Quynh Nguyen

 

Biography

 

Named one of the “19 Young Stars of Tomorrow” by Musical America, Quynh Nguyen has performed extensively throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. The Boston Globe praised her as “a musical and expressive player” who is “sensitive and poetic, and excels in everything that requires elegance, proportion, balance, taste and wit.” For her Carnegie Recital Hall debut, the critic Harris Goldsmith called Nguyen's pianism and music-making “graced with beauty and exuberance” hailing her “a real artist; a wonderfully communicative performer.”
Quynh Nguyen has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Vietnam including Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France, in venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery, Berlin Konzerthause, and the Opera House in Hanoi, Vietnam. Broadcast appearances include performances and airplay in over sixty national and international radio stations, and television appearances on NHK Television in Japan, Vietnamese national television, and "Grand Piano," on cable TV channels across the United States.

In October of 2022, Quynh gave the world premiere of Paul Chihara's Concerto-Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra with the Vietnam National Symphony under the baton of conductor Honna Tetsuji at the Hanoi Opera House. The concert commemorated the normalization of US-Vietnam diplomatic relations. Nguyen’s recent highlights include a performance at the Fulbright Prize ceremony in Washington DC honoring Dr. Fauci, which also featured a performance by Renee Fleming, and performing with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in January of 2024 as featured soloist in the "Celebrate Asia" concert at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium - Benaroya Hall.

Her recording of Chihara's piano concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra at St. Lukes was released as part of Naxos's American Classics Series in 2023. Gramophone Magazine praises the album noting that “Nguyen’s touch – in every sense – is pitch perfect. Naxos’s clear yet intimate sound completes a terrific release, one that has grown on me with each playing.” AllMusic calls Nguyen’s playing “ingenious and richly evocative and beautifully and quietly played…this is a wonderful release,” Pizzicato calls the recording “brilliant” and American Record Guide proclaims it “superb.”

In 2023, she also released The Flower of France, Germaine Tailleferre, Works for Piano [MA-1306], on the Music & Arts label. The Flower of France features works, curated by Nguyen, originally for solo piano, as well as transcriptions and excerpts from Tailleferre’s ballets and film scores representing some of the composer’s best and most significant work, including a number of tracks rarely played or recorded. Fanfare gave it 5 stars praising the recording as “alluring music by a wonderful composer performed by a wonderful artist." Pizzacato says Nguyen “plays with a brilliant lightness and a pictorial refinement. One listens to this program with real pleasure.”

Dr. Nguyen is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music and received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Graduate Center of City University of New York. She is the recipient of several highly prestigious scholarships and awards, including the United States Presidential Academic Fitness Award, the American Prize, and the Fulbright Fellowship to study music with the late Yvonne Loriod Messiaen in Paris, France in 2004-2005.

Dr. Nguyen currently serves on the music faculty of the Music Department at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. ww.quynhpiano.com