These concerts are the North Carolina Symphony debut for Claire Huangci.

American pianist Claire Huangci has toured in recital to Europe and South America during the 2025/26 season and performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in October. Recent debut appearances include the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, she has also conducted various concertos from the piano in the play-conduct tradition.

Huangci’s recordings include a Mozart concerto album with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and an all-American solo disc titled Made In USA. Her musical partners include the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and Basel Chamber Orchestra, and she has been a guest at the Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, and Klavier-Festival Ruhr, among others.

Born in Rochester, New York, Huangci displayed an early penchant for piano and was invited to the White House in 1999. She studied at the Curtis Institute of Music before moving to Hannover for further studies. She rose to international prominence with top prizes at several major competitions, including European and US Chopin competitions, ARD Music Competition, Geza Anda Competition, and Grand Prix of the Paris Play Direct Academy. Huangci is Artistic Director of the Erbach Kammerkonzerte series.

Kicking off a string of international orchestral engagements, Huangci will return to the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, Porto, Iceland, Vorarlberg, Nordwestdeutsche, and Pacific symphony orchestras, and debut with the Basel, Hannover, Bremen, Bochum, and Milwaukee symphonies.

In solo recitals and with orchestras, Huangci has appeared in Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Paris Philharmonie, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Dortmund Konzerthaus, Munich Prinzregententheater, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, and Salzburg Festspielhaus.