Hung-Kuan Chen

Great artists give free concerts at New England Conservatory—simply because they teach here.

NEC faculty pianist Hung-Kuan Chen, who has been described as one of the great personalities of the music world: enigmatic, brilliant, and versatile, performs tonight. Chen is admired both as a performer of remarkable individuality and as an inspiring teacher.

In 1992, Chen suffered an injury to his hand that caused neurological damage and eventually resulted in Focal Dystonia. Through meditation and his own unique research, he was able to heal and return to his life as a concert artist. In 1998, his first post-accident solo recital received rave reviews, and he was described as a transformed artist. Richard Dyer wrote in The Boston Globe: "Back in the '80s, Apollo and Dionysus, Florestan and Eusebius were at war in Chen's pianistic personality. He could play with poetic insight he could also erupt into an almost terrifying overdrive. Now there is repose and the forces have been brought into complementary harmony."

The program:

Mozart Suite in C Major, K. 399
Mozart Little Gigue, K. 574
Schumann Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17
Chopin 24 Preludes, Op. 28