Debut with joie de vivre and great emotions
Russian repertoire is particularly appealing to her at the moment, as she has a very personal approach to it, says Claire Huangci. And not just because of the virtuoso fireworks that the petite pianist has mastered, but above all because of the wealth of images and emotions. Anyone who has experienced the young American of Chinese descent in concert can easily understand this. You can sense a special energy in her, powerful and agile at the same time, with which she carefully and nimbly phrases even the smallest detail or spans wonderful arcs. So it is no wonder that she chose music by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev for her CD debut entitled "The Sleeping Beauty": The selected ballet arrangements of "Sleeping Beauty" and "Romeo and Juliet" suit the youthful freshness of the early twentysomething very well. Small character pieces retell the plots of both ballets, fairytale-like images and great passions unfold in a very small space. The fact that this is highly virtuosic piano literature is a minor matter for her. Above all, Claire Huangci loves to color the miniatures with her color palette, always with the original sound of the orchestra in her ear. Just as most listeners know many of the melodies, but are now rediscovering them with Claire's recording.

Claire Huangci herself is also a discovery. Her talent became apparent at an early age: at the age of nine she was already winning scholarships, concerts and prizes at competitions, and at ten she played in a private concert for Bill Clinton. Nevertheless, she was never the typical child prodigy and was able to develop without any external pressure, only gradually feeling a real calling for her instrument in her later teenage years. After studying at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, she decided to go to Germany alone at the age of seventeen. She had previously met Arie Vardi at a competition and was fascinated by his way of creating music. Unlike before, the focus was less on technical challenges and more on overarching aspects such as phrasing and tone formation. So she seized the opportunity to deepen her training with him. Since then, she has lived and studied in Hanover and also gives regular concerts at home and abroad. This CD is more than a debut, which - like all debuts - is a promise. It is a first valid statement that will endure.

"Concerts are there to create magical moments." Claire Huangci