Mia Chung, piano Musical Biography Mia Chung has ascended to the highest ranks of America’s pianists. Described as “uncommonly insightful, individualistic, lively” and “technically dazzling” by the New York Times, Ms. Chung has enjoyed great success as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. In 1993, she won the Concert Artists Guild Competition and in 1997, she received the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the highest recognition for young concert artists in the United States. Selected by Mstislav Rostropovich for a televised collaboration at the age of 16, Ms. Chung has demonstrated a prodigious talent since her childhood. She possesses an exceptional understanding of and love for the works of J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Most recently, in a live performance of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach, The Wall Street Journal compared her playing to that of Glenn Gould’s legendary recording of the same in 1955. Her debut recording on the Channel Classics label features Beethoven sonatas and bagatelles. Upon selecting this recording as a "Best of the Year" for 1995, Gramophone magazine noted: "Chung's performance is inspired . . . a totally absorbing musical experience." A Schumann disc followed, winning the Critics Association of Korea Award for best keyboard recording of the year. Channel Classics released two more CDs, featuring Bach's Goldberg Variations and a second volume of Beethoven's Sonatas & Bagatelles. In 2000, Ms. Chung premiered and recorded a work by composer Lee Hyla called Riff and Transfiguration on the Tzadik label, also to critical acclaim. Her first DVD recording entitled, Notations: A Composer’s Response to Crisis was released in 2008 and has garnered high praise. The DVD includes illuminating performances and analyses of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, Op. 53 and Op. 110 (www.miachung.com). Ms. Chung has performed extensively in North America, Europe, Asia and Central America. As a concerto soloist, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, Alabama Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Boston Pops, KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, and the Seoul Philharmonic under the direction of such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, Andrew Litton, Murray Sidlin, David Atherton and Richard Westerfield. An active recitalist, known for her combinations of performance and engaging talk, Ms. Chung has performed in major concert halls around the world, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Symphony Hall in Boston, Jordan Hall in Boston, Hoam Art Hall in Seoul, Korea, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Hall (Pittsburgh), the Krannert Center (U. of Illinois), the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Yokohama Festival in Japan and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Chosen as an Artistic Ambassador by the United States Information Agency in 1993, Ms. Chung toured Thailand, Singapore, Tonga and the former Soviet Union, becoming the first American pianist to perform in Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan and Turkmenistan. As a chamber musician, Ms. Chung has performed with celebrated artists such as Bernard Greenhouse, William Preucil, Philip Setzer, Ani and Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, Carol Wincenc, Paul Neubauer, Gary Hoffman, and Hillary Hahn. She has also collaborated with the Brentano, Borromeo, St. Petersburg, St. Lawrence and Pacifica String Quartets, among others. A former member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II, she has performed in concerts and educational presentations at Lincoln Center. Her performances at summer festivals include the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the Cascade Festival in Oregon, the Masterworks Festival, the Rockport Festival and the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego. From 2002-2004, Ms. Chung toured Korea and the United States with violinist Catherine Cho for performances of Beethoven’s ten piano and violin sonatas. Her recent collaborations include two-piano recitals and concertos with pianist Alina Polyakov, a protégé of the celebrated Russian pianist,Emil Gilels. Their first CD with music by Ravel, Barber and Rachmaninoff will be released in May 2013. The 2011-2013 seasons also include solo and chamber music performances at the J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center in Rockport, MA, and at Symphony Hall in Boston with the Boston Pops Orchestra. A recording of the complete Brahms Piano Trios with violinist Elizabeth Larson and cellist Soo Bae will be released in the summer of 2013, and Ms. Chung will give the Boston premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ piano quintet, At a Still Point in April 2013. Emerging as a recognized radio personality, Ms. Chung has been actively involved in radio nationally since 1995, when she served as the first "Young Artist in Residence" for National Public Radio's Performance Today. Ms. Chung's work at NPR earned her a nomination as "Debut Artist of the Year." She went on to positions as "Artist-in-Radio" at WCRB-FM in Boston and WGMS-FM in Washington, D.C. and has appeared on public radio throughout the United States. Mia Chung was born in Madison, Wisconsin and grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received a master's degree from Yale University and a doctorate from the Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Peter Serkin, Boris Berman, Raymond and Anne Hanson and George Manos. Since 1991, Ms. Chung was Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. She is currently on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Alina Polyakov, piano Musical Biography Alina Polyakov was born in the Ukraine in the former Soviet Union. She holds both master's and doctoral degrees from the Gnessin's Conservatory in Moscow. Her principal teachers were Emil Gilels, Yuri Petrov and Leonid Brumberg. Ms. Polyakov has performed with the Gnessin's Conservatory Orchestra and has performed extensively in the former Soviet Union. Ms. Polyakov's performance experience encompasses solo recitals and orchestral appearances, chamber music, and recital accompaniment throughout the United State, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. In 1989 Ms. Polyakov immigrated to the United States. Since then she has been on the faculty of Gordon College, Atlantic Union College and the Boston Conservatory. She has directed piano master classes at the Vienna Conservatory and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and has played recitals throughout Europe. Ms. Polyakov performed with the New England String Ensemble with Federico Cortese at Jordan Hall and in 2008 had a solo appearance with the Gordon Symphony Orchestra performing Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with James Buswell. She played at the Rockport Music Festival Duo Piano with Mia Chung. Ms. Polyakov intensively performs with musicians from Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Boston Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, Harvard University, Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College, and Tsai Center at Boston University. She has also performed solo at Brandeis University and Gordon College and has performed at the Goethe Institute. Ms. Polyakov's performances have been aired throughout metropolitan Boston on WGBH Radio 89.7 and WHDH-TV. As a member of the Rachmaninov Trio, Ms. Polyakov has performed extensively throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. The trio has performed at such venues as Hutchenson's Hall, the Royal Academy of Music and St. Andrews University. The Glasgow Herald wrote: "It was Polyakov's unpretentious virtuosity that seemed to bind the trio together. Her playing was generous and masterful, never dominating the ensemble, never holding back when it mattered."