A Tale of Two Pianos
Event description
A Tale of Two Pianos - Nathaniel Kong & Le Chen
Church Street Studios
Saturday 11th May 2024
7pm doors for a 7:30pm start
Adult $35, Concession $25 plus booking fee
Rachmaninoff concerto & vocalise // Debussy petite suite // Brahms hungarian dances // Piazzolla libertango // Dvorak slavonic dance // Shostakovich suite in f-sharp minor
Chen Le is a composer-pianist based in Sydney. He is a graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts under the tutelage of Dr. John Sharpley & Benjamin Loh; an active member of the Association of Composers, Singapore & COMPASS; a spokesperson for the local charity Club Rainbow and a pianist & songwriter under Bella Entertainment. Le’s 2024 Premieres include: “Reimagine Barber: for cello and piano (2024)” in his fundraiser concert at St. John’s Darlinghurst, “For Leila: an interstellar folk song (2023)”in his ongoing four-hand series at Sydney Conservatorium, Esplanade Recital Studio and Shenzhen. His latest six-movement Fantasia written for Peking opera, soprano, violin and piano – “Double Feature (2024)” will be also presented at the newly founded Central Art Library sponsored by Opulent Pianoforte & Cristofori Music. Chen Le was invited by Esplanade, Theatre by the Bay & LearnX Arts to record Chopin’s twelve etudes, Op. 10 (2022) & "Art of Action in Piano Performance -- a composer-pianist masterclass with Chen Le" (2021). He was interviewed by Vitality Health, Lucas Overseas & Edufest Singapore (online series) focusing on benefits of music education, traits of the industry & personal reflections (2020-2021) during Covid lockdown.
Nathaniel Kong is a pianist, performer and teacher in Sydney. He was an award winner at the Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition in Townsville performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2. Performances have been with Operantics, Operabites, Sydney Fringe Festival, Canberra Enlighten Festival, The Cooperative, Cantorion Sydney Choir, Sydney Male Choir and the Mosman Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. He studied under Gerard Willems at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and with Zsuzsanna Giczy at the Australian Institute of Music. He has performed and worked across various styles from Armenian vocal folk music under soprano Arax Mansourian, to recording piano works of Australian composer Peter Stannard, and working with vocalists from opera, theatre and jazz. As well as piano, he plays pipe organ regularly and was head cellist of the UNSW Orchestra. He is based at Sydney Girls High school and at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts.