Daniel Hsu (born June 27, 1997) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
classical pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
. He won the bronze medal, the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work, and the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music at the
Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition The Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition took place in Fort Worth, Texas, from May 25 to June 10, 2017.
Commissioned work
All competitors were required to play the commissioned work in their 45-minute Preliminary Round recital. It ...
.
Early life
Born in Fremont, California, Hsu began studying piano at 6 with Larisa Kagan. By age 8, he was the youngest winner of the San Francisco Chopin Competition and had made his concerto debut with the Fremont Symphony Orchestra. The following year marked his recital debut at the Steinway Society of the Bay Area. At age 10, he was accepted to the
Curtis Institute of Music to study with
Gary Graffman
Gary Graffman (born October 14, 1928) is an American classical pianist, teacher and administrator.
Early life
Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of M ...
and
Eleanor Sokoloff
Eleanor Sokoloff (née Blum; June 16, 1914July 12, 2020) was an American pianist and academic who formed a piano duo with her husband, Vladimir Sokoloff. She taught piano on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music from 1936 until her death ...
. He later studied with Robert McDonald as well.
Hsu's older brother, Andrew Hsu, and older sister, Ashley Hsu, are also pianists.
Career
Hsu has performed with orchestras worldwide including the
Philadelphia Orchestra,
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
The or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra (東宝交響楽団). It assumed its present name in 1951.
Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as pit orchestra for some productions at Ne ...
,
Grand Rapids Symphony
The Grand Rapids Symphony is a professional orchestra located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1930, the Symphony is celebrating its 90th anniversary season in 2019-20. In 2006, its recording ''Invention and Alchemy'' was nominated for ...
,
New Haven Symphony Orchestra
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in 1895 and is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States. Today, the orchestra is ...
, and
Fort Worth Symphony
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Fort Worth, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall. In addition to its symphonic and pops concert series, the FWSO a ...
. His
Carnegie Hall debut was in April 2017 as part of the
Concert Artists Guild Winners Series. He has given solo recitals at venues such as the
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is an educational and performing arts complex located at 500 South Goodwin Avenue in Urbana, Illinois and on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Herman C. Krannert, an industria ...
and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and has toured across Japan. Hsu has been featured on the radio including
WQXR's Young Artists Showcase series and The Greene Space in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
F
Hsu has also toured the United States as a chamber musician with the Verona String Quartet.
Since winning the San Francisco Chopin Competition at 8 years old, Hsu has earned top prizes and awards including the
Gilmore Young Artist Award in 2016, first prize in the 2015
Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, and bronze medal at the 2015
Hamamatsu International Piano Competition.
On June 10, 2017, Hsu won the bronze medal of the
Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition The Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition took place in Fort Worth, Texas, from May 25 to June 10, 2017.
Commissioned work
All competitors were required to play the commissioned work in their 45-minute Preliminary Round recital. It ...
in addition to the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work (''Toccata on "L'homme armé"'' by
Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ (born September 5, 1961), is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer. Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical proficiency of his performances of the classic repertoire. He has received 11 Gr ...
) and the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music. Out of 290 applicants, the Competition selected 30 pianists to come to
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...
to participate in the live competition. Over the course of two and a half weeks, Hsu was required to perform a total of two and half hours of solo repertoire (divided into three recitals), one piano
quintet
A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...
with the
Brentano String Quartet
The Brentano Quartet is an American string quartet.
History
Founded in 1992 at the Juilliard School, the quartet's founding members were violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, violist Misha Amory, and cellist Michael Kannen. At the suggesti ...
, one
Mozart piano concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and
Nicholas McGegan
James Nicholas McGegan OBE (born 14 January 1950 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England) is a British harpsichordist, flutist, conductor and early music expert.
Biography
McGegan received his early education at Nottingham High School. He sub ...
, and another piano concerto for the final round, which Hsu chose
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 under the baton of
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer.
Early life and education
Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...
. As a result of winning the bronze medal, Hsu received $15,000 cash, 3 years of management, a live recording and recording partnership with Universal Music Group, press kits, videos, and a website. For the chamber music award he received $6,000 and for the new work award, he received $5,000.
On August 18, 2017,
Decca Gold
Decca Gold is a United States-based record label focusing on classical repertoire. It falls under the umbrella of Verve Label Group, owned by Universal Music Group. The label has a new roster of classical artists and partnerships, and was inspired ...
released Hsu's first solo album, ‘’Cliburn Bronze’’. The album was featured as
KUSC
KUSC (91.5 FM) is a listener-supported classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. KUSC is owned and operated by the University of Southern California, which also operates student-run Internet s ...
’s Album of the Week in September 2017.
Hsu is currently the Richard A. Doran Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music pursuing a bachelor of music in piano performance.
Awards
Discography
Computer programming
Hsu is also involved in
computer programming
Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...
. Among other projects, he has contributed to the app called
Workflow
A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence o ...
which helps users automate tasks on several Apple devices. The app has received the 2015
Apple Design Award
The Apple Design Awards (ADAs) is an event hosted by Apple Inc. at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The purpose of the event is to recognize the best and most innovative Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a fa ...
and was acquired by
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
in March 2017.
See also
*
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (The Cliburn) is an American piano competition by The Cliburn, first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas and hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation. Initially held at Texas Christian University, the c ...
*
Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition The Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition took place in Fort Worth, Texas, from May 25 to June 10, 2017.
Commissioned work
All competitors were required to play the commissioned work in their 45-minute Preliminary Round recital. It ...
References
External links
*
Cliburn profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsu, Daniel
Living people
1997 births
Prize-winners of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
People from Fremont, California
Musicians from California
Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area
American classical pianists
Male classical pianists
American male pianists
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century American pianists
Classical musicians from California
21st-century American male musicians