Early in music director Scott Yoo's career, he had the opportunity to work with the pianist Hung-Kuan Chen in a series of concerts at the Kennedy Center. Hung-Kuan had recently taken top prizes in several major international piano competitions, including the Rubinstein, Van Cliburn and Chopin International Competitions, and was poised for a super-star career as a young pianist.

Working with Hung-Kuan had a profound influence on Scott. He credits Hung-Kuan with teaching him how to delve deeply into the music. "At the time, I was always thinking about what I wanted," Scott recalls, "but Hung-Kuan taught me to let go of that and find what the composer wanted, which resulted in a much deeper experience of music for me and, more importantly, for the audience."

Shortly after their initial collaborations, Hung-Kuan Chen suffered a debilitating injury to his hand, which caused neurological damage and resulted in Focal Dystonia, a crippling condition that has impeded the careers of diverse musicians, such as the pianists Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman (who, as a result, now only performs works exclusively written for the left hand) and the legendary rock keyboard player, Keith Emerson. Although research continues, there is no 'cure' for the condition, and it has ended the careers of many musicians and artists. 

Despite the odds, Hung-Kuan had a steely resolve to conquer this condition and regain his strength as a pianist. Through Qi Gong meditation and his own unrelenting research, he was able to heal, and returned to his life as a concert artist. His first post-accident solo recital in March of 1998 in Boston received rave reviews, and he was described as a transformed artist.

Today, Hung-Kuan is in demand throughout the musical
capitals of Asia, Europe and the Americas. As the Director of the International Piano Academy in Shanghai and a faculty member of the New England Conservatory, he also continues to shape and inspire some of the world's finest young artists.

Hung-Kuan and his wife, the Canadian pianist Tema Blackstone (who at one time was Scott Yoo's piano teacher), join Festival Mozaic for their first appearances on the Central Coast.

Scott Yoo describes Hung-Kuan's approach as, "the Sherlock Holmes of a score - he's always looking for clues about what the composer's intention was. This intense delving into a score can easily result in music sounding chiseled, like stone, but Hung-Kuan's graceful flexibility gives his performances an almost liquid quality - they are just fluid, fluid, and fluid - like the most beautiful transcendent water."