Pianist Choi featured at Valpo’s presentation of Bach’s “˜The Art of Fugue’
Valparaiso University’s Department of Music, in conjunction with the Bach Institute at Valparaiso University, presents Bach’s “The Art of Fugue,” featuring Canadian pianist Winston Choi, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, in the Duesenberg Recital Hall at the Center for the Arts.
For tickets, directions, and parking information, visit valpo.edu/TheArts or call the box office at 219.464.5162.
Winner of the 2002 Orléans Concours International and Laureate of the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition, Choi is an inquisitive performer whose fresh approach to standard repertory, and masterful understanding, performance and commitment to works by living composers, make him one of today’s most dynamic young concert artists.
“It is a unique offering for a pianist,” said Joseph Bognar, chair of the Department of Music. ” “˜The Art of Fugue’ represents a compendium of compositional techniques, as Bach weaves a series of canons and fugues from a single theme. Contemporary performances of this work on the modern grand piano explore the depth and color of Bach’s contrapuntal art.”
For the 2011-2012 season and beyond, Choi is touring with Bach’s “The Art of Fugue.” An accomplished chamber musician, he tours regularly with his wife, MingHuan Xu as Duo Diorama, as well as with the ensemble Pivot Chamber Soloists and the Civitas Ensemble.
Already a prolific recording artist, Choi’s debut CD, the complete piano works of Elliott Carter (l’Empreinte Digitale in France), was given five stars by BBC Music Magazine. He has also recorded two CDs of the piano music of Jacques Lenot for the Intrada label, having won the Grand Prix du Disque from l’Académie Charles Cros for Volume I. Other labels he can be heard on include Albany, AMP, Arktos, Crystal Records, Naxos and QuadroFrame.
Choi began his studies in Toronto with James Tweedie and Vivienne Bailey. He obtained both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Indiana University, receiving the Performer’s Certificate, studying with Menahem Pressler. Further studies were with Ursula Oppens at Northwestern University, where he completed his Doctorate of Music.
Previously a member of the faculties at Bowling Green State University and the Oberlin Conservatory, he is assistant professor and head of piano at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. An accomplished teacher, he is in frequent demand as a master class clinician and presenter.
