Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Haochen Zhang Performs
at the Birmingham Museum of Art's Annual Rushton Concert December 6
The Birmingham Museum of Art proudly presents Haochen Zhang, The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medalist of the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, performing at the Annual Rushton Concert. This concert is a chance for members of the public to witness, for free, the prodigious talent of Zhang, the youngest winner in the 13th Van Cliburn competition, which draws noted pianists from across the globe to the annual contest in Fort Worth, Texas. Zhang, originally from Shanghai, China, was the first gold medal winner from his country. He will perform at BMA's Steiner Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
Zhang, who was 19 when he competed in 2009, “demonstrated a musical maturity almost unimaginable in one so young,” wrote the Dallas Morning News. After beginning his study of the piano at three and a half, performing in public since the age of five, he made his orchestral debut at the age of 6, and won local piano competitions at the ages of seven and nine. He toured China performing Chopin at 11, and won the Fourth International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians at 12.
His list of accomplishments is long. Zhang has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the China National Symphony Orchestra, the Krakow State Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra. At 18, he debuted at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony, performing Mozart’s D minor Concerto.
In demand worldwide for orchestral and recital performances, Zhang has played at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and Academy, the Washington Performing Arts Society, and in Carnegie Hall’s Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture – all since winning at the Van Cliburn competition. In the winter of 2009 he returned to China as soloist at the Beijing Music Festival.
Zhang’s performance at the BMA is part of an endowed series of classical concerts made possible by the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Rushton III.
