Pianist Chen Kwan-yu's romantic style
and dashing appearance, coupled with
a catholic musical repertoire, have made
him the idol of numerous young fans.
What makes Taiwan's virtuoso tick?
On the evening of April 23,1995, a young pianist from Taiwan strode onto the stage of the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and embarked on an ambitious solo recital before an audience of more than a thousand people. His name was Chen Kwan-yu(陳冠宇), and he was thirty-two years old. Not surprisingly, Chen can still vividly recall that watershed in his career. "As a Chinese, I felt very proud and excited to be invited to perform in such a famous concert hall," he says. "It was real international recognition, and showed that all my past efforts hadn't been in vain."
Chen's actual New York debut was at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, during the 1993-94 season, the result of his winning an Artists International's Young Artists Audition Piano Award. Both New York recitals received plaudits from the New York Times and established Chen as an international concert pianist.
At home, Chen is without doubt the best known and most popula rpianist among young music fans, largely because of his devotion to both classical and pop music. This two-pronged development is what principally distinguishes him from other artistes--that, and his ability to communicate romantic ideals which strike a chord in the hearts of many listeners. He has so far released sixteen solo albums, thirteen of them pop and the rest classical. He has also given more than 300 recitals islandwide, in venues that range from the prestigious National Concert Hall, through cultural centers in major cities and counties, to school auditoriums and humble village halls.
Apart from his sophisticated musicianship, Chen has other factors working in his favor, sometimes making him seem more like a pop idol than a sedate classical pianist. "He plays very well, with terrific emotion," says Wu Li-ling(吳俐伶), 18, a college student. "He has nice manners, he's pleasant, and he's really handsome, too." Wu adds that her mother is another fan, because even when playing pop music he tends to keep to familiar, old-time hits with sensible lyrics and lilting melodies, which appeal to a wide range of listeners.
Another college student, Huang Yu-ting(黃玉婷), feels the same way. "Chen's most attractive features are his unique temperament, diverse musical interpretations, and willingness to reach out to his audiences," she says. Huang knows that Chen received a classical musical education, but she points out that he never limits himself to the classics. On the contrary, he makes every effort to explore the popular songs and tunes that ordinary people enjoy. Huang also notes that, unlike Chen, few ofthe famous musicians who perform at Taipei's National Concert Hall are willing to visit campuses to play for students.
Chen won first prize in the island's 1985 Richard Clayderman Piano Competition, sponsored by the New Aspect Arts Center, when he was still a sophomore at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), and since then he has been dubbed Taiwan's" Prince of the Piano" by the media. The title suits him. His romantic musical style accords closely with Richard Clayderman's own, and his good looks and charm complete the picture. "I'm very flattered by that title," Chen laughs."It's not just a recognition of my ability as a pianist, it makes me well-known; and that in turn means I constantly have to remind myself that I must keep up to the mark and work even harder."
Beyond the hype, beneath the handsome exterior that appeals so much to young female fans, there is genuine talent at work. "He's one of the best young pianists in Taiwan," declares Yang Chung-heng(楊忠衡), editor-in-chief of All Music Magazine. "I really appreciate his romantic temperament, expressiveness, and solid performance techniques."
Born in 1965 in Tainan, southern Taiwan, Chen took up piano lessons at the age of eight, because his parents believed that music helped with character development. It was a natural enough step in his case, since his father owned a store that sold musical instruments and his grandfather was a music teacher. Why did he choose the piano? "It's often described as the king of musical instruments," Chen explains. "And I was told that once I knew how to play the piano, it would be easier and faster for me to learn other instruments."
Chen's musical talents were gradually refined through a series of competitions and recitals that introduced him to a wide audience. While still in the sixth grade,he entered the preliminary round of an islandwide music competition in Tainan and placed first. He then became the city's representative in the competition proper, where he managed to win third prize. "That was a turning point," he says."Thanks to the encouragement it gave me, I began to take a more serious attitude toward studying the piano. Before that, I'd been a bit passive, and my parents often had to push me to practice." His change of attitude soon bore fruit--when hewas just thirteen, he performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major with Taiwan's Hwa-Mei Symphony Orchestra.
