Saturday, March 15, 2025 – 2:00pm
St. Michael & All Angels Church – 1704 NE 43rd Ave, Portland
Recital followed by Hands-On Time for Newcomers!
Online Video Premiere – Saturday, March 29, 2025 – Recital Video – Printable Program
Recital Review
Anastasia Chin offers a fortepiano recital to celebrate spring with sunny, luminous or tender music, and a few dramatic moments of spring rains and storms. The program will include music by Mozart, Beethoven, Marianna Auenbrugger and Hélène de Montgeroult performed on a Viennese-style fortepiano; a modern copy of a Dulcken instrument from 1790.
Anastasia Chin’s “A Springtime Salon” of music of the Classical era (with one excursion into early Romanticism) completely captured the audience at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Portland on Saturday, March 15, 2025. With extensive experience and study of both harpsichord and fortepiano, Anastasia Chin holds a Doctor of Music in Early Music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. A top prize winner of the 2021 Jurow International Harpsichord Competition and 2018 Berkeley Festival International Early Piano Competition, her sensitive, exquisite playing on a perfectly balanced Viennese-action eighteenth-century fortepiano in the resonant acoustics of the chapel provided an intimate, completely satisfying experience.
The opening Sonata in E-flat Minor by Marianna Auenbrugger (1759-1782) immediately launched us into the world of Viennese Classicism, with its natural, singing treble lines and simple harmonic accompaniments, peppered with some dramatic excursions. Chin’s deeply felt expressivity was especially notable in the middle Largo movement, while the final Rondo Allegro’s sparkly opening gave way at times to contrasting stormy sections.
Chin brought an intimate quality to four of the Bagatelles Op. 33 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), compositions which explore a variety of contrasting registers and sections. Chin played No. 1 in E-Flat Major; No. 4 in A major – having a lyrical, hypnotic primary section and contrasting registers; the more fiery No. 5 in C Major – whose musical joke at the end brought audible chuckles from the audience; and No. 6 in D Major – with lovely phrasing and balanced voicing throughout.
Next, Chin played the highly inventive Fantaisie in G Minor by French composer and pianist Hélène de Montgeroult (1764-1836). From the first chords, Chin weaved a spell that took us on a wild journey through dramatically contrasting sections. Chin masterfully explored the rhetorical freedom and drama integral to this composition, with full exploration of the 5-octave eighteenth-century fortepiano, and effective use of the damper-raising knee levers that blended full textures and arpeggiated figures. For the close, after dramatic swirls to the top, Chin played the final low tone in a contemplative manner.
The final composition was the Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 570 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Chin’s lyricism and expressiveness shone in this well-known piece, including dramatic register contrasts. In the middle Adagio movement, with its hymn-like A section, Chin’s expressivity through rhythmic flexibility was especially notable in the contrasting sections. In the sprightly final Allegretto, Mozart – and Chin – exploited the full range and colors of the eighteenth-century piano.
Throughout, Anastasia Chin demonstrated her mastery of the Classical spirit, with its nuanced dynamics and rhythmic flexibility, and above all, expression of a wide variety of human emotions. In fact, Chin’s playing is remarkable for its integrity in expressing the full palette of colors and characters contained within Classicism. Chin’s light touch on the fortepiano enabled the instrument to sing with its natural tone, and the audience was enchanted. In addition to Chin’s expressivity, the fortepiano used for this program — a copy by Thomas and Barbara Wolf of the Smithsonian’s approximately 1789 Dulcken, recently restrung by Paul Irvin with Stephen Birkett’s historical wire – was simply outstanding. The long sustain enabled Chin’s melodies truly to sing, and the tone was balanced throughout, with contrasting register colors; bass, tenor, alto, and treble each had its own sound quality, yet all were equal in projection and clarity.
Also, learn more about Viennese-style versus English-style fortepianos in this video. – Watch the video
Review by Carol lei Breckenridge
About the Performer
Top prize winner ex aequo of the Ninth Mae and Irving Jurow International Harpsichord Competition 2021, fortepianist and harpsichordist Anastasia Chin has been praised for her naturally sensitive, elegant and eloquent performances. She is in frequent demand as soloist, chamber musician, and continuo player on the harpsichord, fortepiano and organ. She was one of three finalists in the 2018 Berkeley Festival International Early Piano Competition. Anastasia is a regular performer on the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project series and the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and also plays regularly with Tonos del Sur, an ensemble specializing in 17th and 18th century Latin American music.
Recent and upcoming engagements include solo fortepiano recitals for the Western Early Keyboard Association and MusicSources (March 2025) Handel’s Messiah with the Oregon Symphony (December 2023), J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with the Indiana University Historical Performance Institute for the Madison Performing Arts Foundation (May 2024), J.S. Bach’s concerti for two and four harpsichords with Seven Hills Baroque (July 2024), concerts with Tonos Del Sur at Notre Dame de Chicago as part of the University of Illinois Chicago Latin American Baroque Music Festival (April 2024) and in Bloomington for the Bloomington Early Music Festival (2022 and 2023), and guest recitals and lecture-recitals at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore (2023 and 2024).
Anastasia holds a Doctor of Music in Early Music (Keyboard) from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she also received her Master of Music in Early Music (Fortepiano) and a Performer Diploma in Harpsichord. Her mentor is eminent harpsichordist and fortepianist Elisabeth Wright, to whom she credits for igniting her passion for early music. Anastasia also holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore, where she studied with renowned pianist Albert Tiu. Her full scholarship for undergraduate studies was sponsored by the Singapore National Arts Council.
Hands-on Time for Newcomers – Stay after the recital to try the fortepiano yourself! Piano teachers, piano students, newcomers and enthusiasts are welcome to experience the feel of a Viennese-style fortepiano under the fingers. Knowing more about the instrument gives valuable insights about the Classical style.
Admission
Free to WEKA members
Free to 18 and under, and college students with ID
Children must be accompanied by an adult
General Admission $25 payable at the door