April 04, 2004 -

Ottawa, Canada  - Pianist Sonia Chan, who has won attention as an outstanding pianist through numerous appearances in North America and an impressive list of competition awards, will perform in recital on the National Arts Centre and CBC Radio Two Debut Series on Tuesday, April 13 at 12:00 noon in the NAC Studio. Sonia Chan will perform Mozart’s Piano Sonata in E-flat major, Petite Suite by Canadian composer Jacques Hétu, and Schumann’s Fantasie in C major.

These hour-long recitals, co-presented by the NAC and CBC Radio Two, give young Canadian musicians the opportunity to perform at the National Arts Centre and to have their recitals recorded and broadcast nationally on CBC Radio Two. Admission is $2.00 with all proceeds going to the NAC Orchestra Bursary Trust Fund. Additional donations to the Fund are greatly appreciated.

Born in Toronto in 1980, Sonia Chan is the grand prizewinner of the 2002 Pro Musicis International Award.  Previous honours include the national Canada YTV Youth Achievement Award, A&E Television Network Scholarship, first place awards at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Piano Competition, and the Aspen Music Festival Open Piano Competition Award. Ms. Chan is also the proud recipient of the prestigious 2003 Sylva Gelber Foundation Award given to the most talented Canadian artist/performer of the year in classical music (under the age of 30).

Sonia Chan has been featured as soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Sinfonia, the Canadian Chamber Academy, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Brantford Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra in California.

In addition to playing for Her Majesty the Queen, Ms. Chan has performed recitals at the Bennett Gordon Hall in Chicago, Gardner Museum in Boston, Bergen Music Festival in Holland, Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in New York, and the Salle Cortot in Paris, France.

Ms. Chan was also the subject of a CBC television documentary featuring her own developing career as a musician, and she has appeared on several Canadian and U.S. National radio and television broadcasts.

She earned her performance diploma with distinction from the Royal Conservatory of Music at the age of twelve, went on to continue her studies at the Glenn Gould Professional School in Toronto, and completed her Bachelor of Music, with honours, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia studying with pianist Leon Fleisher.  She continued her studies at the New England Conservatory of Music where she graduated with her Master's degree on the Dean’s list in 2002, achieving the highest percent of her graduating class with distinction in both academics and performance.

Currently, Sonia Chan is a Presidential Scholar enrolled in the prestigious Artist Diploma Program at the New England Conservatory of Music with full scholarship studying with pianist and artist in residence Russell Sherman.

For more information please contact:
Jane Morris, Communications Officer,
National Arts Centre Orchestra
(613) 947-7000, ext. 335
jmorris@nac-cna.ca

Jill LaForty, CBC Radio
(613) 562-8571
lafortyj@ottawa.cbc.ca