David Oei
{{short description|Hong Kong-born American classical pianist}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2009}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = David Oei
| native_name = {{zh|c=黃吉霖|p=Huáng Jílín}}
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1950}}{{cn|date=August 2024}}
| birth_place = Hong Kong Occupied Territory
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education =
| instrument = Piano
| notable_works =
| spouse = Eriko Sato
}}
David Oei ({{zh|c=黃吉霖|p=Huáng Jílín}}; surname pronounced "Wee" in Hokkien, born 1950) is a Hong Kong-born American classical pianist.
Early life and education
Oei was born in Hong Kong and started performing aged four.{{cite news |title=Community Concert Season |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1009130615 |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=The News and Advance |date=1 May 1983}} By the age of nine he had performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.{{cite news |title=String quartet to close the anniversary season |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/519130784 |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=The Daily News (Lebanon, PA) |date=31 August 1995}} He was awarded eleven first prizes at the Hong Kong Music Festival. He attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts music camp for five years and won five concerto competitions there.
In 1964, aged 13, he performed Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart) with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; a reviewer wrote:{{cite news |title=An Impressive Final Concert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/292236712 |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=Salisbury Daily Times |date=20 March 1964}}
:"Considering the age of the soloist, it was an outstanding performance and perhaps the critic should stop right there. Young David, however, is a musician, performing at an adult technical level in a world of adult artists. The critic, therefore, must consider his performance in that light also and then he was not quite so outstanding. ... Basically, Master David Oei has just not lived long enough to have acquired the emotional experience and understanding so necessary for superior interpretation of this work. It would be fortunate if we could hear him again in fifteen years. The comparison in the performances would undoubtedly be astounding."
Oei attended the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School.{{cite news |title=David Oei Produces Electric Fireworks of Sound |first=Bernice |last=Dunn|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/564294330 |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=The Napa Valley Register |date=18 October 1973}}
Other awards include WQXR Young Artists, Young Musicians Foundation (1972), and Paul Ulanowsky Chamber Pianists competitions.{{cite journal |title=Getting a break |journal=Music Educators Journal |date=1973 |volume=59 |issue=6 |jstor=3400456 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3400456|access-date=14 August 2024}}
He was a soloist in one of the Young People's Concerts conducted by Leonard Bernstein.{{cite book | last=Kopfstein-Penk | first=A. | title=Leonard Bernstein and His Young People's Concerts | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-8108-8850-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzzaBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 | access-date=14 Aug 2024 | page=32|quote=When a clarinetist auditioned and brought his own accompanist (David Oei), the clarinetist was rejected, but Bernstein and the audition committee gave a contract to the accompanist since they were enchanted by [Oei's] "superb musicianship" and "charm" ("Young Performers No. 7," 22 February 1966, 20)}}
Career
Oei has been a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at Carnegie Hall.{{cite news |title=Music in Review |first=John |last=Rockwell|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/27/archives/music-in-review-arkady-delman-violinist-makes-new-york-debut.html |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=The Napa Valley Register |date=27 November 1977}}
He performed with Peter Schickele in The Intimate P. D. Q. Bach stage show.{{cite journal |last1=Leroux |first1=Janice A |title=Two Shots That Changed My Life: An Interview with Peter Schickele |journal=Music Educators Journal |date=1983 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=48–51 |doi=10.2307/3401159 |jstor=3401159 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2307/3401159 |access-date=14 August 2024|url-access=subscription }}
In 2015, he was teaching at Mannes School of Music in the preparatory section.{{cite news |title=Renowned Concert Pianist David Oei Accused Of Fondling 15-Year-Old Student |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/renowned-concert-pianist-david-oei-accused-of-fondling-15-year-old-student |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=CBS News |date=13 April 2015}}
Sexual assault
In 2015, Oei was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old music student.{{cite news |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Rebecca |title=Renowned classical pianist avoids jail for groping teen student |url=https://nypost.com/2015/11/19/renowned-classical-pianist-avoids-jail-for-groping-teen-student |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=New York Post |date=19 November 2015}} He accepted his guilt and agreed a plea deal.
Personal life
Oei lives in New York City with his wife, the violinist Eriko Sato.{{cite news |last1=Sherman |first1=Robert |title=MUSIC; Dawn Upshaw in Recital at Sarah Lawrence |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/11/nyregion/music-dawn-upshaw-in-recital-at-sarah-lawrence.html |access-date=14 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=11 October 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527081236/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/11/nyregion/music-dawn-upshaw-in-recital-at-sarah-lawrence.html |archive-date=27 May 2015}}
Discography
- 1974: The Intimate P. D. Q. Bach: John Ferrante (countertenor), David Oei (piano) (Vanguard)
- 1978: Karel Husa Sonata: Elmar Oliveira (violin), David Oei (piano) (New World Records)
- 1980: PDQ Bach Liebeslieder Polkas: David Oei (piano), Anne Epperson (piano) (Vanguard)
- 1984: Peter Schickele Clarinet Quartet: Eriko Sato (violin), Fred Sherry (cello), David Shifrin (clarinet), David Oei (piano) (Vanguard)
- 1989: Schumann & Grieg: Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cello), David Oei (piano) (Adda)
- 1989: David Schiff: Gimpel the Fool: Theodore Arm (violin), Warren Lash (cello), David Shifrin (clarinet), David Oei (piano) (Delos Productions)
- 1990: Miriam Gideon Retrospective: Patricia Spencer (flute), David Oei (piano) (New World Records){{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=J. Michele |title=Miriam Gideon Retrospective |journal=Perspectives of New Music |volume=34 |issue=2 |page=244-247 |doi=10.2307/3052365 |jstor=3052365 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3052365 |access-date=14 August 2024|url-access=subscription }}
- 1993: Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 2: Chin Kim (violin), David Oei (piano) (Pro Arte)
- 1995: Alec Wilder Works For Horn: David Jolley (horn), David Oei (piano) (Arabesque Records)
- 1997: Old Friends: Christopher Lee (violin), David Oei (piano) (Quattro Corde)
- 2004: Karel Husa Recollections: Quintet of the Americas, David Oei (piano) (New World Records)
- 2005: Donald Crockett Ceiling Of Heaven: Renee Jolles (violin), Nicolas Cords (viola), Edward Aaron (cello), David Oei (piano) (Albany Records)
- 2007: Strauss and Rachmaninoff Sonatas: Ruth Sommers (cello), David Oei (piano) (FCM)
- 2008: The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke by Viktor Ullmann: David Oei (piano), Lutz Rath (speaker)
- 2010: Five Not-So-Easy Pieces: David Oei (piano), Eriko Sato (violin) (Prestissimo)
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oei, David}}
Category:American classical pianists
Category:American male pianists
Category:American musicians of Chinese descent
Category:Hong Kong emigrants to the United States
Category:Musicians from New York City
Category:20th-century American pianists
Category:Classical musicians from New York (state)
Category:21st-century classical pianists
Category:20th-century American male musicians