Unfortunately, due to visa issues, Manami Suzuki will not be able to perform for us on Sunday, September 7. However, we are thrilled to present American pianist Claire Huangci, who performed for MMC in 2015 and 2017 and now has an impressive international career.

The American pianist Claire Huangci continuously captivates audiences with her “radiant virtuosity, artistic sensitivity, keen interactive sense and subtle auditory dramaturgy” (Salzburger Nachrichten). With an irrepressible curiosity and penchant for unusual repertoire, she proves her versatility with a wide range of repertoire spanning from Bach and Scarlatti via German and Russian romanticism to Bernstein, Amy Beach, and Barber.

Claire’s 24/25 season is peppered with exciting projects, starting with a new collaboration on Alpha Classics. Following a highly acclaimed Mozart concerto album with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, she will release an all-American solo disc titled MADE IN USA.

Claire returns to the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, Porto, Iceland, Vorarlberg, Nordwestdeutsche, and Pacific symphony orchestras, and debuts with the Basel, Hanover, Bremen, Bochum, and Milwaukee symphonies. In addition, she performs solo recitals and is a welcome guest of renowned festivals. In recent seasons, she has been a fixture on the concert circuit presenting an unusual breadth of repertoire and also directing various concertos from the piano in the play-direct tradition.

Born in Rochester New York, Claire displayed an early penchant for piano and was invited to the White House in 1999. She studied with Gary Graffman and Eleanor Sokoloff at the Curtis Institute of Music before moving to Hanover for further studies with Arie Vardi. She rose to international prominence with top prizes at several major competitions, including European and US Chopin competitions, ARD Music Competition, Geza Anda Competition, and Grand Prix of the Paris Play Direct Academy. Since then, she has led a number of orchestras in various concerto repertoire.

Claire is a proud ambassador of the Henle Publishing House, and Artistic Director of the Erbach Kammerkonzerte series.