Claire Huangci Drops US Anniversary Album for Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Florence Price and Amy Beach
Claire Huangci, an American pianist born in 1990 in Rochester, New York, to Chinese immigrant parents, has decided to cancel her upcoming concept album set for spring 2026, citing concerns about her credibility following Donald Trump's re-election. Instead, she has released "Piano Heroines," which includes works by Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Florence Price, and Amy Beach. On 10 October, Huangci will perform at Tonhalle Zürich, showcasing concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg, and Gershwin. She began her piano journey in childhood and went on to study at the Curtis Institute of Music and Musikhochschule in Hannover. Her rise to fame was marked by victories in competitions, including the Géza Anda Competition in 2019. Balancing motherhood with touring, Huangci urges pianists to venture beyond traditional repertoire.
Key facts
- Claire Huangci was born in 1990 in Rochester near New York to parents who emigrated from China to study in the US
- She originally planned a concept album of fantasies by American composers for spring 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States
- After Donald Trump's second election as president, Huangci dropped the US-themed program as no longer appropriate
- The replacement album "Piano Heroines" on Alpha Classics features Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Florence Price and Amy Beach
- Huangci studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and, from age seventeen, at the Musikhochschule in Hannover with Arie Vardi
- She won the International Music Competition of the ARD in Munich and first prize at the 2019 Géza Anda Competition in Zurich
- The album includes Schumann's "Soirées musicales" and her piano concerto's second movement, Hensel's Capriccio in B minor and "Das Jahr" excerpts, Beach's "Four Sketches" op. 15 and Price's "Fantasie nègre" No. 2
- Huangci performs twice on 10 October at the Tonhalle Zürich in concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg and Gershwin
Entities
Artists
- Claire Huangci
- Clara Schumann
- Fanny Hensel
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Florence Price
- Amy Beach
- Lang Lang
- Yuja Wang
- Arie Vardi
- Donald Trump
- Mozart
- Beethoven
- Grieg
- Gershwin
Institutions
- Curtis Institute of Music
- Musikhochschule Hannover
- International Music Competition of the ARD
- Géza Anda Competition
- Alpha Classics
- Tonhalle Zürich
- NZZ
Locations
- Rochester
- United States
- New York
- China
- Philadelphia
- Hannover
- Germany
- Munich
- Zurich
- Switzerland