Nineteen-year-old Canadian pianist Kevin Chen balances works by his favourite composers
Chopin and Liszt are on the program at the Kay Meek Arts Centre, as the internationally acclaimed musician makes his Vancouver debut
Kevin Chen. Photo by Yoel Levy
Kay Meek Arts Centre presents Kevin Chen on September 28 at 7:30 pm at the Grosvenor Theatre
TO GIVE YOU an idea of the scope of Canadian pianist Kevin Chen’s accomplishments, he debuted with the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra, won his first title at the Canadian Music Competition, and was named one of “100 Remarkable Canadians” by Maclean’s all before he turned 10.
With a few more years of practice under his belt, the Calgary-raised artist spent his teenagehood winning first prize at some of the world’s most distinguished music competitions, including the International Piano-e-Competition in Minneapolis, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition in South Carolina, the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest, and the Concours de Genève in Switzerland.
All that being said, it’s wholly unsurprising that the superstar-in-the-making, now 19 years old, doesn’t have much memory of his earliest foray into piano at age two.
“According to my parents, how it all started was I had this toy keyboard,” Chen tells Stir over a phone call. “I was very young at the time.…It had nursery rhymes programmed into it, and I was just playing them back and just having a lot of fun with the toy. And I think my parents realized how much I enjoyed playing with it, so they got me into proper lessons when I was five.”
Chen is playing a solo recital at the Kay Meek Arts Centre on September 28, marking his second-ever Vancouver appearance, save for a Vancouver Chopin Society presentation earlier this month. Chen trained privately in Alberta his whole career with professors Marilyn Engle and Colleen Athparia up until last fall, when he moved to Hanover, Germany to study under professor Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.
He first met Vardi at last year’s Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, where the acclaimed Israeli pianist-conductor was chair of the jury. Chen won the gold medal, marking the first time a Canadian has won the title since its inception in 1974.
“We both sort of just had mutual interest in each other,” Chen says of his decision to train with Vardi in Hanover. “So I think it worked out quite nicely. Also, I kind of like the European atmosphere—I think they have a very culturally embedded appreciation for the arts.”
At the Kay Meek Arts Centre, the pianist will be playing a two-part program of works by Chopin and Liszt. In the first half, audiences will hear Chopin’s ever-popular Ballade No. 1 in G minor; the harmonically complex Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major; and Variations on “Là ci darem la mano”, derived from the duet of the same name in Mozart’s 1787 opera Don Giovanni.
After a brief intermission the second half of the show is all Liszt, with Ballade No. 2 in B minor, inspired by the Greek myth of Hero and Leander; “Sonetto 104 del Petrarca” from the Italian segment of piano-suite masterwork Années de pèlerinage; and Réminiscences de Don Juan, which again draws upon the fantastical themes of Don Giovanni.
“They’re pieces that I really enjoy playing, so I’m really excited about this program,” Chen says. “I sort of tried to make it structurally balanced. So we have a ballade from Chopin in the first half and one from Liszt in the second; as well, the last pieces of both halves are a paraphrase and a transcription [respectively] of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. So I think it’s quite interesting.”
The Canadian pianist designed the program for his upcoming concert as a means of facilitating a musical dialogue between Chopin and Liszt, who he calls two of his favourite composers. They fit right in with Chen’s repertoire, which is grounded in the realm of romantic music.
Most recently in September, he played a Liszt program at the 20th-annual International Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw. His performances have taken him across the globe to venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Smith Square Hall, and Taipei’s National Concert Hall. He also plays regularly with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra close to home, and his travels abroad have produced collaborations with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and beyond.
“Overall, I feel my journey has been very gradual,” Chen shares. “Every step was a small one, but they all sort of built upon each other to get to today.”
If steps like winning international titles and performing at recital halls around the world seem small to Chen at 19, only time will tell what feats he might accomplish another decade from now. 
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