Junyan Chen, piano

Saturday 19 September 2026 at 7:30 pm

Junyan Chen made such an impression at her last Breinton recital that requests to invite her back began the very same evening — and Junyan, who loved playing for us, was soon asking too. Happily, our feelings were mutual. A prize winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition, she returns with a programme that traces folk tradition through four very different voices. Chick Corea's Children's Songs, with their echoes of Bartók, capture the innocence of folk melody in jazz miniatures; Amy Beach spins Balkan themes into sweeping Romantic variations; Unsuk Chin transforms rhythmic fragments into glittering abstraction; and Brahms closes the evening by turning Hungarian folk colour into symphonic drama. From simplicity to complexity, from memory to transformation — we cannot wait to hear where she takes us.

Tickets

Tickets will be on sale from Sunday 16 August 2026 at £23 each. Seats in our recital room are limited, so please book early to be sure of yours.

• Chick Corea
  • Selection from Children’s Songs
• Amy Beach
  • Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 
• Unsuk Chin
  • Selection from Etudes
• Johannes Brahms
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 2 

Junyan Chen made her debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra this season performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 4.  She played this concerto in the final of the Leeds International Piano Competition 2024, where she won Second Prize as well as the chamber music prize and award for a work by a woman composer. In Leeds she collaborated with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Domingo Hindoyan; having previously performed the work with Edward Gardner and the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include solo recital debuts in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Fribourg, and at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, as well as a return to Wigmore Hall in London. She is the Artistic Director of the Leeds International Chamber Series 2025/26. She will perform herself in two of the concerts; a duo with Alim Beisembayev and as a member of the quartet Ensemble Jackalope (whom are Britten Pears Young Artists this season).  

In 2025 Junyan performed Sur Incises in a London concert celebrating the centenary of Pierre Boulez, conducted by Susanna Mälkki. As an enthusiastic performer of contemporary music, she  regularly collaborates with Manchester Collective and Her Ensemble, recent performances including London’s Southbank Centre and Milton Court Concert Hall. Junyan has worked closely with  composers including Hans Abrahamsen (performing his Piano Concerto at the Royal Academy of Music), Mark Anthony-Turnage and Dominic Muldowney. 

Her debut solo album, It's Time (Linn Records, 2022), features works by Fazıl Say, Unsuk Chin, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Eleanor Alberga. The disc explores cultural identity through a diverse range of musical genres and art forms.

Following her time at the Shanghai Conservatoire, Junyan moved to London and continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, with Professor Joanna MacGregor. She recently held a fellowship at RAM, following her undergraduate and postgraduate studies.