Frederic Chiu
Carnegie Mellon University, The Hartt School
Frederic Chiu performs in major venues on five continents, such as Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Châtelet in Paris and the Mozarteum in Buenos Aires, as well as on extensive tours in smaller and unusual venues. He collaborates with Classical music friends Joshua Bell, Pierre Amoyal, Gary Hoffman and the St Lawrence String Quartet, as well as non-Classical friends like jazz pianist Bob James, writer and storyteller David Gonzalez, Shakespearean actor Brian Bedford and the clown Buffo, trying to bring the vivid live concert experience to as many people as possible. He has worked with conductors such as Christoph Campestrini, John Nelson, Stefan Sanderling, Rodolfo Fischer, Susan Haig, Bernhard Klee, Xian Zhang and Alexander Titov.
Among his recital programmes, Frederic Chiu presents “Classical Smackdown,” an on-going series where composers face off in head-to-head comparisons, with listeners voting for their favourite composer. After his first successful Smackdown between Debussy and Prokofiev, he presented Bach vs. Philip Glass, with results tracked at classicalsmackdown.com. The latest instalment features the “Young Geniuses Smackdown” between Mendelssohn and Chopin before the age of 20.
Frederic Chiu has released over 30 recordings, including the most extensive complete piano works of Prokofiev, works of Chopin, Liszt, Ravel, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schubert, Rossini and Grieg, as well as the Beethoven/Liszt Symphony V and VII and the solo piano version of Carnival of the Animals. His recent projects include “Hymns and Dervishes,” music of Gurdjieff/de Hartmann, “Distant Voices: Piano music of Claude Debussy and Gao Ping” and Schubert Fantasy for Violin and Piano with William Harvey. He is a regular on St. Paul Sunday and Performance Today and a favourite of public radio across the country.
Chiu's teaching programme, Deeper Piano Studies–a philosophic and holistic approach to piano playing–has been featured at the Juilliard School, Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, the New England Conservatory, the Banff Centre and most of the National Conservatories in China. He currently teaches at both Carnegie Mellon University and The Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut.
With his wife, Jeanine Esposito, Chiu is the co-founder and artistic director of Beechwood Arts and Innovation in Connecticut, focused on the crossroads between art, innovation and transformation. His efforts to promote music coincide with his desire to foster peace and understanding, recently recognised by a Senatorial Commendation from the United States Congress. He has been a Yamaha artist for more than 35 years and has explored the integration of their instruments, ranging from the highest-quality acoustic to the purely digital and all the different hybrid combinations in between.
Tradition and Innovation in Piano Teaching
Frederic Chiu reflects on his personal journey to becoming a renowned classical concert pianist and, more recently, a university professor. His approach to piano, along with his parallel study and interest in computer science, has always led him to view the profession from a perspective that combines tradition with innovation.
Chiu discusses his learning experiences with his own piano teachers — what and how they taught him. He then continues with an overview of his own teaching approaches, beginning with his innovative Deeper Performance Studies Workshops, which focused on group study, meditation and Heart/Mind/Body concepts. This led to the past five years of teaching at Carnegie Mellon University. Along the way, he has incorporated technology into both his performances and his teaching. A 37-year collaboration with Yamaha has given him opportunities to use Disklavier, Silent Piano, TransAcoustic and AvantGrand to enhance the efficiency of practising, teaching and performing.
Coincidentally launching his university teaching career during the pandemic gave him particularly wide scope to introduce technology into his methods. This includes the adaptation of Deeper Performance Studies into the digital and remote realm, as well as his use of Disklavier and other hybrid instruments for remote teaching in general.
Classical Smackdown: Heart and Soul – Sergei Prokofiev vs Claude Debussy
Tonight, vying for your attention, and your vote, are two of Frederic Chiu's absolutely favorite composers – Claude Debussy born in 1862 in France and Sergei Prokofiev born in 1891 in Ukraine. There could hardly be two composers from the turn of the 20th century who were more different than these two. This was a time when concert music really held high stakes – stirring people’s spirits to love, patriotism and violence, more than any other medium. Faced with a choice between such contrasting styles, perhaps you will be inspired to take a stand on behalf of your musical taste as well!
Learning Without an Instrument
In this 90-minute workshop, Frederic Chiu leads participants through various exercises to learn a piece without practising at an instrument. He developed many of these from his personal experience during numerous periods in his career when he did not have a piano to practise on.
Through the lens of Heart/Mind/Body, Chiu discusses 10 different techniques, including writing exercises (Typesetting, Blitz Copying), collaborative techniques (Conference Call) usually unexplored or underexplored by classical pianists, meditation techniques (Imagery, Audio Imagery, Kinetic Imagery) specifically geared towards pianists, unusual score-study approaches (CAT Scan), and ways to practise technique with dummy keyboards (Paper Keyboard, Silent Keyboard).
The first hour is spent working together on a piece, sampling several different techniques. The workshop ends with a group performance of the piece from memory.
In addition to the pre-selected participants who will be performing at the end, all auditors are welcome to experience the different techniques but will not be required to perform. This approach is not designed to replace physical practice at the keyboard, but to reveal the differences between physical practice and mental or emotional practice. These exercises are practical for all pianists and serve as a window that reveals an analysis of each pianist’s unique development, strengths and weaknesses from a Heart/Mind/Body perspective.
Ted Rosenthal
The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music
Ted Rosenthal is one of the leading jazz pianists and composers of his generation. He actively tours worldwide with his trio, as a soloist and has performed with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer and James Moody.
Winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, Rosenthal has released nineteen CDs as a leader, including a series of four new CDs in 2025, featuring his distinctive arrangements of the Great American Songbook, a reimagining of classical themes and original compositions. His Rhapsody in Gershwin, which features his arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue for jazz trio, reached #1 in jazz album sales at iTunes and Amazon. Wonderland was selected as a New York Times holiday pick and received much critical praise: “Sleek, chic and elegant” – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune. Impromptu showcases his reimagining of classical themes for a jazz trio. “A serious listen to Impromptu will be a mind-changing experience… sit back and enjoy these wonderfully creative takes on ten compositions from the classical canon that have never sounded so cool.”-Elliot Simon, All About Jazz. Rosenthal’s solo album, The 3B’s, received four stars from DownBeat magazine. It features music of Bud Powell, Bill Evans and his improvisation on Beethoven themes. “In Rosenthal’s hands, all this music sounds as though it sprang from the same muse, and that’s the sign of a skilled, imaginative artist.” -David R. Adler, All Music Guide.
A recipient of three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rosenthal regularly performs and records his compositions, which include jazz tunes and large-scale works. Rosenthal’s jazz opera, “Dear Erich,” was commissioned and premiered by New York City Opera in 2019. “Dear Erich” attracted much press and critical acclaim: "Compelling...tells a true, wrenching story. Rosenthal's score conveys regret and fragility, with scenes that invite real breakout jazz" – A. Tomassini, New York Times. "Leaves the listener ready to explode with applause" - D. Salazar, Opera Wire. Since the premiere, Rosenthal has presented more than a dozen concert performances of “Dear Erich,” both in the United States and Europe.
Rosenthal has also been commissioned by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and Dallas Black Dance Theatre. "The Survivor," his concerto for piano and orchestra, has been performed by the Manhattan Jazz Philharmonic and the Rockland Symphony Orchestra, with Rosenthal at the piano. Rosenthal premiered his second jazz piano concerto, “Jazz Fantasy,” with The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony.
Rosenthal was artistic director of Jazz at the Riverdale Y and Jazz at Dicapo Theatre, both in New York City. He has also performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Jon Faddis and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. In addition, Rosenthal has been the pianist of choice for many top jazz vocalists, including Helen Merrill, Ann Hampton Callaway, Kurt Elling and Barbara Cook. He appeared on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio and performed with David Sanborn on NBC's Night Music.
Rosenthal’s orchestral performances include solo and featured appearances with The Detroit Symphony, The Phoenix Symphony, The Boston Pops, The Grand Rapids Symphony, The Rochester Philharmonic, The Pittsburgh Symphony and The Fort Worth Symphony. Rosenthal performed Gershwin's Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue for the opening concert of the 92nd Street Y's 2015-16 season. The New York Times called his playing "notable both for its flair and languid, sultry expressive gestures." In 2014, Rosenthal performed Rhapsody in Blue at Town Hall in a concert celebrating the 90th anniversary of its premiere and gave many performances of Rhapsody in 2024, celebrating the 100th anniversary.
Rosenthal received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. Active in jazz education, he is a faculty member at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, where he also served on their Board of Trustees and received the Presidential Medal for Distinguished Faculty Service. Rosenthal has taught and mentored many of the leading jazz pianists of the younger generation. He presents jazz clinics throughout the world, often in conjunction with his touring. He was a contributing editor for Piano and Keyboard magazine and has published piano arrangements and feature articles for Piano Today, The Piano Stylist and The Juilliard Journal. Ted Rosenthal is a Steinway Artist. His website is www.tedrosenthal.com
Classical and Jazz Pianists: Learning from Each Other and Making Connections
Classical and jazz pianists both work tirelessly to refine their craft, often in different ways but with striking points of overlap. In this session, Rosenthal will explore how pianists can learn from each other by recognising both the common ground and the contrasting priorities of each tradition.
For jazz pianists, the focus often lies in improvisation, harmonic exploration, rhythm and swing, as well as composing and arranging for solo piano, trios, and larger ensembles. Developing a distinctive personal voice is also central to their artistry.
Classical pianists, on the other hand, tend to prioritise technical precision in interpreting written scores. Emphasis is placed on beauty of sound, tonal colour, chordal balance, and lyrical phrasing, often with flexibility in tempo. Interpretations are typically guided by the composer’s intent, sometimes over individual expression.
Despite these differences, both approaches offer valuable lessons. A jazz pianist might deepen their artistry by working more on tone and colour, while a classical pianist could benefit from experimenting with rhythm or integrating improvisation into their performances. Rosenthal will share insights and live demonstrations to show how these two worlds can enrich one another. Participants will be encouraged to appreciate both the similarities and the distinctions, discovering new ways to connect classical and jazz traditions.
Jazz Piano Recital
The programme will feature jazz standards, original compositions and classical themes reimagined in the world of jazz.
Jazz Piano Styles: A Survey from Ragtime to the Present
The history of jazz piano is rich and varied. This workshop will trace its development from the early days to current trends, highlighting influential pianists across key eras: Ragtime and Stride (Scott Joplin, Fats Waller); Swing (Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, Erroll Garner); Bebop (Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk); Post-Bop (Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal); first-wave modernists (Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett); and leading contemporary voices (Brad Mehldau, Bill Charlap, Robert Glasper, Sullivan Fortner). Rosenthal will demonstrate at the piano, share recordings, and present transcriptions to illustrate these diverse styles.
The session will explore harmonic approaches used by these pianists, including the influence of classical composers—particularly late Romantic and Impressionist—on jazz harmony. Participants will also study linear improvisation, melodic development, and a wide range of lefthand techniques that shape rhythm, noting how these devices have evolved over time. In addition, the session will examine how swing rhythm and blues elements infuse and define the music.
Participants who are ready to play and improvise in one of these styles are invited to perform and receive feedback and suggestions.