DANG THAI SON

“A genuine musician” – Isaac Stern

An outstanding international musician of our time, Vietnamese pianist Dang Thai Son was propelled to the forefront of the musical world in October 1980, when he was awarded the First Prize and Gold Medal at the X International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. It was also the first time that a top international competition was won by an Asian pianist.
He began piano studies with his mother in Hanoi, later at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Vladimir Natanson and Dmitry Bashkirov.
Since winning the Chopin Competition, his international career has taken him to over forty countries, into such world renowned halls as Lincoln Center (New York), Barbican Center (London), Salle Pleyel (Paris), Herculessaal (Munich), Musikverein (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Opera House (Sydney), and Suntory Hall (Tokyo).
He has played with numerous world-class orchestras such as St-Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Hungarian State Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National Symphony… Also, he has appeared under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Pinchas Zukerman, Mariss Jansons, Pavvo Jarvi…
Other career highlights include a New Year’s Day concert (1995) with Yo Yo Ma, Seiji Ozawa, Kathleen Battle, and the late Mstislav Rostropovich, in a major international event produced by the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK; on Chopin’s 200th Birthday, March 1st, 2010, he played at the Gala Concert the Concerto in f-minor with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under the direction of Frans Bruggen at the Warsaw National Opera Theatre.
Since 2001, he teaches as Guest Professor at the Université de Montreal (Canada.) He has sat on the juries of prestigious competitions such as the International Chopin Piano Competition (Warsaw), Cleveland (USA), Clara Haskil (Switzerland), Artur Rubinstein (Tel Aviv), Hamamatsu, Sendai (Japan), Rachmaninoff (Russia), Piano Masters of Monte Carlo, Sviatoslav Richter (Moscow), Prague Spring (Czech Republic), Montreal International Piano Competition…
Dang Thai Son has recorded for Deutsche Grammophone, Melodya, Polskie Nagrania, CBS Sony, Analekta, Victor JVC, and the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.
Mr. Dang is the subject of the biography, “A pianist loved by Chopin – The Dang Thai Son Story”, published by Yamaha Music Media Corporation in 2003.