Solo concert pianist - Collaborative pianist - Recording artist Faculty, Young Artist Experience, University of British Columbia Guest Professor, Beijing Central Conservatory of Music & Attached Middle School
Cary Chow captivates and electrifies audiences wherever he performs. Whether he is in Montreal or New York or Beijing, he receives both critical and popular acclaim. His intense yet engaging stage presence once earned him the moniker ‘a composite of Vladimir Horowitz and Ozzy Osbourne’. The breadth of his repertoire extends from J.S. Bach to Liszt to George Crumb and beyond, and he seamlessly traverses these epochs and genres.
He performs with conductors as diverse as Mario Bernardi and Gerard Schwarz in concerti from Mozart through Rachmaninoff; collaborates in recital with instrumentalists of the caliber of cellist Shauna Rolston, violinist Moshe Hammer and clarinettist Jonathan Cohler.
Cary Chow’s first compact disc recording on the Tintagel label was released in 1999, and featured Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Sonata and the Variations on a Theme of Corelli. Commercial recordings and multi-media/inter-disciplinary projects include Liszt Sonata in B Minor and Après une lecture du Dante, and Prokofiev Sonatas No. 6, 7 & 8. His second commercial CD Zirkus (Step Inside) was released independently in September 2007 and available from magnatune.com/artists/carychow.
Until 2006, Cary Chow taught at the University of Victoria and the Victoria Conservatory of Music; he now coaches the Young Artist Experience at the University of British Columbia where he is known as 'The Enforcer'. In 2002, at the request of "Distinguished Professor of Violin" (France) Burkard Godhoff, he was Guest Professor for chamber music at the International Summer String Academy at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Between 2004 – 06, he was Collaborative Artist in Residence at the Morningside Music Bridge program in Calgary, Canada. Since 2005, he has appeared as Guest Professor at Central Conservatory of Music & Attached Middle School in Beijing, China and Xing Hai Conservatory in Guangzhou, China.
Cary Chow studied with Winifred Scott Wood, Dr. Robin Wood and Rena Sharon at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. By age fifteen, he had achieved the AVCM and LVCM (Victoria) and ARCT (Toronto) diplomas in piano performance; at age sixteen, he made his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; at age eighteen, he was awarded the DipRAM, the highest prize from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, where he studied with renowned professor Christopher Elton. In addition to holding a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music (with Distinction) in piano performance from the University of Victoria (with full University of Victoria Fellowship), he has completed the coursework for the Master of Business Administration degree at Royal Roads University, formerly Royal Roads Military College.
It is not considered havoc when ordained by a higher power. For verily I say, out of chaos comes order, and everything in-between is the musical vibrations that bond the GREAT WORK.
Greetings young minstrel, and extended gratitudes for adding me to your circle of friends. It has been some time, since last hearing such a remarkable talent. Your commitment to your craft is commendable.
Dear Cary, Just stopping by for my weekly listen of your concerto piano playing I have gotten all of my music sheets I had put up and started playing again thank you for inspiring me I didn't realize how much I had missed Chopin until I listened to you play and he is one of my favorites. Thank you for you very gifted talent you have and for the inspiration. Christy Allums
Dear Cary, just stopping by to listen to your very talented piano and to thank you for taking me back to all the songs I learned to play a few years back. Wishing you all the best. Christy Allums
You are very welcomed, I think you are one of the most talented pianist I have heard in a long time. Thank you for your talent with the rest of us. Christy Allums
How wonderful Cary!!!!!! Thank you for telling me! I gave your CD to my graduating senior as a present. He was very excited. He has not played much Schumann yet but has done very well with Chopin! Thank you!!!!
Thanks for reading the poem and the birthday wish as well. I really love the image of the three masks connected as one! Extremely clever! There is the same type of energy in the image that one feels when connecting with Schumann! Really Great!
Hey Cary, I put the Kreisleriana on my profile in honor of the poem I wrote this morning. I hope that is ok. I won't plug The Muses for a day or two! cheers, Judy
Hey Cary, Thanks for checking out my video :) Your piano playing is as sumptuous as ever. Maybe we can relive the old Chauneys days sometime soon :) Liesa
Hi Cary Chow, thanks for finding me and wanting to be my friend... Im very proud to mention that my first album 'the beauty and the sea' is out now and available in many online stores, and shops... If you live in the UK I will be touring first there, then abroad various countries!... so check my dates, the main gig is Londons Purcell Room on the South Bank 29th April.
I should have included this quote in my latest blog on the Planet Earth series;
"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." ~Neil Armstrong
