NYC Solo Recital Debut at Merkin Hall, February 7

I had a blast playing my first ever solo recital in New York City at Merkin Hall on the 7th of February. I played a whole lot of crazy stuff, much of it from my debut album MIRRORS: Dutilleux’s Le jeu des contraires; extracts of Boulez’s Third Sonata, interpolated with little Debussy works; two stellar contemporary works by Freya Waley-Cohen and Timo Andres (who graciously hosted a wonderful discussion after the recital); and Ravel’s Miroirs suite.

My dearest teacher Meng-Chieh Liu (pictured below), with whom I studied for 7 years, took time from his busy schedule of performing and teaching to see me play. It was a long schlep to New York from Boston, directly after he gave his own tremendous solo recital of Sonatas by Dutilleux, Bartók and Barber at Jordan Hall. (The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as you can see.) I cannot overstate how much respect and love I feel for this man – over the years he’s shaped my pianism and artistic outlook in the most indelible way.

The next morning I woke up to a tremendous review in my inbox, which put a spring in my step despite the 5.30am start to catch a flight from EWR. Lots of blushing commenced on this flight as I joined the Zims for concerts in Florida and beyond.

All in all, a very good trip to the States :-) Gx

MIRRORS wins 2024 BBC Music Magazine's Newcomer Award

On the evening of April 18, BBC Music Magazine unveiled my debut album, MIRRORS, as the winner of its Newcomer Award this year.

Many thanks are in order to the Platoon Team — Katie Ferguson and Philippa Chamberlayne for believing in me — Matthew Bennett and Oscar Bennett for making this boy’s wildest piano dreams come true — Latana Phoung for her tireless support — to the judging panel, and everyone who voted for me!! — and of course, to the composers, the living ones (Freya Waley-Cohen, Timo Andres, and Unsuk Chin) to whom I can now actually express appreciation for writing such wonderful music.

In my speech last night I also had to mention two childhood teachers who passed away just around the time of recording, Dr. Scott Beard and Carole Kriewaldt. More than anything I wish I could share this award with them. I told Kings Place about Miss Carole’s trademark phrase to tell her students before they performed — “You’ll play and I’ll pray” — and as I stood backstage at Kings Place while waiting to play, I heard this phrase again in my head in her classic Texan drawl. Have a funny day, y’all 🤠

'Mirrors' nominated for the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Newcomer Award

'Mirrors' has been nominated for the Newcomer Award at the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Awards. 

You can see all three nominees here.

The nominees will be made public in the February issue of the magazine, which is published on January 23. Voting closes at midnight on Friday 23 February, with the winners revealed at our Awards ceremony at King’s Place on Thursday 18 April. To cast your votes, head to classical-music.com/awards.

The BBC Music Magazine Awards are an annual celebration of the very best of all the recordings reviewed by the magazine over the previous year.

New album: TRIO ZIMBALIST plays Piano Trios of Weinberg, Auerbach, & Dvořák

Trio Zimbalist’s much-anticipated debut album is released on January 12, 2024.

This album of piano trios by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Lera Auerbach, and Antonín Dvořák is cast in the spirit of the Dumka, containing works composed under the shadows of troubled and traumatic political histories. This program is a heartfelt response to the enduring human struggle unfolding around the world.

Read more at triozimbalist.com.

Artist of the Month at Interlude.hk

Thanks so much to Interlude.hk and Oliver Pashley for featuring me as Artist of the Month for March 2023. I talk about recording, interpreting, and some other things.

You can read the interview here.

Best of 2022

George’s St Martin-in-the-Fields recital, “Chopin Revisited”, has been chosen as one of Arts Desk’s Best Classical Music Concerts of 2022. David Nice writes that it was his favourite piano recital of the year, “interweaving Chopin, Caroline Shaw and Rzewski with typical intelligence and – when needed – ferocity (Rzewski's "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues", roof-raising).

Mirrors: Press

I was featured in November’s edition of International Piano Magazine, writing a feature that introduced my new album coming out next week (!!).

On the 16th of November I will be interviewed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune. You can listen to the stream online here.

Debut Solo Album "MIRRORS"

George’s solo debut album, Mirrors, will be released on November 11, 2022 with Platoon/Apple Music.

The album draws on George’s visionary style of programming, using Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs as an focal point and featuring an eclectic mix of composers: Sergei Rachmaninov, Germaine Tailleferre, Henri Dutilleux, Unsuk Chin, Timo Andres, and Freya Waley-Cohen. Each movement in Ravel’s suite inspires a reflection with a more recent work, forming a musical dialogue between present and past.

Honens International Piano Competition

I have been selected as one of the ten semifinalists to compete in the Honens International Piano Competition. The $100,000 prize is one of the largest of its kind, with the winner also awarded a comprehensive, three-year artistic and career development program. The semifinal recitals take place between October 20-24, with three pianists advancing to the finals October 27-28.

