto / Misurato, stringendo poco a poco sin al prestissimo

II. Mesto, Parlando

III. Allegro con spirit

IV. Tempo di valse (poco animato)

V. Rubato. Lamentoso

VI. Allegro un poco capriccioso

VII. Con moto giusto

VIII. Vivace. Energico

IX. Adagio. Mesto (Béla Bartók in memoriam)

X. Vivace. Capriccioso

XI. Andante misurato e tranquillo (Omaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi)

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Études-Tableaux Op. 39 No. 9 in D major

Admission is free for this concert. For more information, please visit Classical Music Chicago's event page, and pianist Han Chen's website.

Gold Medalist at the 2013 China International Piano Competition and a prizewinner at the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition, Mr. Chen has also been praised by Gramophone as "impressively com-manding and authoritative" and further cited by The New York Times for his "graceful touch," "rhythmic precision" and "hypnotic charm."

Mr. Chen's musical vision is manifest in his four solo Naxos CDs focusing on Franz Liszt, Anton Rubinstein, Thomas Adès, and György Ligeti's Complete Piano Études. 

He has appeared as soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, China Symphony Orchestra, and Xiamen Philharmonic. In December 2022 he made his Lincoln Center debut with Riverside Symphony at Alice Tully Hall performing Mozart's early masterwork, the Piano Concerto No. 9, le Jeunehomme. Mr. Chen has performed as solo recitalist internationally. In demand as a chamber musician, he is a core member of Ensemble Échappé while regularly collaborating with The Metropolis Ensemble. In 2021, Chen launched Migration Music, an ongoing series of performances and interviews with immigrant composers.

Han Chen has studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky, Wha Kyung Byun, and Ursula Oppens at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, and CUNY Graduate Center. He is represented by Black Tea Music.