Arts Global

Praised as having "undoubted talent" by the Los Angeles Times and described as being "impossibly virtuosic" by the Edinburgh Guide, young Australian pianist David Fung continues to impress audiences with his pure poetry, artistry and elegance. Mr Fung has performed with world-renowned orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic, the Israel Camerata, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa of Japan, the Queensland Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra among numerous others. He has also been invited to give recitals at international festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Goslar Festival (Germany), Music at Menlo, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the 2006 Edinburgh International Festival Queen’s Hall Series, where Fung was acclaimed as being "prodigiously talented... and probably [doing] ten more impossible things daily before breakfast", by Jonas Green in the Edinburgh Guide.

Mr Fung has won coveted prizes at both national and international piano competitions. In 2008, Mr Fung was a laureate of the 12th Arthur Rubinstein Piano Masters Competition in Tel Aviv, and was awarded the Prize for Best Classical Concerto and Best Performance of Chamber Music. He won 2nd Prize and the Audience Prize in the 3rd Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, and was the grand prizewinner of the 2002 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year Award. He was awarded the New South Wales Premier's Award, the Australian Student Prize, and was recently named the recipient of Yale University’s Charles S. Miller Prize to an outstanding pianist.

After departing the University of New South Wales medical school in 2003, Mr Fung began studies at the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles with John Perry. In 2007, Mr Fung became the first piano graduate of this prestigious school. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and Artists Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory, and a Master of Music from Yale University. He is continuing his studies at Yale as a candidate for the Master of Musical Arts under the guidance of Peter Frankl. Mr Fung has also worked closely with world-class pianists such as Emanuel Ax, Boris Berman, Alfred Brendel, Yefim Bronfman, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Andràs Schiff and Arie Vardi.

In addition to recording with NAXOS and ABC Classics, Mr Fung has recorded three albums with Yarlung Records. In 2005, his first U.S. album was released by Yarlung Records, which included works by Liszt and Ravel. His most recent solo release with Yarlung includes works by Schumann, Dun, Chopin, Scarlatti and Mozart, and was praised as "an overall favorite" of the 2007 piano albums reviewed by James Harrington in the American Record Guide. He has recorded the complete violin and piano works of American composer, Lawrence Dillon, with violinist, Danielle Belen, which was released in 2010 on the NAXOS label.

Mr Fung has been featured in many radio and television programs by the Australia Broadcasting Corporation Television and Radio (ABC), Sydney's Special Broadcasting Services Television and Radio (SBS), the UK's BBC 3, Radio Scotland, Aspen's KAJX, Los Angeles' K-Mozart and K-USC, the "Music of Friends" series with the Radio and Television Hong Kong (RTHK4), the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Israel’s "Voice of Music" radio station, MEZZO, and Cleveland's WCLV.

Mr Fung's fascination with other art forms has led him to explore relationships between visual art and music with audiences. He has presented music in tandem with exhibitions at numerous galleries and art spaces, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales. A champion of contemporary music, Mr Fung has premiered and recorded numerous new works of living composers, and has also performed with contemporary music ensembles such as eighth blackbird.

A strong communicator and an advocate for music education, Mr Fung presents a series of masterclasses and lecture-recitals at the Galleria Nazionale della Puglia in Italy, among others in the United States and Australia. In 2010, his lectures in Italy featured Schubert's keyboard works and the period practice of Mozart. In addition to the piano, Mr Fung plays the harpsichord and violin.

For more information about David Fung, please visit his personal website: www.davidfung.com.