Press
Indiana: Chronicle Tribune
One would think that a musician of this caliber would consider herself to be pretty important or at the very least be very proud of her accomplishments. However, to meet Dr. Fong you might be surprised. Diligent, reserved and unassuming is what you find upon encountering the petite Californian pianist. She is honest, soft spoken and is an all around great person...Dr. Fong is truly the embodiment of grace.
Nevada City: The Union
Pianist Grace Fong wows at season opener...Fong's thoughtful interpretation [of Chopin] melded a sense of improvisation with warmth.
... Full of Mozartean humor, it showed off Fong's own wit and sensitivity, as well as impressive fingerwork
...The sonata, rhythmically complex and technically dazzling, was stunningly carried off by Fong, by turns passionate, animated and introspective, with enough driving power to exhaust the audience, never mind the performer.
A critic recently described Fong as “absolutely outstanding – and now I've run out of praiseworthy adjectives.” Enough said. Don't you wish you had been there?
Albuquerque: Cocoposts
After a standing ovation with boisterous BRAVOS she played an encore so elegant I wept...She is modest, personable, and a true virtuoso not to be missed.
BC News
"Outstanding" is an adjective to be used sparingly, but one that fits the [Selvaggi Trio]. Their technical brilliance, infectious energy and sheer enjoyment of making music together enable them to communicate with startling clarity to the audience. It is remarkable how seamlessly they meld as a trio, considering that they are busy professional musicians based in different cities in the USA... not a note was out of place... Mendelssohn's second piano trio is a romantic tour-de-force in classical form. With its cascade of notes, the work poses as a formidable challenge to the pianist, which Grace Fong met deftly, her fingers flying up and down the keyboard with deceptive ease. It was a privilege to hear a concert of this quality... It lifts the spirit. It makes you realize how much music like this matters...
Seattle: The Gathering Note
outstanding performance...Iwasaki and Fong had the energy, the syncopation, the vitalit of the Samba, the smooth, soulful sexiness of the Tango and the nostalgic schmaltz of Tin Pan Alley...Fong was more than equal to all the technical hurdles in this program, playing without stress or banging on the keys, and with clear articulation in the Mozart.
Indianapolis Star
Powerful accounts of concertos by Bela Bartok and Samuel Barber indicated that cliches about female reserve and mannerliness must be discarded. Grace Fong took the music's robustness fully in stride. . . the strength and stamina demanded sometimes had to be dialed back at a moment's notice for some of both composers' most delicate writing. The soloist met such challenges with panache; Fong's sensitivity to complementary orchestral colors was especially fine.
The belle of the compositional ball was Frank Felice's "awakenings (winter)." Coming up with distinctive, faithful performances of brand-new music in quarter-hour mini-recitals can't be easy. Grace Fong was best at conveying the "awakenings" of the title as the piece's essential metaphor. Discovery Week opened at midday with Fong's concert in the Chamber Music Series. As responsive partner with the Parker String Quartet, she was a keen judge of Christ Church Cathedral's resonant acoustics: In the finale's climax, with the quartet roaring out the theme, she didn't allow the busy keyboard figuration to overpower the strings. Her playing embodied both vulnerability and fitful bravado.
Dortmund, Germany: Newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten (translation)
"Although the Mozart Society is known for their fine feeling in selecting performers, by far biggest surprise of the concert was the soloist, the young Grace Fong. With crystal clear sound the American with Taiwanese roots played the Jeunhomme concert. Her brilliance impressed as well as her touch and her sound fantasy. She also left a big impression with her virtuoso technique in a "Moment Musical" of Rachmaninow..."
Indianapolis: NUVO Newsweekly
"Five Stars...pianist with unbelievable psycho-motor coordination...mesmerized the crowd in both her mistake-free solo recital and her second-half appearance with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra...Fong amazed with her absolute control of the sonata's flashy and 'thoughtful' parts...her dynamic shaping and phrasing made all three composers as musically expressive as one could imagine. Then Fong returned to the keyboard [and] offered a perfect symbiosis of legato, articulation and dynamics to recreate this great early Mozartean masterwork...Absolutely astounding-and now I've run out of praiseworthy adjectives..."
[on a different program]
"Fong moves her fingers over any kind of pianistic passage any composer can conjure up with seemingly absolute effortlessness, while shaping and phrasing any kind of structure with perfection and ultimate musicality. She is above being a mere virtuoso--she occupies a lofty stratosphere of her own making."
The Indianapolis Star
Stunning control, in various musical styles...a particular aspect of performing that makes her distinctive...technical prowess...elegant restraint...big, expressive sound and wonderfully hushed diminuendo...her precision allowed for clear appreciation of the various musical lines.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
For sheer beauty of sound and hushed dynamics, no one was more persuasive than Grace Fong, whose performance of eight of Schumann's "Fantasiestucke" balanced enchantment with ardor.
Washington Post
Fong played with an easy elegance. . . painting impressionistic landscapes with hardly any drips or smudges, Fong landed her notes gently on the ear like snowflakes.
Dallas Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Her skills with romantic repertoire well-established at this point, Fong moved [to Handels Suite No. 3], presenting fine insights into the baroque, including a delightful light touch on the pedal, an occasional deliberate imitation of the light-volumed clavichord and frequent evocation of the lyrical arias of the same composers beloved oratorio Messiah. . . [she] has the fingers and the imagination to present every phrase compellingly.
Leeds International Piano Competition Blog
Fong produced the most gorgeous and exquisite tone Fongs velvet touch lent sensitivity and elegance, without imposing herself on the orchestra. The Elvira Madigan slow movement was, in particular, meltingly beautiful. This is ultimately chamber music which charms and delights at every turn. Her cadenzas were tastefully delivered and every phrase crisply articulated
Her Debussy was positively magical, with an icy fragility and ethereal tonal haziness.
Rachmaninoff tinged with regret and longing found Grace Fong a most generous guide. In seven of the Russian composer's pieces, Fong moved luminously from whispered intimacy to emotional grandeur. She also was remarkable in Debussy's "Images," Book II, in which harp-like harmonics, gentle brushstrokes and diaphanous textures seemed to float from the instrument. Fong's 20th-century entry was British composer Kenneth Leighton's Six Studies for Piano, Op. 56, full of anguish, jazzy swagger and dizzying digital demands. The collection's vast range of dynamics and angry energy were treated with fervent and genial command.
Forth Worth Star Telegram
In Fongs capable and imaginative hands, however, miniatures by Rachmaninoff, Handel and 20th-century British composer Kenneth Leighton displayed parallel examples of romantic, baroque and modern music, while showing Fongs ability to create a unified structure in each set. A Handel Suite in D minor was particularly impressive. There, in the manner of her teacher, Sergei Babayan, she indulged in modern emotions and colors, but preserved the most important aspects of baroque music: its energy and clarity.
Shreveport Times
Of Bartok 2nd Piano Concerto from pianist Enrique Graf: She was just amazing, really. . . The Bartok is a very hard piece that is not played very much. . . She knows that piece and she captured the essence of that piece. . . the Bartok was impeccable.
New Hampshire Music Festival
"She was just amazing...impeccable..."
Santa Barbara News Press
Of Liszt Sonata in b minor: . . .Despite all the fire and brimstone, Ms. Fong never overlooked or rushed the pockets of lyricism. . . the audience exploded with applause at its close.
Grace Fong
Concert Pianist
bartok 2 played
by grace fong
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