The American pianist Claire Huangci gained international acclaim by winning first prize as well as the Mozart Prize at the 2018 Concours Géza Anda, as well as receiving accolades in other prestigious competitions, including both Chopin competitions in Europe and the USA, the ARD International Music Competition, and the Grand Prix of the Orchestre Chambre de Paris Play-Direct Academy.
She continuously captivates audiences with her confident and bright interpretations, breathtaking virtuosity and an intelligent and well-thought-out sound palette. Driven by an irrepressible curiosity and penchant for unusual repertoire, she proves her versatility with a broad range of repertoire spanning from Bach and Scarlatti via German and Russian Romanticism to Bernstein, Barber and Florence Price.
Since the 24/25 season Claire Huangci has been working with Alpha Classics. Following a highly acclaimed Mozart concerto album with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, she released an all-American solo disc titled Made in USA featuring works by Gershwin, Beach, Barber and Wild. In 2026, another recital album focusing on German and American female composers will be released.
Kicking off a series of international orchestra engagements in 2025/26, Claire will make her debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and will also perform with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, the Thailand Philharmonic, the Rheinische Philharmonie, the Santa Rosa Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony. She will give an extensive debut recital tour in South America, with performances in Lima, Colombia and Brazil, culminating in Buenos Aires Teatro Colon. Another highlight of the new season was playing the closing concert of the Carinthian Summer. She convinced with her interpretation of Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Austrian Radio Television Orchestra Vienna under the baton of Marin Alsop.
Claire Huangci is increasingly directing various concertos from the piano in the play-direct tradition, e.g. past season with the Recreation Orchestra of the Styriarte Graz, featuring piano concertos by Clara and Robert Schumann.
As a solo recitalist and partner to international orchestras, Claire Huangci has performed in prestigious concert halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Philharmonie de Paris, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Prinzregententheater Munich, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus, and Festspielhaus Salzburg. She is a welcome guest at renowned festivals, including the Lucerne Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, and the Ruhr Piano Festival.
Her esteemed musical partners include the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Munich and Basel Chamber Orchestras, and conductors such as Carl St. Clair, Elim Chan, Michael Francis, Howard Griffiths, Pietari Inkinen, Jun Märkl, Cornelius Meister, Sir Roger Norrington, Eva Ollikainen, Alexander Shelley, Mario Venzago, Markus Stern, David Danzmayr and Thomas Guggeis.
Born in Rochester, New York, Claire showed an early affinity for the piano and was invited to the White House in 1999 at the age of nine. She studied with Gary Graffman and Eleanor Sokoloff at the Curtis Institute of Music before continuing her studies with Arie Vardi in Hannover where she graduated with honors in 2016. Claire is a proud ambassador for the Henle publishing house and serves as the artistic director of the Erbach Chamber Concerts.