Recital
A Confession of Truth — Chen Pi-hsien Piano Recital
About the performance
Chen Pi-hsien plays Schubert's Ninth Sonata in B major D 575, Bartók's 14 Bagatelles and Schubert's D 960 at the Shanghai Symphony Hall's chamber hall on 13 December 2026. Tickets ¥100–480, on sale since 20 August. The programme keeps its two Schuberts apart. D 575 was written in 1817 by a twenty-year-old; after the interval there is only D 960, finished in September 1828, two months before he died. Between them sits Bartók's 14 Bagatelles of 1908 — the first of them gives each hand its own key signature, four sharps against four flats, which is where he parts company with functional harmony. Set between the two sonatas it breaks the evening's tonality and lets it re-form. Born in Taipei in 1950, Chen went to Cologne to study at nine and took first prize at the ARD International Competition in Munich in 1972, the same year she was a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth. First prizes at the international Schoenberg competition in Rotterdam and the international Bach competition in Washington followed. She became the youngest piano professor at the Cologne Hochschule in 1983 and moved to Freiburg in 2004. She premiered Haas's Limited Approximation at Donaueschingen in 2010 and has worked with Cage, Carter, Boulez and Stockhausen; the ground she stands on is Bach and Schoenberg. An evening built on Schubert is another side of her. The concert is a private hire of the hall and sits outside the orchestra's own season. She returns in September 2027 in the Chinese Beethoven cycle, which is a separate matter.
Program
Performers
- Soloist, Piano
- Chen Pi-hsien
Tickets
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
¥100 · ¥180 · ¥280 · ¥380 · ¥480
- Limit 4 tickets per order
- Children under 1.2 m are not admitted. Above 1.2 m, a child needs their own ticket.
How to buy›
- Shanghai Symphony OrchestraWeChat mini-program
- Search inside WeChat for:
- 上海交响乐团
A mini-program has no web address: search that exact name inside WeChat, or scan the code. Then 音乐会 → 全部, pick the date, and choose a seat. Most releases open here first.
- shsymphony.cnOfficial site
Register and sign in first; pick the date, choose your seat on the plan, and pay. The ticket is electronic.
- 捷豹上海交响音乐厅 (Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall)WeChat account
- Search inside WeChat for:
- 捷豹上海交响音乐厅
Follow it, then 演出购票 → 一键购票. This route takes WeChat Pay only.
- 4008-210-522Telephone
- Open:
- 09:00–20:00
Phone orders are couriered and you pay the postage, which depends on where you are. Within three working days of the performance the line no longer takes orders and no longer delivers.
- Jaguar Shanghai Symphony HallBox office
- Open:
- 09:00–20:00
- Address:
- 1380 Fuxing Middle Road, Xuhui
The only route that takes a foreign card or cash, and the only place to buy a subscription package. If you have neither a mainland phone number nor WeChat Pay, come here.
Takes: UnionPay card · UnionPay QuickPass · Foreign cards — VISA, MasterCard, JCB, American Express · Alipay · WeChat Pay · Cash · Bank transfer or cheque — the ticket is issued once the money lands
Buying and admission
- Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. If a performance is cancelled or postponed for reasons outside the presenter's control, you get the face value back and nothing else.
- Children 1.2 m and taller need a full-price ticket; under 1.2 m are not admitted, except to concerts programmed for children.
- Doors open 40 minutes before curtain and seats are numbered. Latecomers are seated by the staff at a suitable break, not on arrival.
- Backpacks, large bags and camera bags must be checked. Phones off or silent once inside, and no photography or recording without permission.
- Subscription packages are sold at the box office only: at least five concerts at a time, a bigger discount the more you take, up to about 30% off. Six tickets per concert per price band per person, no refunds, and seats are allocated in the order the orders came in.
- Fifty tickets or more for one concert counts as a group booking, at a separately negotiated rate: 021-24266124.
From Shanghai Symphony Orchestra — ticketing service, checked 2026-08-27. We do not resell, and no link on this page pays us.
- ¥280–480Stalls
- ¥180Gallery
- ¥100Balcony
- Stalls 392 seats
- Flat floor, wrapping the platform on three sides
- Gallery 80 seats
- Single rows down both sides — angled, but close
- Balcony 87 seats
- Six rows at the back, raised
Same night
See the whole monthSunday, December 13, 2026: 5 other concerts
Location
1380 Middle Fuxing Road
Metro Line 1 / Line 10 / Line 12 — South Shaanxi Road, 8 min walk
Why this one
Bartók set between two Schuberts
D 575 was written in 1817, D 960 in September 1828. Between them sits Bartók's 14 Bagatelles of 1908, whose first piece gives each hand its own key signature — four sharps against four flats. The evening's tonality breaks once and re-forms.
First prize at the ARD in 1972, and rarely in Shanghai
Chen Pi-hsien was the first Chinese pianist to win the ARD in Munich, was a Queen Elisabeth laureate the same year, and later took first prizes at the international Schoenberg and Bach competitions. Her last Shanghai recital was in 2025.
The 559-seat chamber hall, not the main auditorium
392 in the stalls, 80 in the gallery, 87 in the balcony, and the stalls are thirteen rows deep. At this scale the pedal and the breathing are part of what you hear.
Tickets from ¥100, outside the season package
¥100–480, with the balcony at ¥100. The concert is a private hire of the hall, so it is neither in the orchestra's season nor counted against a season subscription.
Provenance
Permit no. 沪文旅许[2026]4424号granted
Issued by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism · issued Aug 12 · 上海艺翔文化传播有限公司
Changes to this page
- On-sale time changedAug 20
- Prices, availability or booking link changedAug 20
- Running time, purchase limit or admission rules changedAug 20
Only changes that affect buying a ticket are listed.
Data Source: Official channels of each presenter (websites, ticketing systems, public announcements)
Last Checked: Aug 19
This performance holds a commercial performance permit from the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism. How we verify concert data
Cite this page
“A Confession of Truth — Chen Pi-hsien Piano Recital.” Shanghai Concerts, https://shanghaiconcerts.com/en/concerts/chen-pi-hsien-a-confession-of-truth. Checked 2026-08-19.