Fou Ts'ong

Steinway Immortal Fou Ts'ong (1934 - 2020) was generally regarded as the leading Chinese pianist of his time and one of the most highly respected interpreters of the music of Chopin. Following his prize-winning effort at the 1955 Chopin Competition, Fou went on to establish residence in London and build a successful career both on the concert stage and in the recording studio. Martha Argerich acknowledged him as an influence on her Chopin performances, and other pianistic icons, like Leon Fleisher and Radu Lupu, spoke of his extraordinary skills. Aside from Chopin, he was best known for his intrepretations of Mozart, J.S. Bach, Scarlatti, and Beethoven. He toured globally, and recorded on the Sony, Decca, and Meridian Records labels.

Fou Ts'ong was born in Shanghai, China, on March 10, 1934. In his youth, he studied piano in Shanghai with renowned Italian pianist and conductor Mario Paci.  In 1953, he won third prize at the Bucharest Piano Competition. That same year, he began studies at the Warsaw Conservatory, where his most important teacher was Zbigniew Drzewiecki. Fou captured third prize at the prestigious Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955. He was also awarded the Polish Radio Prize there for best performance of the Chopin mazurkas.

He relocated to London and in the early 1960s, recorded 18 Chopin mazurkas for the Westminster label and drew broad international acclaim. He would go on to make many further recordings, including a complete set of the mazurkas in 1984 (now available on Sony). Fou continued with a heavy schedule of concerts,remaining active as a performer with numerous world tours, as an educator giving master classes, and also active as a member of competition juries, serving on the Queen Elizabeth Competition jury four times.