Stéphanie Huang:

“Une musicienne complète et passionnée”(Le Soir)

Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition 2022 in Belgium where she also won the two public prizes (the Canvas-Klara prize and the Musiq3 prize), Grand Prize of the Suggia International Cello Competition 2015 in Porto, First Prize of the Società Umanitaria International Competition 2021 in Milan, ADAMI Classical Revelation award 2021 in France, Stéphanie Huang has built and developed a successful music career with her passion for music and her sense of perfectionism for the public.

Notable concert performances with an extensive repertoire include concertos by Haydn, Dvorák, Elgar, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Tchaikovsky… Stéphanie Huang has performed with National Orchestra of Belgium, Brussels Philharmonic, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Lille National Orchestra, Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Musica, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, under the direction of conductors such as M. Sanderling, James Feddeck, Stéphane Denève, C. Izcaray or V. Mardirossian …

Also a keen chamber musician, Stéphanie Huang has collaborated with artists such as Augustin Dumay, Gary Hoffman, Frank Braley, Renaud Capuçon, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Claire Désert, Laurent Korcia… performed at many national and international festivals (Verbier Festival-Switzerland, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad-Switzerland, Musicales d’Evian-France, Musique à Deauville-France, Kamarikesä Chamber Music Festival Helsinki-Finland, Festival des Midis-Minimes Brussels-Belgium, Festival de la Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth-Belgium, Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo-Monaco, Schiermonnikoog International Chamber Music Festival-Netherlands, the Festival Jeunes Talents-Paris, the Victoria Hall-Geneva, the Palais des Beaux-Arts-Brussels-Belgique, Super Cello Beijing-China, Seiji Ozawa Festival in Matsumoto-Japan…).

Born into a family of musicians, Stéphanie Huang began playing the cello at a very young age. She won a first prize at the Dexia Music Competition and made her debut at the age of twelve at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels with the Rococo Variations of Tchaikovsky. She obtained her Bachelor degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, her Master degree in cello, her Master degree in chamber music and Diploma of Performing Artist at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris with numerous awards (Spes, Meyer, Kriegelstein, Safran foundations, laureate of the Fondation Banque Populaire). She is an artist in residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth de Belgique.

Stéphanie Huang plays a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello generously loaned by the Adelus Endowment Fund.

Florian Noack, pianist – 2020

Imagine a map of the world, turned upside down. When such a world is your point of reference, the terms ‘obscure’ and ‘well-known’ do not necessarily apply. Much in the same way, Florian Noack (1990, Belgium) discovered the world of repertoire for piano. Even as a teen, composers like Alkan, Medtner, Lyapunov were studied next to Chopin and Beethoven, thanks to the highly inspirational book ‘Piano Music’ by Guy Sacre. 

Source of Inspiration:

Out of love for Russian literature and studies with pianist-composer Vassily Lobanov, Florian developed a natural affinity with Russian heritage. His piano transcriptions, based on orchestral works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov, have attracted the attention of musicians such as Boris Berezovsky and Dmitri Bashkirov. ‘It is a form of creativity and ingenuity that forces me to approach my instrument differently; searching for new textures, richness, colours or ways to combine my ten fingers’, Florian says. Praise for the recording of these works include the ECHO Klassik Award ‘Emerging Artist of the Year 2015’, the International Classical Music Award, the Octave de la Musique, a nomination for Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d’Or of the Year 2017. 

‘Virtuosity’ being a word regularly connected to Florian, the press and his peers acknowledge it as a means to an end. With his interpretation and programmatic innovation, Florian strives to keep audiences on their toes. Le Figaro commented on a recent recording: ‘A portrait of Prokofiev in Noack’s own image: contrasting but authentic. Restless and bright. Tender but incisive.’ 

Background: 

Formative experiences have been the studies with Claudio Martinez-Mehner at the Musikhochschule Basel, and Academy masterclasses with the socratic teachings of Ferenc Rados in Prussia Cove, Cornwall. Florian Noack has won numerous prizes including the International Rachmaninoff Competition, the international Robert Schumann Competition and the International Piano Competition Cologne.  

Invitations from around the world keep building his presence in festivals and concert halls, allowing meaningful collaborations with other musicians, conductors and orchestras. Florian has recorded six well-received CDs with various off-the-beaten-track repertoire and with his own piano transcriptions. 

He joined the Fratres Trio with violinist Fedor Rudin (Konzertmeister of the Wiener Philharmoniker) and saxophonist Hayrapet Arakelyan in 2016. A particular interest is repertoire typical from the 1920s and beyond, merging the world of jazz and classical. 

Florian Noack was a tutor at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, teaches at the Miami Piano Festival Academy 2020, and gives master classes on a regular basis. 

CV of Florian Noack, pianist — A selection

1990 Born in Brussels, Belgium 

1994 Start of piano studies 

2002 Enters the ‘Young Exceptional Talents’ section of the Queen Elisabeth Chapel Brussels, studies with Yuka Izutsu 

2005 Wins 8 Belgian piano competitions (including Concours Excellentia, Concours Grétry, Concours EPTA, Concours Rotary Breughel, Concours Belfius) 

2006–2013 Studies at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, with Russian pianist and composer Vassily Lobanov 

2006–2009 Wins several prizes in France (Concours International Vibrarte, Concours International de Mérignac, Concours International Adilia Alieva, Piano Campus) 

2009 Wins scholarship from the Belgian Vocational Foundation

2013–2018 Studies at the Musikhochschule in Basel, with Claudio Martinez-Mehner

2018–2020  Academy masterclasses Prussia Cove, Cornwall with Ferenc Rados and Rita Wagner

2010–2015  Receives grants and scholarships from Spes, Fondation Banque Populaire and Mozart Gesellschaft 

2010 Wins 2nd Prize and the Public’s Prize at the International Rachmaninoff Competition Moskou

2011 Wins 3rd Prize at the International Piano Competition Cologne and the 2nd Prize at the international Robert Schumann Competition 

2013 Wins 1st Prize at the Karlrobert Kreiten Piano Competition, 1st Prize at the Lions Club Competition, and winner of the Steinway Förderpreis 

2015  ECHO Klassik ‘Emerging Artist of the Year’ (Transcriptions & Paraphrases)

2017 Diapason d’Or de l’Année (Lyapunov Volume 2)

2017 International Classical Music Award (Lyapunov Vol 2)

2017  Octave de la Musique ‘Artist of the Year’ (Lyapunov Vol 2)

2017  Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Nomination (Lyapunov Vol 2)

2018  Diapason d’Or (Album d’un Voyageur)

2019  Octave de la Musique (Album d’un Voyageur)

Festivals:

Florian Noack receives regular invitations from festivals in France (e.g. La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée, Piano aux Jacobins, L’esprit du Piano, Festival Radio France Montpellier), the United States (Miami Piano Festival), Germany (Husum Piano Festival), China, South Korea, Mexico and Belgium.  

Concert Halls:

Florian Noack has notably performed at the Kölner Philharmonie, BOZAR Brussels, Beijing Concert Hall, 

Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Xinghai Concert Hall Guangzhou, the Liège Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Konzerthaus Berlin, Musashino Shimin Bunka Kaikan Tokyo, and in Paris: Salle Gaveau, Philharmonie de Paris, Auditorium du Louvre and Comédie des Champs-Elysées. 

Orchestras:

As a soloist, Florian Noack has performed piano concertos by Rachmaninov, Schumann, Ravel, Beethoven, 

Grieg and Mozart with orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, WDR Rundfunkorchester, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Charlemagne Chamber Orchestra and the Budapest Strings.