BIOGRAPHY

The real-life marriage of two great concert pianists, Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, has led to one of the leading piano duos of their generation. To cite the UK magazine Music and Arts, “Theirs is a marriage of wondrous colours and dextrous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one.” In 2015, they were named Johnson-Prothro Artists-in-Residence at SMU Meadows School of the Arts.

Pianist Alessio Bax is praised for creating “a ravishing listening experience” with his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations and dazzling facility. First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions and a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, Dallas and Houston symphonies, the NHK Symphony in Japan, St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. Bax’s acclaimed discography for Signum Classics includes Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” and “Moonlight” Sonatas (Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”), Alessio Bax plays Mozart (Piano Concertos K. 491 and K. 595), Alessio Bax plays Brahms (Gramophone “Critic’s Choice”), Rachmaninov: Preludes and Melodies (American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice 2011”), and Bach Transcribed; and for Warner Classics, Baroque Reflections (Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”).

Born in Montréal, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung has been acclaimed for her “stylish and refined” performances by Gramophone. First Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition, she made her debut at the age of 10 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Charles Dutoit subsequently invited her as soloist on the orchestra’s tour to Asia. Among the more than 65 orchestras with whom she has performed are the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Flemish Radio Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Israel Chamber Orchestra as well as all the major Canadian orchestras, including the Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and National Arts Centre, led by such esteemed conductors as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Peter Oundjian, and Vladimir Spivakov.

Performing together in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, Bax & Chung has appeared in the United Kingdom, USA, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as in Aruba, Barbados, Canada, China, Cyprus, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Korea, Palestine, Russia, and Switzerland. International festival appearances include Verbier in Switzerland, Vid Djupid in Iceland, the opening concert of the Chungmu Hall in Seoul, Korea, the Pau Casals, Castilla y Leon, Denia, Alicante, Torroella de Montgri, and Pamplona International Festivals in Spain, the Felicja Blumental Festival in Tel Aviv, Lübecker Kammermusikfest and Schloss Elmau in Germany, EurOrchestra Piano Festival in Italy, Ottawa Chamber Festival in Canada, as well as Music@Menlo, Mainly Mozart, Bard, Stony Brook International and Dakota Sky Festivals in the US.

November 2013 marked the release of Bax & Chung, their first duo album for Signum Classics. The disc includes Stravinsky’s original four-hand version of the ballet Petrouchka, with waltzes and tangos by Brahms and Piazzolla. Bax & Chung has recorded the complete works of György Ligeti for piano four hands and two pianos on the Dynamic label, for which they garnered the maximum R10 Classica from the French magazine Répertoire and 5 Stars from Fono Forum in Germany. In 2006, they released Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under Miguel Harth-Bedoya with Michael York as narrator. The duo's newest album, Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo was released in 2016 on the Signum label to great acclaim.

January 2023

PHOTOS

Photography

Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

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