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FROM PRELUDE TO FLAME
KEVIN CHEN
SINGAPORE DEBUT
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2026
8:00PM
VICTORIA CONCERT HALL
Fresh from winning the Silver Medal at the most recent Chopin Competition, pianist Kevin Chen makes his Singapore debut in a programme of exceptional sweep and ambition — one that moves from inward reflection to elemental force.
The recital opens with Frédéric Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28, a cornerstone of the piano repertoire and a work that distils an entire emotional universe into a compact cycle. By turns intimate, volatile, luminous, and austere, the Preludes demand not only virtuosity but imagination, restraint, and narrative instinct —qualities that have already marked Chen out as a compelling Chopin interpreter.
From there, the programme traces a line of increasing intensity through the visionary sound-world of Alexander Scriabin. The Prelude in B major, Op. 11 No. 11 offers a moment of radiant calm before the Fantasy, Op. 28 expands into sweeping gestures and harmonic daring. The journey culminates in Vers la flamme, Op. 72, Scriabin’s hypnotic late masterpiece — an inexorable ascent toward ecstatic release.
The final chapter belongs to Franz Liszt, whose music fuses virtuosity with transcendence. Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este shimmers with colour and spiritual luminosity, while the solo-piano transcription of Les Preludes transforms Liszt’s symphonic poem into a grand, fate-driven narrative for the keyboard.
Spanning introspection, mysticism, and elemental drama, this Singapore debut recital introduces Kevin Chen as an artist of breadth, courage, and imagination —one equally at home in poetic concentration and high-voltage intensity. A striking first appearance from a pianist poised at the beginning of an international career.
PROGRAMME
CHOPIN – 24 Preludes, Op. 28
SCRIABIN – Prelude in B major, Op. 11 No. 11
SCRIABIN – Fantasy, Op. 28
SCRIABIN – Vers la flamme, Op. 72
LISZT – Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, No. 4 from Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163
LISZT – Les préludes (Symphonic poem), S. 97 (solo piano transcription)
(Programme subject to change at the artist's discretion)
THE ARTIST
KEVIN CHEN, piano
Canadian pianist Kevin Chen has quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive voices of his generation, praised for his poetic sensitivity, natural eloquence, and remarkable technical command.
Most recently, in October 2025, Kevin won the Second Prize at the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. His decision to perform the complete set of Chopin Études Op. 10 in the second stage drew wide attention and praise, with Polish critics calling his interpretation “a complete musical story, not a show of virtuosity.”
He is also the First Prize winner of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition (Tel Aviv 2023), the Concours de Genève (2022), the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition (Budapest 2021), the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (2020), and the International Piano-e-Competition (Minneapolis 2019). His artistic maturity and individuality have been widely recognized by audiences and juries alike.
Kevin has appeared with major orchestras including the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian National Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been featured at international festivals such as La Roque d’Anthéron, Chopin and His Europe (Warsaw), and Duszniki-Zdrój, and has performed in leading venues including Carnegie Hall (New York), Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Prinzregententheater, St. John’s Smith Square (London), and the Taipei National Concert Hall.
Born in Edmonton, Kevin began piano studies at the age of five and soon attracted national attention, winning first place at the Canadian Music Competition at eight. He was later named one of the CBC’s “Top 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” and one of Maclean magazine’s “100 Remarkable Canadians.”
He currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Professor Arie Vardi.
