Joel Fan @ Dumbarton Oaks

Charles T. Downey, Joel Fan, an often-eclectic American pianist, sticks to the romantics at Dumbarton Oaks (Washington Post, November 6, 2013)

Music of the Americas, J. Fan (2009)

Competitions launch many a musician’s career, but usually they do not define it for long. American pianist Joel Fan got his first breaks because of competitive victories, but he has made a career on a willingness to juxtapose traditional and unexpected repertory. In a recital at Dumbarton Oaks on Monday night, he offered a program of four romantic composers, first performed at the Ravinia Festival this summer.

It was a far cry from the eclectic programs Fan has played in the past few years at the National Gallery of Art. Wagner, for example, is not a name that leaps to mind when one thinks of a piano recital, but Fan opened with a transcription of the prelude to “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” made by Glenn Gould and rearranged by Fan for a single pianist. From it, one had the sense of the romantic striving beyond what an instrument or genre can give. [Continue reading]

Joel Fan, piano
Friends of Music
Dumbarton Oaks

SEE ALSO:
Joe Banno, Fan gives fantastic close to National Gallery's American Music Festival (Washington Post, December 3, 2009)

Charles T. Downey, Pianist Joel Fan performs at the National Gallery of Art (Washington Post, June 6, 2011)