2013 American Pianists Awards Winner Sean Chen Joins Jonathan Wentworth Associates Roster

Hailed as a “thoughtful musician well beyond his years” (The Republic), pianist Sean Chen has signed with Martha Woods of Jonathan Wentworth Associates. 

“Sean is not just a supremely gifted interpreter and an exciting performer, but a truly creative artist whose compositions, transcriptions and improvisations are beyond impressive -- he’s really a 'triple threat'! Kenneth Wentworth and I are looking forward to working with him,” said Jonathan Wentworth Associates, Ltd. President Martha Woods.

Chen’s transcriptions of such orchestral works as Ravel’s La Valse, Mozart’s Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, and the Adagio movement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, have been received with glowing acclaim and enthusiasm, and his encore improvisations are lauded as “genuinely brilliant” (Dallas Morning News).

As a pianist, Chen won the 2013 American Pianists Awards, placed third at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and was named a 2015 Annenberg Fellow. He is currently a Millsap Artist in Residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.

“Sean Chen is a brilliant pianist in the top echelon of American pianists of his generation, said American Pianists Association’s Artistic Director/CEO Joel Harrison. “His affinity for a wide range of musical interests, his virtuoso technical abilities, and his compelling musical intellect and persona bode well for great international success. Jonathan Wentworth Associates has found a real and rare gem!”

Born in Florida, Sean Chen grew up in the Los Angeles area of Oak Park, California. His impressive achievements before college include the NFAA ARTSweek, Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight, and 2006 Presidential Scholars awards. These honors combined with diligent schoolwork facilitated offers of acceptance by MIT, Harvard, and The Juilliard School. Choosing to study music, Chen earned his Bachelor and Master of Music from Juilliard, meanwhile garnering several awards, most notably the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. He received his Artist Diploma in 2014 at the Yale School of Music as a George W. Miles Fellow. His teachers include Hung-Kuan Chen, Tema Blackstone, Edward Francis, Jerome Lowenthal, and Matti Raekallio.

Mr. Chen has performed with many prominent orchestras, including the Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Diego, Knoxville, Hartford, Louisiana Philharmonic, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Pasadena, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and New West Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Chamber Orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and South Bay. He has collaborated with such esteemed conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Michael Stern, Gerard Schwarz, Nicholas McGegan, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marcelo Lehninger, and James Judd. Solo recitals have brought him to major venues worldwide, including Jordan Hall in Boston, Subculture in New York City, the American Art Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Salle Cortot in Paris.

A Steinway Artist, Mr. Chen has recorded for the Steinway Spirio catalogue as well as the Steinway & Sons recording label. The playing on his La Valse recording was hailed as “brilliant, subtle, and spontaneous…” (All Music).

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