Chicago Music Report
Review of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 1st Movement
Pritzker Pavilion of Millennium Park, Chicago
August 21, 2017
Pritzker Pavilion of Millennium Park, Chicago
August 21, 2017
"Chelsea Guo also choose the finale of a big romantic concerto as her calling card, this time the beloved Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor of Tchaikovsky. The 16-year-old student at Juilliard’s pre-college division launched the opening bars at a zippy pace, vanquishing the fiendish scales and arpeggios with masterful accuracy and idiomatic understanding of Russian romanticism. But for the all the fireworks, her moving account of the composer’s lush lyricism was most memorable. "
Review of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 2nd Movement
Pritzker Pavilion of Millennium Park, Chicago
August 28, 2016
Pritzker Pavilion of Millennium Park, Chicago
August 28, 2016
"Sometimes a romantic slow movement can prove a stiffer challenge for young musicians than quick ones, since mastery of rubato usually requires years of experience to nurture and blossom. 15-year-old Chelsea Guo, from Juilliard’s Pre-College Division, seemed right at home in the second movement Larghetto from Chopin’s Concerto No. 2. She negotiated Chopin’s arabesques with unforced elegance, displaying a genuine gift for lyrical finesse."