Violinist Stella Chen Releases Debut Album, STELLA X SCHUBERT; Single Out Today!

On Friday, March 10, 2023, American violinist Stella Chen releases her debut album, Stella x Schubert, with pianist Henry Kramer on the Apple-owned Platoon platform. Performing on the 1700 ex-Petri Stradivarius violin, Chen garnered worldwide attention with her first-prize win at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition, followed by the 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award.

On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, Silicon Valley-born Chen makes her San Francisco recital debut in a special program of Schubert presented at the Herbst Theatre by Chamber Music San Francisco. She will be signing CDs in the lobby after the concert. Tickets available at 415.392.4400 or www.chambermusicSF.org.

Chen eloquently shares her personal feelings about Schubert's music in the booklet notes, "My love for Schubert blossomed unexpectedly during a performance analysis class with Robert Levin, a brilliant musician I knew as the phenom who completed Mozart's Requiem for his undergraduate thesis. Known as he is for his encyclopedic knowledge of Mozart, Levin surprised me when he revealed that his favorite piece was Schubert's G Major Quartet, D. 887. He spoke about the music in a way that brought tears to my eyes, despite having never heard the piece myself. Thus began my deep and unwavering love affair with Schubert."

She continues, "For me, no composer conceives of more beautiful melodies than Schubert's, in large part due to his extraordinary ability to translate vulnerability into music. Exposed, devastatingly fragile, almost otherworldly, his music teeters precariously on the brink of life and death. Rightfully wide-eyed but inevitably futile attempts to reproduce or quantify the magic of Schubert have preoccupied performers and scholars for the last two centuries. Having approached his music from both of those perspectives myself, I can only say: Schubert transports us to another world.

"Despite the universal love for his lieder and chamber music, Schubert's duo repertoire for violin and piano has historically been severely underappreciated. Schubert's other chamber and vocal music dwarf the duos in scholarly writing, and popular opinion until the last few decades judged these works as simply inferior, a heartbreaking misconception."

American violinist Stella Chen garnered worldwide attention with her first-prize win at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition, followed by the 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award.

Since then, Stella has appeared across North America, Europe, and Asia in concerto, recital, and chamber music performances. She recently made debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Baltimore Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, and many others and appeared at the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin Philharmonie. In recital, recent appearances include Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Phillips Collection, Rockport Music Festival, and Nume Festival in Italy. She appears frequently with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both in New York and on tour.

Stella has appeared as a chamber musician in festivals including the Ravinia, Seattle Chamber Music, Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, Bridgehampton, Rockport, Kronberg Academy, and Sarasota. Chamber music partners include Itzhak Perlman, James Ehnes, and Matthew Lipman.

She is the inaugural recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University, where she was inspired by Robert Levin himself. Teachers and mentors have included Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, and Catherine Cho. She received her doctorate from the Juilliard School where she serves as teaching assistant to her longtime mentor Li Lin.

Stella plays the 1700 ex-Petri Stradivarius, on generous loan from Dr. Ryuji Ueno and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative and the 1708 Huggins Stradivarius courtesy of the Nippon Foundation. Learn more at www.stellachen.com.

Pianist Henry Kramer is developing a reputation as a musician of rare sensitivity who combines stylish programming with insightful and exuberant interpretations. In 2016, he garnered international recognition with a Second Prize win in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. In 2019, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant by Lincoln Center - one of the most coveted honors bestowed on young American soloists.

A versatile performer, Kramer has performed with international orchestras including the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hartford and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras, among many others. He has also performed stunning solo recitals at venues ranging from Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Toronto's Koerner Hall, and at Alice Tully Hall as the recipient of the Juilliard School's William Petschek Award. Kramer regularly performs at premiere summer festivals including La Jolla Summerfest and the Anchorage, Lakes Area, Mainly Mozart, Mostly Mozart, Rockport, and Vivo music festivals. In 2021, he also gave the world premiere of a work he commissioned by composer Han Lash at the BravoPiano! Festival. Kramer has collaborated with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, members of the Berlin Philharmonic and Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Calidore and Pacifica Quartets, and many leading soloists ranging from violinist Miriam Fried to flutist Emmanuel Pahud. Kramer is a Steinway Artist. Learn more at www.henrykramerpiano.com.

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