Despite his increasingly impressive achievements in the musical field, Chen continued to attend the local junior high school. Without much preparation, he entered another piano competition during his first year of junior high and obtained the same rankings locally and nationally as before.
Then came a hiccup. Heavy academic pressure, combined with there bellious disposition characteristic of many teenagers, led him to put his piano studies on hold for two years. Eventually he passed the joint high-school examination to enter Tainan Second Senior High School, and it was only while he was in his first year there that he resumed his musical career taking up lessons again and participating in more competitions. He again obtained the same rankings--first in Tainan and third in the Taiwan area overall. "Friends and relatives began to tell my parents that I might have some kind of special talent, since I hadn't received any formal musical training, and I hadn't even practiced intensively," Chen says.
Thanks to the support of his parents and his own growing interest in music, Chen made the bold decision to pursue a professional music career and began to prepare himself for the necessary special screening exam, which he took in 1982. Not long afterward, he was admitted to the music department of NTNU. "It was the first chance I had to study the piano in a professional environment," Chen notes. "During that period, I changed. I began to love playing the piano with all my heart."
Chen devoted his time to practicing and to preparing for numerous musical competitions. These were a strain, but at the same time they tested him to the limit and thus did much to consolidate his technique and power of interpretation. Eventually he had participated in virtually every one of Taiwan's principal music competitions, winning numerous scholarships, awards, and prizes.
But of all the many contests that Chen entered, the 1985 Richard Clayderman Piano Competition, held when he was still an NTNU student, stood out asan important milestone in his pursuit of a professional career. Chen took first place, attracting the attention of a local record company, Elite Entertainment, which invited him to cut an album. That first album, recorded with local pop singer Pan Yueh-yun(潘越雲), came out in 1987, sold some 200,000 copies in the domestic market, and brought Chen instant fame. But it also inspired controversy on campus. "The NTNU environment was distinctly conservative," he recalls. "I was the first student ever to get involved in the music business, and faculty members held differing views aboutit."
It was the pop element of the album that prompted most criticism--that, and the considerable acclaim. Chen knows all too well that the classical music community and the pop music industry look down on each other. Numerous eyebrows were raised when a musician trained in the classical tradition decided to make his first solo album a pop release. "But I told myself to stick to what I believed and show everyone that I knew what I was doing," he says.
The album's success led to changes in Chen's routine. He felt hehad found his niche, so he studied hard during the day and devoted his evenings to recording albums. "I wanted to show my teachers that I had no intention of turning my back on classical music," he says. He kept up his academic grades and eventually graduated from NTNU with top honors. "That was the time when people who'd originally opposed my involvement with pop music began to change their minds."
In 1990, with the help of a scholarship, Chen joined the Manhattan School of Music as a student of the prominent piano teacher, Arkady Aronov. In 1992,he received his master's degree and a piano teaching diploma, and in 1993 he was awarded a professional studies certificate. He is currently a candidate for a doctoratein the Musical Arts at the City University of New York, studying with the internationally renowned Abbey Simon and Peter Basquin. He has also taken part in several competitions, both in the United States and elsewhere.
Does this mean that Chen has turned his back on Taiwan? By no means--he comes home during the summer and winter vacations to record more albums. But the days he spent studying abroad have undoubtedly been rewarding. "Besides the professional training, I also had a lot of fun meeting different kinds of people and seeing new things," he says. "These rich, diverse experiences had agreat influence on my interpretations."
He frequently plays with domestic and foreign orchestras, includingthe Vancouver New Westminster Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei National Symphony Orchestra, and the Taipei Performers Chamber Orchestra. At the end of last year, he appeared with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under Erich Kunzel at the National Concert Hall. He has also become a noted chamber musician, performing with such internationally well-known artists as the French clarinetist Paul Meyer, the Austral ian violinist Nicholas Milton, and American oboist Ronald Roseman.
