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“This is true talent, a genuine diamond that you so rarely see.”–St. Petersburg Times
An Inca Indian and a native of Peru, pianist Hwaen Ch’uqi is a world-renowned soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He has performed throughout the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Russia, Taiwan, and Japan. His labors have brought him to such venues as Seiji Ozawa Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Knitting Factory, and Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is co-founder of several ensembles including Duo Feathers, a piano duo which performs completely from memory; the Florestan Piano Quartet; Blue Ivory, a piano-banjo duo which seeks to fuse elements of genres particular to each instrument; and Johnny Carcrash, a piano-saxophone duo specializing in free improvisation.
Mr. Ch’uqi’s gifts as a composer of the highest order are being increasingly recognized. In 2009, he, in collaboration with five other composer-pianists, was commissioned to produce a second book of Hexameron Variations. The work was a feature of the 2010 conference of the American Liszt Society. In 2011, he was commissioned by Lynnann Wieringa of Notes and Tones Music Studio to produce a suite of pieces with a pedagogical bent, written for piano students at the late intermediate/early advanced level. In March, 2012, he was a finalist at the 17th International Piano Duo Composition Competition in Tokyo, Japan. He has completed a massive first piano sonata, several chamber sonatas, a song cycle, suites for solo piano, a cycle of twenty-five preludes for piano, four hands, and a children’s musical.
Mr. Ch’uqi’s published output includes four CD recordings and a growing collection of scores. He is currently authoring a partial autobiography called The Redemption of Hwaen Ch’uqi, and he is the subject of an upcoming documentary entitled Coda.
Hwaen Ch’uqi holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied under Natalya Antonova. He quickly distinguished himself as one of the rare pianists to be three times invited as a fellow to the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center; there, he studied with such luminaries as Gilbert Kalish and Leon Fleisher. He was a semifinalist at the Second Sviatoslav Richter International Piano Competition in Moscow and was awarded the Special Prize.
It is Mr. Ch’uqi’s fervent prayer that such music as he is privileged to render might serve as a catalyst for wondrous change in the lives of all who hear it.