His First CD, a recital of Piano transcriptions, marked him as a champion of this underexplored repertoire, following the example of his former teacher, Abbey Simon. He recently opened the National Symphony Orchestra’s season with the Liszt transcription of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, to a standing ovation. His own arrangements, including pieces from Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije Suite, have met with rousing success in concert and on record.

His 2004-2005 season includes recitals in Memphis, Omaha, Des Moines, Portland, ME, Jacksonville Carmel, CA. San Diego and performances with Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of the 2003-04 season included two performances with Philharmonia Virtuosi at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Purchase, NY, as well as performances with the Elgin Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, and recitals in Syracuse, Jacksonville, and San Francisco. Mr. Chiu will perform at the Valery Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam.

In the 2002-03 season, Frederic Chiu toured the U.S. with the Budapest Strings performing the Bach d minor concerto and performed Porkofiev’s War Sonatas (Nos. 6, 7 & 8) at New York’s Metropolitan Museum. During the 01-02 season, Mr. Chiu toured Japan, made his Lincoln Center orchestral debut performing the Saint-Saens Second Concerto with the Orchestre de Bretagne, Stefan Sanderling conducting and performed recitals throughout the United States. Other North American appearances have included the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Ambassador Theatre in Pasadena, and Place des Arts in Montreal. He is a perennial guest of the acclaimed Newport Music Festival.

Born and raised in America by Chinese immigrant parents, and a long-time resident of France, Frederic Chiu’s cosmopolitan background brings a unique humanist approach to his music. “He has reinvented virtuosity…a phenomenon that must be heard” (Le Monde, Paris).

After studies at Indiana University - in piano with Karen Shaw and also on Computer Science - and at the Juilliard School, Frederic Chiu began his Career in Paris, and has become one of the most well known American pianists playing in France. He has performed in most of the major European cities: Rome, Milan, Brussels, Antwerp, Berlin, Frankfurt, The Hague, Warsaw, Prague, and London. He performs regularly in Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China) and Africa.

A recipient of many prestigious awards- the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Petscheck Award, and the American Pianist Association Fellowship- it was the lack of a certain award that first brought him international notoriety; in a rare foray into the competition circuit, his elimination before the final round of the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition roused enormous protest; prominent stories in the New York Times referred to him as the “Maverick American Pianist.. The Juilliard School has selected Frederic Chiu as part of 100 alumni to be profiled in their Centennial Magazine.

His concert activities also included orchestral appearances and a large amount of chamber music. He participates regularly in the festival “Consonance’s” in Saint Nazaire, France, which he co-founded in 1991 with the violinist Philippe Graffin. He collaborated with invited artists, including Gary Hoffman, Charles Neidich, Jeremy Menuhin, the St. Lawrence Quartet and Christian Ivaldi.

Growing up with a violinist brother and having worked closely with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, Frederic Chiu reserves a special place for the violin/piano repertoire and plays regularly with Pierre Amoyal who is also a regular recording partner, and Joshua Bell.

Eager to bring serious music to a larger audience, he makes special presentations for school children, and collaborates with personalities outside the traditional realm of his field, including the actors Brian Bedford and Sami Frey and psychologist/writer/clown Howard Buten.

Frederic Chiu’s activities as a teacher are highly acclaimed, both as a private teacher and in masterclasses. His unique series of seminars, with their philosophic and holistic approach to piano, are coveted by their handpicked participants.

Website: http://www.fredericchiu.com

Critical Acclaim

Chicago Tribune
By Dan Tucker 

"One of Chiu's strengths is his ability to bring out a melody from a storm of notes without making it sound loud. Another is his sheer power; he can produce a hair-raising yell from the piano and follow it a bar later with a feathery wisp of sound."

San Francisco Chronicle

"Chopin’s mazurkas are omnipresent on recital programs, but generally in small doses. To listen to the entire body of them is another experience entirely, particularly in Frederic Chiu’s magnificent renditions: haunting, emotionally sensitive playing. The young American based in Paris, absent for too long from San Francisco, can get around the keyboard with wondrous facility"

Des Moines Register
By Bruce Carr