In Performance: Frederic Chiu — artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com

The pianist Frederic Chiu’s website wryly refers to him as the “non­winner” of the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition — alluding to the way his failure to advance to the finals was so bemoaned by critics that it may have propelled his career as much as a win might have. Since then he has developed a reputation as an excellent, searching pianist, making more than 20 recordings and playing around the world over the course of a career that has not always followed a traditional path. Here Mr. Chiu, who is to give a recital Oct. 30 at the Miller Theater at Columbia University, plays his transcription of the Troika from Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kije” Suite.

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