About Duo Rapide
Duo Rapide is Roberta Michel, flute and Han Chen, piano.
Coming out of the pandemic, the two performers banded together for a new project that excites both of them: presenting music that breaks boundaries. Starting from Boulez’s Sonatine, the duo has found their voice that defines what a flute-and-piano duo can be.
They strive to be cutting-edge, witty, and empathetic, putting together programs that capture the breadth of compositional voices. While taking inspiration from the twentieth century masterpiece, the duo champions new musical voices and is committed to premiering new works.
About Roberta Michel
Brooklyn-based flutist Roberta Michel is dedicated to the music of our time. She has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works and has worked with many notable composers of our day. Roberta is the flutist and Co-Director of Wavefield Ensemble and is a member of PinkNoise.
Roberta has also performed with: Art Ensemble of Chicago, Cadillac Moon Ensemble (founding member), SEM Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ecce Ensemble, Portland String Quartet, Newspeak, Wet Ink Ensemble, Argento, Iktus, Wordless Music Orchestra, Ensemble LPR, and Cygnus Ensemble among others. Recent venues include: Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tulley Hall, Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center, Roulette, Issue Project Room, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She can be heard on New Focus, Chandos, Innova, Tzadik, Bridge, Wide Hive, New Dynamic, and Meta Records. She played on the 2021 GRAMMY-winning album of Dame Ethyl Smyth’s The Prison with Experiential Orchestra.
Originally from Maine, Roberta attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and SUNY-Purchase College and has studied with Robert Dick, Tara O’Connor, Alexa Still, and Jean Rosenblum. She holds a doctorate in music performance from the City University of New York Graduate Center and is a winner of the NFA Graduate Research Competition for her dissertation on the flute music of Salvatore Sciarrino. Roberta currently teaches flute at Sarah Lawrence College and music courses at St. Francis College. She is a teaching artist for Little Orchestra Society and maintains a private music studio in Brooklyn. She plays a Brannen flute with a Mancke headjoint.
About Han Chen
Pianist Han Chen is “impressively commanding and authoritative” (Gramophone) and has “a graceful touch”, “rhythmic precision” and “hypnotic charm” (New York Times). After winning the Gold Medal at the 6th China International Piano Competition in 2013, Chen has released three solo albums under the Naxos Records (music by Liszt, Rubinstein, and Thomas Adès, respectively). These albums have won him acclaim from critics around the world. As a soloist, he has performed with numerous orchestras and worked with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Karina Canellakis, and Nicholas McGegan. As a new music advocate, Chen has premiered works by composers such as Unsuk Chin, Molly Joyce, Jonah Haven, among others. In 2021, Chen launched Migration Music, a series of interviews and performances featuring immigrant composers. Born in Taiwan, Chen now resides in New York. After graduating from The Juilliard School (with Prof. Yoheved Kaplinsky) and the New England Conservatory (with Prof. Wha Kyung Byun), he is now a doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center, CUNY under the guidance of Prof. Yoheved Kaplinsky and Prof. Ursula Oppens.