#3: David Fung on Supercharging Memorisation

The Brettybang Show

Described as “stylish and articulate” in the New York Times and having “superstar qualities” by Le Libre, pianist David Fung is widely recognized for performances that are elegant and refined, yet intensely poetic and uncommonly expressive. Mr. Fung has appeared extensively with the world’s premier ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, and with the major orchestras in Australia, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In July 2016, Mr. Fung’s highly acclaimed debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival was “everything you could wish for” (Cleveland Classical) and he was further praised as an “agile and alert interpreter of Mozart’s crystalline note-spinning” (The Plain Dealer). In the following week, he performed Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at the Beijing National Stadium for their Olympic Summer Festival. Other highlights of the season include invitations to the Louvre, the Palais des Beaux-Arts, the Kennedy Center, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and a recital tour in China at all the major venues including the Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Guangzhou Opera House, Tianjin Grand Theater. Mr. Fung will have his New York solo recital debut presented by Lincoln Center’s Great Performers and his debut at Caramoor in the fall of 2016.

Concerto highlights of recent seasons include the West Coast Premiere of Chen Qigang’s Piano Concerto, “Er Huang”, with the San Francisco Symphony, performances with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra (Tchaikovsky No. 1), Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra (Mozart K. 503), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Ravel G Major), National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (Ravel G Major and Rachmaninov No. 2), Israel Symphony Orchestra (Poulenc), Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (Mozart K. 467), Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (Hindemith), and a tour with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra (Mozart K. 413 and K. 449). He also received invitations to the Zürich Tonhalle, Musicora Festival (Paris) broadcast by Medici.tv, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the National Concerto Hall in Taiwan, the Ravinia Festival, and was Artist in Residence at the 2015 Hong Kong Arts Festival. Other festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and the Edinburgh International Festival, where the Edinburgh Guide described Mr. Fung as being “impossibly virtuosic, prodigiously talented... and who probably does ten more impossible things daily before breakfast.”

“Fung enticed us into a world of delicacy and finesse. — François Mardirossian, Crescendo Magazine

Mr. Fung’s debut album with Yarlung Records linked the virtuosity in the piano music of Liszt and Ravel: Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and Les jeux d’eau à la villa d’Este, with Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau and La Valse. His second album with Yarlung, Evening Conversations, featured a solo recital of intimate works by composers ranging from Mozart to Tan Dun. Evening Conversations was praised as “an overall favorite” piano recital album by James Harrington in the American Record Guide and was named one of the Top 10 Recordings of 2011 by Linn Records.

Mr. Fung garnered international attention as a winner in two of the "top five" international piano competitions (the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels and the Arthur Rubinstein Piano International Masters Competition in Tel Aviv). In Tel Aviv, he was further distinguished by the Chamber Music and Mozart Prizes, awarded in areas in which Mr. Fung has a particularly passionate interest.

Mr. Fung is the first piano graduate of the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles and is a Steinway Artist.

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