Let us garlands bring
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Kelvin Chan, baritone
Netherlands-based Chinese-American baritone Kelvin Chan pursues his core commitment to cultivating human connection through the arts as a singer, actor, director, and producer. Combining both a wealth of theatrical experience and a noteworthy resume of classical vocal training and performance, he continues to interrogate an eclectic variety of theatrical styles and disciplines in pursuit of his ideal of whole-body expressiveness. He is a former member and music director of the award-winning physical theater company, Song of the Goat Theatre (Teatr Piesn Kozla). Other credits in new and experimental music-theater include appearances with Paul Dresher Ensemble, New Amsterdam, New Dramatists, concert:nova (Cincinnati, OH), the Tri-Centric Foundation, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Schlüterwerke (Vienna, Austria), Ostrava Days, SEM Ensemble, New York City Opera’s VOX Festival,
Festival, Opera Moderne, American Repertory Theatre, Nautilus Music-Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and HGOCo. Kelvin is the Founder and General Director of Vital Opera, (NYC, www.vitalopera.org) and the General and Artistic Director of the new Dutch cultural organization, VOXCRAFT (www.voxcraft.nl).
Photo by Evelien van Rijn
Shuann Chai, piano
Shuann Chai is an active and engaging performer, recognised for her interpretations on a wide range of historical pianos as well as the modern piano. After earning degrees from Oberlin College (Bachelor in Biology as well as in Music) and the New England Conservatory (Master in Piano), Shuann studied privately with Norma Fisher in London and Christian Schuster in Vienna. After being based in Boston for more than a decade, Shuann moved permanently to the Netherlands in 2007.
Performances include the Beethoven Festival (Netherlands) where she was the soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy; La Folle Journée of Tokyo, the festival ‘Bach en Combrailles’ (France), Landesmuseum of Innsbruck (Austria), the American Church of Paris, and concert series throughout the Netherlands.
In 2012 Shuann began a large-scale project of performing the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven; the series will conclude with concerts in 2020 to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Along the way Shuann’s CD recording of a selection of Beethoven’s Sonatas garnered enthusiastic reviews in publications such as Fanfare Magazine (“...bristling with excitement”), BBC Music Magazine (“Stimulating... Chai has a keen sense for the colouristic possibilities of her instrument”), and the Classical Music Sentinel (“...played with a determination and urgency that makes Beethoven’s music sound larger than life”).
Upcoming projects include CD recordings with baritone Mattijs van de Woerd on Zephyr Records and the chamber music of Brahms with Shunske Sato (violin) as well as a collaboration with Belgian-Iranian photographer Mashid Mohadjerin combining live music with concurrent images.
Among other things, Shuann Chai is grateful for having two inspiring musical companions: a concert grand Steinway signed by jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Ahmad Jamal, and an original 1820 Rosenberger fortepiano, generously provided on permanent loan by the National Musical Instruments Foundation of the Netherlands.