On the world premiere of Salonen's Dichotomie, composed for and dedicated to Cheng, the Los Angeles Times described her performance as "miraculous in the sheer speed and sureness of her fingers, in the rich depth of color and sonority she obtained from the piano, and in the sheer expression of joy she brought to a demanding new work." Gramophone has depicted her as "technically fearless," and the New York Times has praised her "impressive fluency and power."
Cheng has twice been featured with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group at Alice Tully Hall, and made her solo debut with the L.A. Philharmonic in December, 1998, performing Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques and Couleurs de la cité céleste under the direction of Zubin Mehta. In May 2003, Cheng was, at the personal invitation of Pierre Boulez, the soloist in the L. A. Philharmonic's historic final concerts in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, again performing Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques. Recent engagements include appearances with the Pacific Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Opus Novum (Hawaii), Composers Inc., and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Additional projects have brought Cheng to festivals at Ojai, Tanglewood, Aspen, Bad Gleichenberg, and Kuhmo (Finland), to the Chicago Humanities, Other Minds (San Francisco), and Composer-to-Composer (Telluride) Festivals, and to venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio France, Kennedy Center, and the Théatre du Châtelet.
As the 1992 winner of the League of Composers/ISCM performer competition, Cheng was sponsored in a highly acclaimed solo debut recital at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. In Los Angeles she appears annually on the Piano Spheres concert series founded by Leonard Stein. Cheng collaborates with a number of chamber ensembles, most notably with the Calder Quartet and on the Jacaranda Music series. She has been invited to participate on film scores by numerous composers, including Don Davis, Danny Elfman, James Horner, Maurice Jarre, David Newman, and John Williams
Cheng's solo discography includes her first highly praised CD of music by Olivier Messiaen on Koch, and two critically acclaimed Telarc releases: Piano Music of John Adams and Terry Riley and Piano Dance: A 20th-Century Portrait. In July 2008, Telarc will release Cheng's newest disc: Piano Music of Esa-Pekka Salonen, Steven Stucky, and Witold Lutoslawski.
Cheng's writings have appeared in Piano Today, Piano & Keyboard Magazine, and New Music Box, and in 2005 she was the keynote speaker at the national convention of the Music Critics Association of North America. Cheng has served as a panelist for the Minnesota Composers Forum, Coleman Chamber Music Competition, California Arts Council, the U.S. Festivals' Fund, and as a board member of the American Music Center.
Prior to post-graduate studies in Paris and Barcelona, Cheng earned her B.A. in Economics from Stanford University, and graduate degrees in Music from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California. Her primary teachers were Isabelle Sant'Ambrogio, Aube Tzerko, and John Perry. She is on the faculty at UCLA.
In 2009 Gloria Cheng won a Grammy for her album on TELARC - Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky & Lutoslawski.
Brava Gloria
excerpts from Mark Swed review in LAT Calendar 2.9.09
The L.A. Opera garners best classical album and best opera recordings, while pianist Gloria Cheng takes the instrumental soloist prize.
....Gloria Cheng, one of L.A.'s leading pianists, won instrumental soloist (without orchestra) for her CD of contemporary scores, including ones by Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen and consulting composer for new music, Steven Stucky.
....Cheng's disc contains terrific pieces, fabulously played and in great sound -- a very smart choice for Grammyland.