Biography auf deutsch · Biographie en français · 바이오그라피
“Shin-Heae Kang is a magnificent pianist. She has all the qualities, superb technique, serious and devoted musicianship, very big repertoire. I strongly recommend her to your attention.” – MARTHA ARGERICH
“A truly brilliant conversation between two pianists and the orchestra – Poulenc´s Concerto for Two Pianos performed by Martha Argerich and Shin-Heae Kang with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze…The most delicate and charming of Sugar Plum Fairies” – BBC RADIO 3
“This is a super performance of a splendid piece by a spectacularly talented pianist. There is some utterly beautiful and intelligent playing here, and some splendid virtuosity. Ms. Kang certainly deserves the attention that she has received, and is clearly an artist to watch out for.” – MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL
“The musicality is absolutely impressive. Each bar breathes great experience, sense of style and deep humanity. She puts all her technical mastery into the service of a coherent dramaturgy and exposes facets in the music that are often overlaid by virtuosity in other interpretations.” – NDR KULTUR
“In addition to virtuosity, her playing is also simply exemplary in emotionally expressive pieces.” – PIANO NEWS
“The pianist Shin-Heae Kang is not content with depicting the ascent on the ladder of virtuosity from variation to variation quickly and smartly, but she gives the well-known brilliant piece a noble, quick-witted basic tone from which all kinds of coloured fireworks can be fired.” – DEUTSCHLANDFUNK KULTUR
“A modest multi talent” – HANNOVERSCHE ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG
“In an all-Liszt program, she has technically everything to play virtuoso and musically the intelligence to subordinate virtuosity to the service of music. That makes her performance so special.” – PIZZICATO
“The Debutante of the Festival the young pianist Shin-Heae Kang performed pieces by Liszt and Schumann with the utmost professionalism (…) and she proved all qualities for a great concert career.” – MARIINSKY THEATRE MAGAZINE ST. PETERSBURG
“Shin-Heae Kang impresses as a pianist of considerable technical accomplishment, intent on placing a personal stamp on everything she plays.” – GRAMOPHONE
“Star of this evening was the pianist Shin-Heae Kang, who has won numerous music awards. Born in Kiel to Korean parents Shin-Heae Kang teared the audience literally from their seats with her brilliant playing.” – DIE WELT
“An overwhelming WOW effect in the recital with the world´s one of top pianist Shin-Heae Kang” – THE KUKMIN ILBO DAILY NEWSPAPER SOUTH KOREA / KOREAN NAVER
“She dominates the instrument completely. It is as it would be a part of herself.” – NIEDERSÄCHSISCHES TAGEBLATT
“On the way to a world career” – SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN MUSIC FESTIVAL RECITAL DEBUT
“On her new Liszt album, Shin-Heae Kang can be experienced not only as a melodically sensitive poet at the piano, but also as a fearless virtuoso with great piano technique.” – RADIO BREMEN
“The musicality is absolutely impressive. Each bar breathes great experience, sense of style and deep humanity” describes NDR Kultur the art of Shin-Heae Kang. Piano News also writes, “in addition to virtuosity, her playing is also simply exemplary in emotionally expressive pieces.” “A fearless virtuoso with great piano technique” deeply impressed Radio Bremen, “this is a super performance of a splendid piece by a spectacularly talented pianist”, and MusicWeb International.
Shin-Heae Kang has become internationally well-known especially after her spectacular performance on two pianos together with the legendary pianist Martha Argerich and the NDR Radiophilharmonie Orchestra under the direction of chief conductor Andrew Manze in the New Year’s Concert by the NDR Radiophilharmonie in the Kuppelsaal in Hanover. They performed the Double Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Francis Poulenc which was broadcast live internationally as an outstanding Community Project by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Since then, this concert has been broadcasted regularly in numerous countries, including on UK BBC Radio 3, RTÉ Ireland, NRK Klassisk Radio Norway, Sveriges Radio Sweden, Klara Radio Belgium, Radio România Muzical Romania, HRT Hrvatski Radio Croatia, Polskie Radio Poland, ORF Ö1 Radio Austria, Radio Clásica Spain, RTP Rádio e Televisão Portugal etc. “A truly brilliant conversation between two pianists and the orchestra” enthused BBC Radio 3 after the concert.
Shin-Heae Kang performed her first concert at the age of five. When she was nine, she gave her first piano concerto with an orchestra, where she played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 8, KV 246. This was followed by numerous piano concertos and piano recitals. At the age of twelve, she gave her first philharmonic debut at the Great Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic, where she performed the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy together with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. In the same year she performed the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor by Frédéric Chopin. At 15, she played the Hungarian Fantasy for piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt and the “Konzertstück” in F minor also for piano and orchestra by Carl Maria von Weber in a concert and in 2003 the Piano Concerto in G major by Maurice Ravel, the Piano Concerto for Three Pianos KV 242 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the State Orchestra Braunschweig and both piano concertos by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the Great Hall of the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg with brilliant success. Since then, she is regularly performing with various renowned orchestras and conductors.
