David Fung
Biography David Fung
David Fung
Described as “stylish and articulate” in the New York Times and praised as having “undoubted talent” by the Los Angeles Times, pianist David Fung is widely recognized for playing that is elegant and refined, yet deeply poetic and intensely expressive. In recent seasons, Mr. Fung has appeared as guest soloist with all the major orchestras in his native Australia, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and internationally with ensembles including the Israel Camerata Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra.
A frequent guest artist of concert series and festivals throughout the world, Mr. Fung has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Bari International Music Festival in Italy, Edinburgh International Festival, Music at Menlo in California, Ravinia Festival, and in New York's Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall, Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall and Royce Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, Scotland's Queen’s Hall, Belgium's La Monnaie, Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio, the Sydney Opera House, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the National Concert Hall in Taiwan, and Israel's Mann Auditorium. At his Edinburgh International Festival debut, Jonas Green of the Edinburgh Guide described Mr. Fung as being “impossibly virtuosic, prodigiously talented... and probably [doing] ten more impossible things daily before breakfast.”
Highlights of the 13/14 season include performances of Brahms Second Piano Concerto with Marin Alsop and the National Orchestra of Belgium, the West Coast Premiere of Chen Qigang’s Piano Concerto “Er Huang” with Lan Shui and the San Francisco Symphony, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major with Michael Hofstetter and the Royal Chamber Orchestra as well as with Edwin Outwater and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major with James Feddeck and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Other highlights include a tour in Taiwan of Beethoven’s late piano works, and return invitations to perform solo recitals at the Ravinia Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, and multiple concerts at the Bari International Music Festival in Italy where he returns as Artistic Director for the third year.
The Bari International Music Festival enjoys a reputation as one of the most important chamber music festivals in the south of Italy. Since joining the festival in 2010, Mr. Fung’s innovative programming has led to sold-out performances in the festival series, which takes place in the one thousand year-old Vallisa. The Corriere del Mezzogiorno has praised the festival for “spreading an infectious love of classical music throughout the city of Bari” while “attracting large numbers of younger audiences to its concert series.”
Mr. Fung’s debut album with Yarlung Records linked the virtuosity in the piano music of Liszt and Ravel: Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and Les jeux d’eau à la villa d’Este, with Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau and La Valse. His second album with Yarlung, Evening Conversations, featured a solo recital of intimate works by composers ranging from Mozart to Tan Dun. Evening Conversations was praised as “an overall favorite” by James Harrington in the American Record Guide and was named one of the Top 10 Recordings of 2011 by Linn Records. As a chamber musician, Mr. Fung has recorded the complete violin and piano works of American composer Lawrence Dillon with violinist Danielle Belen (Naxos) and partnered with Canadian ‘cellist Elinor Frey in her album Dialoghi (Yarlung).
A winner of the most prestigious national and international awards, Mr. Fung garnered international attention as a top prizewinner of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels and the Arthur Rubinstein Piano International Masters Competition in Tel Aviv, where he was further distinguished by prizes for Best Mozart Concerto and Best Performance of Chamber Music. Mr. Fung was the Grand Prize winner of Australia’s most important music prize, the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year Award.
Mr. Fung was the first pianist to graduate from the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles and is an official Steinway Artist.