Click here to read more about the competition.

Trio Zimbalist

I’m very excited to share with you all Trio Zimbalist!

—

Curtis Institute of Music is pleased to introduce Trio Zimbalist. Members of the trio—violinist Josef Špaček, cellist Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin, and pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu—are all distinguished alumni of Curtis. In demand across Europe and the U.S. as soloists, chamber musicians, and recitalists, together they form an inimitable ensemble with repertoire spanning Romantic masterworks to today’s most lauded composers.

The trio takes its name from famed violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist, a towering presence at the Curtis Institute of Music as faculty and director for a combined forty years. Trio Zimbalist carries on the violinist’s storied legacy through its commitment to artistic excellence. The group draws upon the lineage of previous world-class ensembles formed at Curtis. Its members have studied with faculty representing the Guarneri Quartet, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. With regular appearances at the La Jolla Music Society, ChamberFest Cleveland, Marlboro, and Moritzburg music festivals, they are active composers, adventurous and multidisciplinary collaborators, and passionate advocates for the impact of music on communities across the globe.

Read More

Happy New Year! “Best of 2021…”

Just re-entering the world after the holidays.. how happy I was this morning to discover that I was included in this writeup theartsdesk.com covering 'Best Of 2021'... "young artist of the year"...!! Thank you thank you thank you. More to come in '22...

Catch up with recent streams

Happy spring!

Although the pandemic has shuttered a lot of musical activity, we’ve worked hard to keep the music going. You can catch up on some recent streams that I’ve done online.

In January I performed at St. Mary’s Perivale, featuring a program of Rachmaninov, Schubert, and a premiere of my own work, Transformation on Gigue from Violin Partita No. 2 by J. S. Bach…

.. and then in February I gave a stream at the Great Hall at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, courtesy of City Music Foundation. It included the Transformation next to another Bach transcription by Rachmaninov, bookended by Rachmaninov and Debussy studies.

In April I made a debut at Kings Place, courtesy of the good folks at Kirckman Concert Society. In this recital I made the world premiere of passacaglia on a theme by radiohead.

NEWS: City Music Foundation

ANNOUNCEMENT: I’ve been selected as a 2020 City Music Foundation Artist!

To read more about this announcement, see the press release here.

Living Room Live

In light of recent developments with Covid-19, we’re launching a new platform, Living Room Live. Artists can share short recitals live from their living rooms/studios as a way to keep the music going.

I’m very excited to be playing a short concert with the phenomenal violinst Tamsin Waley-Cohen on Friday, March 27 at 6pm British time (2pm Eastern Standard Time US). Tune into our website our our Facebook Page at the time to watch a livestream of this house concert!

NEWS: Kirckman Concert Society

The Kirckman Concert Society has selected me as one of their artists for 2020/21! I’ll be performing a solo recital under their auspices in the near future at a prestigious London venue.

The Kirckman Concert Society was founded by Geraint Jones and Calton Younger in 1963 to promote young artists of exceptional talent, and has been funded since its inception by the Chase Charity (now part of the LankellyChase Foundation).

For more info, visit their website.

New: compositions

I’ve put a new section on my website, for my compositions.

My former composition mentor, David Ludwig, who is a rockin’ composer as well as a solid mensch, has for a long time been prodding me about composing more. Throughout my years at Philadelphia, I’d come to him for composition lessons with sketches and half-written works where, like a wizened Chinese grand master of sorts, David would lob these gentle softballs of encouragement and wisdom at me. (Like a turtle at an airport, I slowly plodded about while these objects flew with great speed over my head.)

So I very recently finished this passacaglia on a theme by radiohead, which has been a project bouncing around my head for a few years. The dedication is to David, whose softballs were so very appreciated by this humble turtle.

Final Recital at Royal Academy of Music

My final recital at the Royal Academy of Music will be on September 18, 2019 in the Angela Burgess Recital Hall!

For the first time ever, I'll be playing the entire magical cycle of twelve Debussy Etudes, after two colorful works by Henri Dutilleux and Unsuk Chin.

Free entry.

Angela Burgess Recital Hall
12:30pm

Henri DUTILLEUX Prelude No. 3 "Le jeu des contraires" (1989)
Unsuk CHIN Etude No. 5 "Toccata" (2003)

Claude DEBUSSY Douze Études, L 136 (1915)
Étude 1 pour les cinq doigts d'après Monsieur Czerny
Étude 2 pour les tierces
Étude 3 pour les quartes
Étude 4 pour les sixtes
Étude 5 pour les octaves
Étude 6 pour les huit doigts
Étude 7 pour les degrés chromatiques
Étude 8 pour les agréments
Étude 9 pour les notes répétées
Étude 10 pour les sonorités opposées
Étude 11 pour les arpèges composés
Étude 12 pour les accords