Rising Musical Star
Born, Montreal, 1973, to Korean parents who immigrated to Canada, 1969, Lucille Chung, age 10, made her piano debut, 1983, with the Montreal Symphony. When 15 years, she was invited to tour Asia as featured soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, 1989. That same year, she won first prize at the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. Before she was 25 years old, she had performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Budapest and Weimar orchestras in addition to performing throughout Canada. Her recital credits include the Kennedy Center, Washington; New York’s Carnegie Hall; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; Great Hall of Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest; Salzburg’s Mozarteum; Montreal’s Place des Arts; and Toronto’s Ford Centre for the Performing Arts. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, B.M., Philadelphia, and the Juilliard School, M.M., NewYork, she has studied, among others, under Seymour Lipkin, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, and Lazar Berman. Lucille Chung has brought as much fame to Canada for her accomplishments as a pianist as to herself. Canada has recognized her achievements as a musician with the 1999 Canada Council for the Arts Virginia Parker Prize. Currently, Fellow, Accademia Pianistica (Incontri col Maestro) di Imola with Giovanni Valentini, Lucille Chung has been called by The Washington Post an “exciting” and “gutsy” pianist. Perhaps the Budapest Sun said it best when she performed in Hungary: she’s “a rising musical star.” [Photo, courtesy Lucille Chung]