The Honolulu Symphony's latest concert provided a wealth of featured artists – one guest conductor and three soloists – with a couple surprises.

The surprises were two of the three soloists.

Featured artists are usually booked many months, even years in advance, and one does not learn a concerto in a day or two. So when two of the scheduled soloists – both young, with protective teachers and agency – canceled at the last minute, the symphony had to scramble.

According to executive director Tom Gulick, once the symphony's management decided to preserve the advertised program, they had to figure out, "Who has these concertos in their repertoire and is free this week?"

After a flurry of calls and networking, they found Sean Kennard on Monday and Norman Krieger on Tuesday evening.

Raised in Hawai'i, Kennard performed with the Honolulu Symphony as part of the 2003 concert dedicating the new Steinway and has recently graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music. He presented Grieg's Concerto, Op.16, displaying a special affinity for quietly lyrical passages and inhabiting his part most fully in the cadenza.

Hawai'i fans turned out in force to hear him and crowded around to meet him during intermission. His performance was undoubtedly an inspiration for those hoping to become pianists.

Krieger has also played with the Honolulu Symphony before but it had been years since he last performed Liszt's Concerto No. 1, an exceptionally difficult piece.

When the symphony called, he said, "Let me call you right back," then ran to his piano to give it a try. Incredibly, he found it was still in his fingers and accepted.

When asked whether the piece is difficult, he replied, "Oh sure," as though playing it were the most natural thing in the world, and then continued, "but I find the challenge is to capture the magical transparency of the music. A lot of people, I think, misinterpret Liszt. He really transcended this big black box (i.e., the piano). He was able to push the envelope in terms of what was possible."

Theorists, composers, and musicologists have quibbled for well over a century whether Liszt's music is great: Is it overloaded with novel effects? Is it emotionally overblown? Reasonable, intelligent, sensitive people disagree over the answers.

Whatever the answer, there is no doubt about the music's great pianism, and Krieger captured just the right balance between phenomenal technical display and exploring extremes of expression. He was the most authoritative of the soloists, delivering a mature and considered vision of the music along with his impressive mastery over delicate filigree as well as thundering cascades.

The third pianist, and the only one on the original program, was Jie-Chen a young pianist from New York City.

Jie-Chen strode on stage in an electric blue gown and proceeded to fly through Rachmaninoff's Concerto No.2, a work of soaring Romanticism. Jie-Chen used a liquid touch that rang in pianissimo passages and that created silken legatos. For all its lyricism, the Rachmaninoff can be a lumbering bear, but in Jie-Chen's hands, it was elegant, even refined, and quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, it was often difficult and sometimes impossible to hear Jie-Chen in the louder passages. Jie-Chen had a strong, but not thunderous forte, and because Rachmaninoff requires extraordinary power, the balance could have been better adjusted.

The fourth featured artists was Guest Conductor Mei-Ann Chen, who began her career as a violinist but was discouraged from becoming a conductor: "I always wanted to be a conductor, but I think they were afraid of having my dreams, my heart broken." To learn, she memorized all her violin parts so she could keep her eyes on the conductor. "He always thought I was the best orchestral musician. He never knew I was really trying to steal his craft."

Mei-Ann Chen learned her lessons well: she was enthusiastic on the podium, accommodating with her soloists, expressive, and gracious in acknowledging her orchestral musicians. She conducted on the romantic side of the spectrum, imbuing the music with passion.

There were occasional ragged entrances, and the orchestra repeatedly overpowered Kennard and Jie-Chen, but Mei-Ann Chen presented an exciting concert that ended in an enthusiastic standing ovation.