They were united by their desire both to champion the contemporary repertoire : George Crumb, György Ligeti, Giacinto Scelsi, John Cage, György Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, Kaija Saariaho, Béla Bartók, Steve Reich, Raphaël Cendo, Marco Stroppa, Henri Dutilleux...
His close ties with composers has led him to perform a great number of works by, amongst other, Luciano Berio, György Kurtág, Magnus Lindberg, Osvaldo Golijov, Yan Maresz, Michael Jarrell, Brian Ferneyhough, Marco Stroppa, Bruno Mantovani and Thomas Adès.
In 1998 he continued his studies in composition with Helmut Lachenmann and Marco Stroppa at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule and took his diploma as a composer in 2002.
Chai recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Manhattan School of Music, where she wrote her thesis (advisor, Marilyn Nonken) on composer Marco Stroppa.
From 1980 to 1984, Stroppa collaborated with the Centro di Sonologia Computazionale of the University of Padua, before moving to the USA where he continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology supported by a grant from the Fulbright Foundation until 1986.
At the Donaueschinger Musiktage, with the Hilversum Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös, he performed the World Première of the "Let me sing into your ear" concerto for basset horn and orchestra by Marco Stroppa, which the composer actually dedicated to him and this performance was later recorded for the label Neos.
He has often performed piano works of contemporary composers like Arnold Schönberg, Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, György Kurtág, Wolfgang Rihm, Peter Eötvös, Emmanuel Nunes, Marco Stroppa, James Dillon, Jonathan Harvey, Rudolf Kelterborn.
He has also participated in several international composition masterclasses, seminars and workshops under composers such as Louis Andriessen, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Michael Jarrell, Jouni Kaipainen, Magnus Lindberg, Philippe Manoury and Marco Stroppa.
Marco Polo | Marco Stroppa | The Travels of Marco Polo | Marco Pierre White | Marco Antonio Muñiz | Marco Materazzi | Marco Delonge | Marco Borsato | Marco Rubio | Marco Polo Bridge Incident | Marco Island, Florida | Marco Island | Marco Ferreri | Piazza San Marco | Marco Barrientos | MARCO | San Marco Argentano | Marco Venturini | Marco Travaglio | Marco Simoncelli | Marco Pantani | Marco Pallis | Marco Huck | Marco Fu | Marco Follini | Marco Dorigo | Marco Doria | Marco Cyncar | Marco Blaauw | Marco Aurelio Soto |