January 28 | 2019 at 8:00 pm
Chinese Cultural Centre Far East Organization Auditorium, Singapore
 
All-Chopin Program
 
Mazurkas, Op. 56
         1. Allegro non tanto
         2. Lento
         3. Moderato
 
Mazurkas, Op. 63
         1. Vivace
         2. Lento
         3 .Allegretto
 
Waltzes, Op. 64
         1. Molto vivace
         2. Tempo giusto
         3. Moderato
 
Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op.60
 
Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
         1. Allegromaestoso
         2. Scherzo. Molto vavice
         3. Largo
         4. Finale Presto non tanto
 

 
“Jin Ju is one of the most exciting young pianist I have heard in years. Her enthusiasm and dynamic approach to music-making is simply wonderful! …” - Bernard Lee, Sheffield Telegraph
 
Artist description
Valued in China among the greatest virtuosos of her country, regarded by the international critic for the technical perfection, the warm sensibility and the astonishing clearness of the narrative subtleties, Jin Ju is a rising star in the piano music world.
 
Born in Shanghai in a musicians family, she obtained the Degree and the Master in Piano Performance at Beijing Conservatory, then the Master at International Piano Academy of Imola and the Degree and Gold Medal in “Professional Performance” of the Royal North Music College in Manchester. 
 
Laureate of prestigious international competitions, among them the Tchaikovsky in Moscow and the Queen Elizabeth in Bruxelles and first-prize winner at China National Piano Competition, Jin Ju has been insigned of the prestigious “Gold Medal of Honour” of Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena (among the pianists insigned before her: Rudolf Serkin, Krystian Zimerman, Andras Schiff, Evgeny Kissin, Lilya Zilberstein, etc).
 
Jin Ju regularly plays in the major music halls of China and has been one of the first pianists to perform in the Forbidden City. She has played in important concert halls of Europe, among them the Berlin and Vienna Konzerthaus, the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, the Palais de Beaux Arts in Bruxelles. Based now in Italy, she regularly plays in celebrated venues like Sala Verdi in Milano, Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Sala Maffeiana in Verona, and is regular guest of the most important concert series. 
 
She has already collaborated with international orchestras in all five continents, among them China National Symphony and Macao Symphony orchestras, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi, and many others.
 
Involved in the artistic direction of Accademia Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence, Italy, Jin Ju is establishing herself also as one of the most interesting new names of the piano performance on historical instruments. In October 2009 she played a worldwide telecasted “special concert” in Sala Nervi in Vatican City, in front of a 5000-people audience and the Pope Benedict XVI, performing in the same evening musics from Scarlatti to Rachmaninov on seven different period instruments (fortepianos and pianos from the late XVIII to the early XX centuries).
 
Her recording of the Yellow River Piano Concerto with the Macao Symphony Orchestra has reached a so wide circulation in China to be added among the “first 10 world successes of classical music”. Her first issue in Western countries, by the indipendent label Frame with the complete Debussy’s Etudes, received enthusiastic reviews by the specialized press.
In summer 2010 Jin Ju has signed an exclusive recording contract with the German label MDG. Two first CDs have been released in 2011: the first in January, dedicated to Schumann, has received important feedbacks from the international critique; the second, released in December 2011 and dedicated to two major sonatas like Beethoven’s “Appassionata” and Schubert’s C minor D958 plus the unusual Czerny’s “La Ricordanza” Variations, has received the ECHO Klassik Award 2012 in the category Solo Recording of the Year (19th Century) / Piano.
 
In 2014, thanks to her experience and dedication to original instruments, Jin Ju was nominated “Artist in residence” of the prestigious Accademia Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence (Italy).
She has received Oversize expertise reward from the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2014.
Her performances have been broadcasted by radio and television around the world (NPR “Performance Today” in USA, "Sky Classica" in Italy, "Canvas" in Belgium, BBC in UK). The Chinese National tv and radio regularly broadcast her concerts and recordings, and she has received special awards by the Chinese Culture Ministry. In 2008 the Chinese State Television CCTV realized a long documentary about her life and artistry, broadcasted more time on the principal National channel; in 2010 another documentary has been realized by the same channel about Jin Ju’s Italian tour with I Virtuosi Italiani, broadcasted in all China in November 2010.
 
Jin Ju has been a faculty member of the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where she is “Guest Professor” now, and she has taught at Royal Northern Music College in Manchester. At present she is professor of International Piano Academy of Imola and teaches in numerous Master Classes in China, Europe and the United States.
 
“…Wonderful stuff and some of the best piano playing issued this year. … Enthusiastically recommended.”
Polly Nomial, SA-CD.NET, December 2011 (about the Beethoven, Czerny, Schubert CD released by MDG)
 
“… Elle en restitue [in Schumann] les rythmes fantastiques, les incertitudes et l’exaltation qui conduisent à tant de dissonances et de modulations osées. Elle prend gout aux basses charnues, à l’idée du recueillement et du silence. … La lisibilité de la partition est parfaite, le toucher d’une sureté et d’une élégance qui impressionnent jusque dans le finale. Une artiste à suivre.”
S.F., PIANISTE, March-April 2011
 
“Vielseitig, poetisch, ausgewogen.”
Stefan Drees, KLASSIK COM, July 2010
 
“Jin Ju: Die chinesische Argerich.”
Dagnar Schenk-Güllich, WESTDEUTSCHE ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, June 2010
 
“… Due autori [Debussy e Ravel] che a Jin si attagliano a meraviglia, data la sua capacità di controllare attacco, timbro, colore, peso di ogni nota sotto le dita. … Affonda suoni cremosi o di smalto, calibrati al millimetro, e la fa sembrare la cosa più naturale al mondo. Così riesce a tracciare linee molto definite, come con un lapis, e allo stesso tempo a generare risonanze tenui, evanescenti, avviluppate in sete impalpabili …”
Gregorio Moppi, AMADEUS, February 2010
 
“… spectacular piano playing of Jin Ju! … masterful and stylistically correct performances of music of all eras. … this was a memorable concert.”
Harry Saltzman, NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEW, May 2009
 
“… We’re to used technically mind-boggling, dynamic young pianist these day, Jin Ju is all of that and more. She scrambled the mind in disbelief with digital dexterity that was as expressive and full of belief as it was sheerly musical.”
Bernard Lee, SHEFFIELD TELEGRAPH, January 2005
 
“Jin Ju driven by a dark and restless spirit, uncompromising and powerfully convincing ...”
Chris Robins, YORKSHIRE POST, 2004