She has performed in various cities in Europe, in Asia and the USA. She performed at the World Exposition (EXPO) in Hanover, in the Great Hall at Schloss Elmau, in the Great Hall of the Castle in Kiel, the Great Hall of the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, in the Great Hall of the German House in Flensburg, at the Great Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic, in the Concert House in Berlin, in the Kuppelsaal in Hanover, in the Brunswick City Hall, in the Wiener Saal in Salzburg, in the Great Hall of the Theatre in San Juan (Puerto Rico), in the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, in Munich, Baden-Baden, Düsseldorf, Lugano, Gstaad, Florence, Rome, Mallorca, Barcelona, Incheon etc.
Shin-Heae Kang is regularly guest in many prestigious festivals such as the Kissinger Sommer, the Classix-Festival in Brunswick, the summer festival of the Alps Klassiks in Bad Reichenhall, the festival in Passau, for the festival Sommets Musicaux in Gstaad, Bodensee Festival among others. She has also received invitations from the Brahms Society of Schleswig-Holstein and the Brahms Scientific Research Centre in Kiel, the Brahms Society in Baden-Baden for chamber music events in the Brahms House, the Robert Schumann Society in Düsseldorf and the Robert Schumann Society in Zwickau, playing piano recitals. 2008 she received an invitation from the U.S., where she gave a highly acclaimed American recital debut in the Great Hall of the Theater in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and where she has given masterclasses and lectures at the University. She gives masterclasses in Germany.
At the invitation of Martha Argerich Shin-Heae Kang gave a brilliant piano recital debut at the Festival Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano in Switzerland in 2012. In 2015 she gave a recital debut at the Mariinsky International Piano Festival in the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in Russia and she has also given a recital debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival with brilliant success. In 2017 she gave her recital debut in South Korea, which was receiving overwhelming reactions by the audience and the media, and she received re-invitations for the coming years.
She has been guest on several radio and television programs in Europe, in Asia and the USA.
In September 2019 the album “Kaleidoscope” with works for solo piano by Franz Liszt was released internationally by the label Oehms Classics. The CD received excellent reviews from the international media, has been often voted as Critics’ Choice Recording and has been presented extensively by radio stations around the world such as the Bavarian Broadcasting, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Radio France, NDR Kultur, Radio Bremen etc.
She has received numerous music awards, special prizes and scholarships from various institutions and won many piano competitions. She received scholarships including from the Marie-Luise-Imbusch-Foundation Lübeck, she was supported by different International Lions Clubs and Rotary Clubs and the Zonta-Club. In 2005 she studied as the youngest-ever Fellow of the Wilhelm-Kempff-Foundation performing all of Beethoven´s piano sonatas and piano concertos on the special Beethoven course in Positano. In 2006 she was awarded as the youngest-ever winner in the history of the German Order of Druids and received the Prize of Honour, an award previously won by Karlheinz Böhm and the theologian Hans Küng. 2012 and 2015 she received an invitation from the International Brahms Foundation for a work-stay at the Brahms House in Baden-Baden. She was also invited by NDR Kultur (Northern German Broadcasting) “Podium der Jungen” making recordings in the Rolf-Liebermann-Studio Hamburg for a portrait.
Shin-Heae Kang, a German pianist of Korean origin, was born in 1987 in Kiel. At the age of two she began playing the piano by ear. She received her first piano lessons at the age of three. At the age of six she began studying the piano at the University for Music in Lübeck and in 2001 continued studying at the University for Music, Theatre and Media in Hanover with Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. She has received important artistic input from the pianist and mentor Martha Argerich for many years and is strongly supported by her.
She has received her Highschool diploma with distinction from the scientifically oriented Max-Planck-Gymnasium in Kiel with Physics and French as main subjects. She wrote her thesis on the theme “Scientific knowledge and artistic interpretation – Observations on the Third Piano Sonata by Johannes Brahms”, which scored the highest rating and also an award. She speaks four languages.
As well as playing the piano she has also taken violin and flute lessons and was very active in sports. She was national champion in Rhythmic Sports Gymnastics, trained Taekwondo and played football with great passion. Starting in 1994 Shin-Heae Kang studied the classical guitar as a second instrument in addition to the piano. 1997 she continued studying the guitar also at the University for Music in Lübeck. She has also given guitar concerts and she also won the first prize in the German national competition Jugend musiziert on this instrument as well. Shin-Heae Kang plays chamber music as well with big joy and great passion. She currently lives in Hamburg and in the near of Kiel.
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