Chelsea Guo & Mark Travis

PROGRAM:

Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words Op. 117 

Mendelssohn: Prelude and Fugue Op. 35 No. 1 

Bach: Partita No.5 in G major

Medtner: Four Lyrical Fragments Op. 23 

Chopin: Mazurkas Op. 33 

Chopin: Barcarolle Op. 60

Chelsea Guo

"As both a pianist and a singer Chelsea Guo is clearly a special talent."《Gramophone》， June 18， 2021

Chelsea Guo, at the age of twenty, has already attracted international attention as a pianist and soprano of remarkable gifts. Her dual artistry is featured in her 2021 debut recording on the Orchid Classics label, “Chelsea Guo: Chopin in My Voice,” which includes beloved Chopin solo repertoire, along with two Chopin songs and one Rossini aria in which the artist accompanies herself. The inclusion of the Rossini aria is typical of the concert programs Chelsea offers, which often display the influence that singers had on composers of their time. Gramophone Magazine included the recording in their Essential New Albums, and Classical FM featured Chelsea for an entire week in their Drive Discovery and “Young Classical Star” program. In China, all of the major digital music platforms prominently displayed the recording on their home pages.

Chelsea’s 2021-22 season began with her German debut at the Moritzburg Festival, which featured her in seven concerts as both pianist and soprano. It also included appearances in both capacities with the Stamford Symphony and Michael Stern in their season-opening gala and in an hour-long return visit to radio station WQXR’s Young Artist Showcase. It will continue similarly with the New Jersey Symphony and with the Oregon Mozart Players and Kelly Kuo in the closing concert of their 40th anniversary season. Chelsea’s appearance in Naples is her first in Florida since taking a top prize in the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition. She also performs recitals in Florida this season for the Chopin Foundation of the United States and the Miami International Piano Festival.

Chelsea’s solo piano performances have taken her to Carnegie Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as prominent venues throughout the United States, England, Austria, France, Poland, Italy, China, Japan, and Canada. A guest artist of the Leeds Inaugural Piano Festival, she was also featured in Europe in solo recitals presented by the Mozarteum Summer Series in Salzburg, and in China, in a six-concert tour under the auspices of the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival. She was honored to be a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang Foundation, a young artist of the Artemisia Akademie at Yale, and a recipient of the US Chopin Foundation scholarships for four consecutive years.

Chelsea’s passion for piano was mirrored by her love of singing from an early age. Having debuted as a pianist with the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra at age nine, she returned in 2018 as a vocal soloist under the baton of Maestro Muhai Tang. She has been recognized for her vocal gifts as a 2019 National YoungArts winner, the first prize winner in the 2019 Schmidt Voice Competition, and recipient of scholarships from the George London and Gerda Lissner foundations.

Chelsea graduated with honors from the Juilliard School’s Pre-College as a double major in piano and classical voice. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in piano at Juilliard College under the tutelage of  Hung-Kuan Chen and continuing her vocal studies with Lorraine Nubar and Jason Ferrante.

Mark Travis

With more than two decades of experience, Mark Travis has just about done it all, serving as a writer, producer, broadcaster, lecturer, podcaster, voiceover artist, multi-cam director, video editor and audio engineer. Currently Director of Media Production for the New York Philharmonic, he has directed the orchestra’s broadcasts (hosted by Alec Baldwin) since 2003.

​

From 1999 to 2011 Mark served as a producer for Chicago’s WFMT Radio Network, where he wrote and directed more than 800 nationally syndicated programs. He also has an extensive discography as a music producer, including three Grammy-nominated recordings in five categories by the New York Philharmonic. Other credits include projects with Carnegie Hall’s Song Studio with Renée Fleming, Ensemble Connect, Handel & Haydn Society, Ensemble Companio, Living Music with Nadia Sirota—Pirate Radio Edition, the 92nd Street Y, the National Youth Orchestra, the Chicago Chorale, UMS, Interlochen Public Radio, Greenwich Choral Society, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as a regular guest lecturer for Mannes College of Music at New School University and the Grand Piano Series in Naples, Florida.

Mark is a member of NARAS and serves on both the Grand Jury and Radio Advisory Board for the New York Festivals International Broadcasting Competition. He has also served as juror and Music Committee Chair for the United States Artists panel in Los Angeles.

He has been the recipient of more than 30 medals and honors for his broadcast work, including the 2015 Grand Jury Prize and five best-director awards from the New York Festivals, and he was named a special honoree for his writing in the 2017 Webby Awards.