Peches de vieillesse [Sins of my old age] (Selection) / William Tell Overture (arr Liszt)

"This disc is first rate… Frederic Chiu is brilliant."
- American Record Guide

"No piano has ever sounded more like a trumpet than Mr. Chiu's as he begins the famous Lone Ranger theme."
- The Dallas Morning News

When speaking about the American pianist FREDERIC CHIU, audiences and critics have evoked Glenn Gould's offbeat interpretations and programming, Rachmaninoff's aristocratic elegance, and Godowsky's virtuosity. After his London debut, the Evening Standard declared him "more than a mere concert pianist." "A Pianistic Genius" wrote Montreal's La Press. "A mind behind those fast fingers" reported the Los Angeles Times. For Le Monde de la Musique, "Chiu has reinvented a form of virtuosity...a phenomenon that must be heard."

Frederic Chiu records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa. His first recording, a collection of rare piano transcriptions, including several first-time recordings, appeared to worldwide critical acclaim in 1991. The following year saw the release of a three-disc set of the complete Sonatas of Prokofiev - the first installment of the complete works for piano - as well as a recording of selections from the Péchés de Vieillesse and the Liszt transcription of the William Tell overture in celebration of the Rossini bicentennial. His release of three rarely-played Sonatas of Mendelssohn was chosen as "Record of the Year" by Stereo Review, and considered "among the most soul-satisfying releases of the past few years" by The Wall Street Journal. Most recently, in a review of the Chopin 12 Etudes and Rondos, Classic CD described Chiu as "a lyricist at heart."

In addition to his activities as a soloist, Mr. Chiu co-founded, with the violinist Philippe Graffin, the chamber music festival "Consonance" in Saint Nazaire, France, which traveled in its entirety to Wigmore Hall in London, an unprecedented event. At the festival he collaborates with major international artists, among them Pierre Amoyal and Joshua Bell. His activities also include the art of transcription. In particular, his arrangements of pieces from Prokoviev's Lieutenant Kije Suite have met with rousing success in concert and on record, and are being prepared for publication. A rare foray into the competition circuit took Mr. Chiu to Fort Worth, Texas, where his elimination before the final round of the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition brought him international attention; prominent stories in the New York Times referred to him as the "Maverick American musician".

Born in the United States on October 20, 1964, FREDERIC CHIU has been playing before the public since the age of seven. His official professional debut took place at the age of 14 with John Nelson and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. His schedule has taken him around the world, to Los Angeles, Montreal, Rome, Brussels, Warsaw, Frankfurt and Casablanca, and he was one of the select few Western artists invited to perform in the People's Republic of China. Mr. Chiu is heard often on radio and television in broadcasts in North America, Europe and Africa. He currently resides in Paris.

FREDERIC CHIU graduated with honors from Indiana University and from The Julliard School; he studied with Karen Shaw and Abbey Simon, respectively. Frederic Chiu was an honored recipient of the 1996 Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Avery Fisher Prize is awarded to artists for outstanding achievement and excellence in music.