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Mei Yi Foo

The Springboard Concerts Trust International Debut Recital Series was the first to give me an exclusive London concert platform. Set in the beautiful Long Gallery, I remember the grandeur of the occasion. With its 250 golden chairs surrounding the beautiful Steinway, I felt privileged to be there. The platform provided me the opportunity to be heard by some of the most important critics from national newspapers. With good publicity from the Springboard Trust and some very positive reviews, the opportunities surfaced almost immediately for me from that recital.

The Springboard series at the Wallace Collection gave me the stepping stone to be heard outside a student’s protected conservatory environment while I was still at the Royal College of Music. It has inevitable prepared me for many huge profile concerts since my recital in the year 2000. The invaluable experience from that will stay with me for a long time. Hence, I am truly grateful and honoured that the Springboard Trust has invited me back for its 10th anniversary celebration.

Mei Yi Foo is fast becoming one of the most respected young artists of her generation. Since the release of her critically acclaimed debut recording for Tzar Records in 2005, Mei Yi has been hailed as ‘a pianist to watch’ by BBC Radio 3 and as a ‘Rising Star’ by International Piano Magazine. Recent performances at venues like Wigmore Hall have earned her reputation as an outstanding musician with a truly distinctive character and as a pianist who is at home in repertoire ranging Bach to Ligeti.

Foo’s early training in her home country of Malaysia enabled her to perform extensively throughout Asia, exposure which earned her invitations to play for the Malaysian Royal Family and the Prime Minister. Numerous radio and television appearances were to follow and at the age of thirteen, Mei Yi won her first international piano competition, Virtuosi per Musica de Pianoforte in the Czech Republic.

Since her arrival in the United Kingdom in 1996, Mei Yi has captivated audiences at the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Wallace Collection and Steinway Hall. Concerto appearances have brought her into collaboration with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, London Chamber Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, under conductors Eduardo Browne, János Fürst, Christopher Warren-Green, Odeline de la Martinez and John Storgårds. Recent engagements have included recitals in Hamburg (Spiegelsaal), Munich (Steinway Haus), Hong Kong (City Hall), Santander (Palacio de Festivales) and Vienna (Schönberg Centre) and at the HSBC Classics Piano Festival 2005 launching the newly built Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts centre.

Future engagements include recitals in St John’s Smith Square, St James Piccadilly and the Wallace Collection. The 05/06 Season will see Mei Yi return to Malaysia for a concerto appearance with Matthias Bamert and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at the Petronas Twin Towers Philharmonic Hall.

Mei Yi Foo’s debut recording ‘Recital’ is available through www.tzarrecords.com (opens new browser window)