History In The Making - May, 2007
Renowned CSU Pianist Wins Grammy Award
www.epitomemag.com/arts_music.htm
by Abigail Zemrock
Dr. Angelin Chang, internationally acclaimed concert pianist and an assistant professor of piano at Cleveland State University, has won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra.
She was the only North American among the five musicians nominated in this category. The 49th annual Grammy Award winners were announced on February 11 in a live telecast from Los Angeles.
Dr. Chang won for her piano solo performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques (Exotic Birds) with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, conducted by John McLaughlin Williams, who also won the Grammy. The piece, from the sixth volume of the Symphony’s Music That Dares to Explore series, was performed in Cleveland State’s Waetjen Auditorium and was recorded and engineered by Cleveland State audio engineer David Yost.
The Grammy nominating committee told conductor Williams that the recording quality was one of the best ever submitted in the classical category.
Dr. Chang has been head of keyboard studies and a faculty member at Cleveland State since 2001. She also is the coordinator for chamber music. At the time of the recording, the world–renown Cleveland Chamber Symphony had been in residence at Cleveland State University for 24 years.
Even before receiving the coveted Grammy nomination, her rendition of Oiseaux Exotiques won wide critical acclaim. The Gramophone (U.K.) noted her “alternately prismatic and pointed artistry” and found it “invariably excellent.” State Magazine characterized her performance as “dazzlingly pyrotechnic,” and the Plain Dealer called her a “vibrant soloist [who] managed the death–defying writing with equal dash and subtlety.”
Dr. Chang studied with Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod–Messiaen in Paris and was awarded First Prizes in both piano and chamber music during the same year from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (Paris Conservatoire). While earning her Doctor of Musical Arts from Peabody Institute–Johns Hopkins University, she wrote her dissertation on Messiaen.
Recognized for her sense of poetry and technical brilliance, Dr. Chang performs in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Her concert tours have included the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Severance Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Beijing Concert Hall, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
As the first Artist-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center, Dr. Chang participated in developing and launching the Arts for Everyone initiative. She has performed at the U.S. Department of State, for the United Nations Women’s Organization and before the Royal Family of Nepal. An active chamber musician, she performs regularly with the legendary violist Joseph de Pasquale, the de Pasquale String Quartet, and with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra.
Dr. Chang has always pursued excellence, especially in education. Besides her Doctor of Musical Arts, she earned her Premier Prix-Piano and Premier Prix-Musique de Chambre from the Paris Conservatoire, Master of Music and Distinguished Performer Certificate from Indiana University, BA in French and Bachelor of Music from Ball State University, and highest honors upon graduation from the Interlochen Arts Academy.
Enriching the community through the arts is also important to Dr. Chang. She serves as the North America representative for the Festival Afro-Asiatique Mondial des Oeuvres de Solidarité (FAMOUS), and president of the Panafrican Music and Arts Festival/Piano Division. She is a member of the board of trustees for the Great Lakes Theater Festival, co-president of the Ohio Music Teachers Association Northeast District, and state coordinator for the Music Teachers National Association Young Artists Competition and Chamber Music Competition.
With her impressive talent, education and initiative, Dr. Angelin Chang is definitely a woman making history!
Visit www.angelinchang.com for a listing of her scheduled performances and to purchase her CDs.
Angelin Chang - pianist: News
