# Claire Huangci

Claire Huangci (Chinese: 黃慈; pinyin: Huáng Cí; born March 22, 1990) is an American classical pianist. She lives in Frankfurt am Main.

## Early life

Huangci was born in Rochester, New York to Chinese immigrant parents, both scientists. Claire started playing piano at the age of six. Until she was 11 years old, Huangci studied with pianist Ursula Ingolfsson-Fassbind at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. Aged 8, she won a gold medal at the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, being the youngest medalist in the pre-college division to perform with an orchestra at the prize winners’ concert of the International division.

## Education

Huangci was supported with scholarships from DAAD and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben for two years. Having completed four years of study at the Curtis Institute of Music from 2003 to 2007 where she studied together with notable pianists such as Yuja Wang under Gary Graffman, she continued her musical education in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Professor Arie Vardi from 2007 to 2016.

## Career

Huangci won First Prize in the 2009 Europäischer Chopin Klavierwettbewerb in Darmstadt and the Orpheum Music Prize in Zurich; the First and Special Prize at the 2010 National Chopin Competition in Miami, Florida, US, and the Second Prize at the 2011 ARD International Music Competition as its youngest participant. Huangci was also a finalist in the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2018 she won the Concours Geza Anda in Zurich

### Orchestras and performances

Huangci has appeared as a soloist performing with well-known orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Vancouver Symphony, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the China Philharmonic, the Cannes Orchestre, the St. Petersburg Symphony, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, and the Santa Fe Symphony as well as the Istanbul State Symphony. She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Zürich Tonhalle, Konzerthaus Berlin, Gasteig Munich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Salle Cortot Paris, Oji Hall in Tokyo and Symphony Hall in Osaka. Additionally, she is a guest artist at festivals such as the Kissinger Sommer, Verbier, Ravinia, Łódź Rubinstein Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Mozartfest Würzburg and the Schwetzinger Festspiele.

## Discography

In the summer of 2013, Huangci released her solo debut recording of solo works by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev under the Berlin Classics label. She has released a second solo album in 2015 featuring sonatas by Scarlatti.
In 2019 she released a CD of concertos by Chopin and Paderewski.
| Publishing Date | Recording Date | Album title | Inhalt | Other Artists | Publisher | Catalogue No. |
| 09.08.2013 | 2013 | The Sleeping Beauty – Ballet Transcriptions | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker (Act 2, No. 14); Sergei Prokofiev: Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet | | Berlin Classics | 0300548BC |
| 10.04.2015 | 2015 | Domenico Scarlatti – Piano Sonatas | Domenico Scarlatti: Piano sonatas | | Berlin Classics | B00UILS96I |
| 05.05.2017 | 2017 | A Chopin Diary – The Complete Nocturnes | Frédéric Chopin: Nocturnes Nos. 1–21, Nocturne oubliée in C-sharp minor (Larghetto), Étude in C-sharp minor op. 25 (7) | Tristan Cornut | Berlin Classics | B01LXE41EY |
| 05.01.2018 | 2017 | | Dmitry Kabalevsky: Fantasy in F minor (based on Franz Schubert's Fantasia in F minor) | Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien conducted by Cornelius Meister | Berlin Classics | 2531 126 |
| 23.02.2018 | 2017 | Beethoven Rarities | Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto in D major, op. 61a (Transkription des Violin Concerto), Musik zu einem Ritterballett Nr. 1–12, Wellington's Victory (Parts 1/2) | Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt conducted by Howard Griffiths | Rondeau | 4-037408-01521-9 |
| 28.09.2018 | 2018 | The Rachmaninoff Preludes | Sergei Rachmaninoff: Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3, no. 2; Preludes, Opp. 23 and 32 | | Berlin Classics | 0301075BC |
| 23.08.2019 | 2019 | Paderewski and Chopin: Piano Concertos | Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor and Paderewski Piano Concerto in A minor | Deutsche Radio Philharmonie conducted by Shiyeon Sung | Berlin Classics | B07T4RYMLT |
| 14.08.2020 | 2020 | Trio Machiavelli: Ravel and Chausson | Maurice Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor; Ernest Chausson: Piano Quartet in A major, Op. 30 | Solenne Païdassi, Tristan Cornut, Adrien Boisseau | Berlin Classics | |
| 19.03.2021 | 2020 | Pastorale | Beethoven: Symphony No.6, Op. 68 "Pastoral" (arr. Liszt) | | Berlin Classics | |
| 30.04.2021 | 2020 | Cipriani Potter: Orchestral Works | Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Introduction conducted by Rondo alla militaire for piano and orchestra in E-flat major | BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Howard Griffith | CPO | B0915V5NNB |
| 10.09.2021 | 2021 | Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccatas and Fugues | Toccata in D minor (arr. Busoni), Toccatas BWV 910-916 | | Berlin Classics | 0302016BC |
| 18.02.2022 | 2021 | Mendelssohn: Works for Violin and Piano | Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra in D Minor, Violin Sonata in F Minor, Op. 4, Violin Sonata in F Major (1st version, 1838) | Violin: Marc Bouchkov, Conductor: Howard Griffith | Berlin Classics | |
| 17.03.2023 | 2023 | Beethoven: Septet and Eroica | Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, "Eroica", Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20 | CHAARTS Chamber Artists | Berlin Classics | |
| 12.05.2023 | 2021 | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 15, 16 and 17 | Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 15, 16 and 17 | Mozarteumorchester Salzburg conducted by Howard Griffiths | Alpha | ALPHA928 |
| 20.08.2023 | 2023 | META | Schubert Sonatas D. 894, 958, 959, 960, Drei Klavierstücke D. 946, 4 Lieder, Aufenthalt and Liebsbotschaft by Liszt | Thomas Bauer | Berlin Classics | |