In the initial stages of his musical career, Chen was not sure how he wanted to balance things between classical and pop music. "Classical music is my real profession," he stresses. "Yet pop music is no less important to me, because it enables me to relax and learn a lot of new techniques and methods of musical expression." Moreover, it was pop music that helped him secure aplace in the domestic record market. His pop recordings have won him an army of enthusiastic fans, and he likes to think that, because of him, some people who would never normally listen to classical music will begin to experiment with it, perhaps even fall inlove with it.
Not everyone is convinced by that. All Music Magazine 's Yang Chung-heng praises Chen's attempts to bring the classics to a wider audience, but goes on: "At present, it seems that Chen is best known for his achievements in the pop field, rather than the classics, and that worries me. Based on his brilliant school record, he should be doing rather better now in international competitions, as well as in his commercial performances. After all, he's really good at interpreting parts of the classical repertoire, such as Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and the Rachmaninov piano concertos." Yang is careful to note, however, that Chen seems aware of his current limitations and has recently been devoting more time to more difficult composers, Liszt and Brahms in particular.
Meanwhile, the public has no doubts. "A successful performing artist needs applause, but also good box office receipts," Chen maintains. At present, he is among the top three best selling artists in terms of solo recordings,each of which has chalked up average sales of between 80,000 and 90,000. His three classical albums, however, averaged sales of about half that. His series of pop melodies was particularly well received: ten albums entitled Chen Kwan-yu: Love for the Piano. In 1995, he recorded Broadway Evenings with the BBC Concert Orchestra, featuring music from such well-known musicals as Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables , Miss Saigon, and Sunset Boulevard. And in 1997 Chen released his latest album, entitled Daydreams, which has already sold some 120,000 copies.
Echoing Yang Chung-heng's concern, Chen says he would like to record more classical albums in the future: "After all, that's what I'm trained for." Analysis of his solo repertoire shows that classical music makes up approximately two-thirds, and pop the balance. "Seventy percent of my time is devoted to classical music, whether teaching, practicing, or performing," he confirms. His favorite composers are Chopin and Beethoven, whom he loves for their romantic styles. "When playing their masterpieces, I'm always profoundly touched by the beautiful melodies and the deep meanings that lie behind them."
Currently, Chen is a member of the piano faculty at the music departments of both Tainan College of Home Economics and National Tainan College of the Arts. "I feel a great sense of achievement when I see students learning to play the piano well from the very beginning," Chen says. "Teaching is at the same time a kind of learning. And it's fun and challenging, because during the process I have to come up with solutions to the problems that students encounter."
He is also philosophical about the problems of growing old. His good looks add to his popularity, particularly among young female fans, and he knows that. "But nobody can keep a young face forever, and for a performing artiste, the most essential quality to retain is professional skill," he emphasizes.
Taiwan's Prince of the Piano is best known to music lovers for his so phisticated techniques and his moving interpretations of love songs. In the real world, how do his experiences match up? "I've had some unforgettable love affairs," he admits, "and they've certainly contributed to the emotional charge I give the songs."
In the past, Chen used to enjoy his freedom and hated to feel "constrained.""I used to make every effort to keep a relationship going," he says ruefully,"but if it didn't work out, well, that's life." Now that he is in his thirties, however, he is starting to see the attractions of settling down. Would marriage spoilhis romantic image? "Even if it does, it will be a worthwhile sacrifice if it means I end up with a family of my own," he says. "Anyway, I think a stable, happy family life would have a positive effect on my musical career, as well as my personality."
As to the future, Chen says he would like to devote more of his time to academic life, and maybe start composing his own works. "My motto is: 'Work hard, work hard, and work harder,'" he says, "because that way you can make continuous progress toward achieving success. And: 'Be patient, patient, and more patient in face of failure.' That way, you won't lose faith in yourself."