Dmitri Shostakovich: Three Violin Duets
Präludium
Gavotte
Walzer
Cho-Liang Lin & Nai-Yuan Hu, violins
Helen Huang, piano
Deh-Ho Lai: Elegy for Viola and Piano (1996)
Hsin-Yun Huang, viola
Meng-Chieh Liu, piano
Gordon Chin: Phantasy (1995)
Cho-Liang Lin, violin
Meng-Chieh Liu, piano
Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello
Allegro
Très vif
Lent
Vif, avec entrain
Keng-Yuan Tseng, violin
Sophie Shao, cello
-Intermission-
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F Minor
Molto moderato quasi lento-Allegro
Lento, con molto sentimento
Allegro ma non troppo, ma con fuoco
Meng-Chieh Liu, piano
Nai-Yuan Hu, violin
Keng-Yuan Tseng, violin
Hsin-Yun Huang, viola
Sophie Shao, cello
These two concerts are made possible through the generous support of the Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Program Notes
Hsu Tsang-Houei: Five Preludes for Solo Violin, Op. 16 (1965-1966)
For Hsu Tsang-Houei (1929-2001) and many Taiwanese composers, the road taken by Bartók and Kodály in researching Hungarian folk music provided an ideal model for finding the true voice of Taiwanese music. Like their Hungarian predecessors, Hsu and his colleague Shi Wei-Liang led groups of ethnomusicologists who traversed the island of Taiwan to record and identify music of the aboriginal tribes and of different groups of ethnic Chinese who had settled there at various times in history. This arduous task later bore fruit when Hsu composed his Five Preludes for Solo Violin, Op. 16 (1965-1966). For Hsu, who had studied violin in his younger days, the set of sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin by Bach was another source of inspiration. The first prelude Solemn, intended to evoke the ambience of the Confucian ritual ceremony, was suggested by the opening Adagio of Bach’s C Major Sonata for Solo Violin, while the perpetual motion of the last prelude Dynamic was prompted by the Presto movement of Bach’s G Minor Sonata. Solitary, a plaintive song about loneliness, contrasting starkly with the earthy and festive Vulgar, the latter quoting a popular Fukienese song “Got any wine bottles to sell?” The jewel of the entire suite is the fourth prelude Reminiscent. It is based on the song “Reminiscing…” by the folk singer Chen Da who was discovered by Hsu on one of his trips to research music in southern Taiwan. Chen Da was probably the last of his kind, as Taiwanese folk singers in recent times have turned to the style of modern pop music. Reminiscent opens with fragments of Chen’s melody. These fragments are interrupted fragments of another kind, inspired by the melancholy music of the blind masseurs who used to wander the streets of Taiwan. As the prelude ambles onward in an improvisatory fashion, it builds up an obsessive intensity before giving way to the full melody of Chen Da’s song. (Nai-Yuan Hu)
Shih-Hui Chen: Twice Removed (2002)
Although the basic material of this piece was derived from Once Removed,
music I composed for a documentary film on the culture and history of modern China
(Julie Mallozzi), the music of Twice Removed is abstract and is a focused study of continuity and character transformation. This piece is dedicated to
Min-Ho Yeh. (Shih-Hui Chen)
Deh-Ho Lai: Elegy for Viola and Piano (1996)
Gordon Chin: Phantasy (1995)
Phantasy is structured as a simple three-part form. It opens with an unaccompanied rhythmic motif introduced by the violin, and this motif reappears throughout entire work. The rhythmic motif plays a dominant role in the piece: it is constantly being transformed, from lowly accompaniment figures to climatic chordal punctuations.
The second part, which achieves a sweeter, song-like quality, is heard shortly after the agitated opening. The texture of the second part is mostly light and transparent. The melodic line is often stretched into wide leaps of intervals which sometimes get articulated by glissandos that seem to produce the feeling that the theme can be both | “intimate” and “distant.” As the cantabile lines yield gradually to drama, a vigorous confrontation between the piano and violin continues until the opening rhythmic motif becomes dominant again.
The last part of the piece parallels the first part, but is played with greater strength and agitation. The music runs straight into the final trenchant climax when the violin line screams and the piano strikes the rhythmic motif with thunderous forte. With that, the fantasy comes to an abrupt and dramatic end. (Gordon Chin)
Meet the Composers
Shih-Hui Chen
As a recipient of the American Academy in Rome Prize (1999), a Guggenheim
Fellowship (2000), and a Barlow Commission (2001), Shih-Hui Chen has received
significant recognition as an emerging composer in recent years. Born in Taipei,
Taiwan, Shih-Hui Chen came to the United States in 1982. Since receiving her
doctoral degree in music composition from Boston University, there have been
many performances including those by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Seattle
Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony
Orchestra, Empyrean Ensemble and Arditti String Quartet. Also frequently appearing
in programs abroad, her music has been featured in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan,
Germany, Italy and Amsterdam. As a recipient of fellowships, Ms. Chen has
been awarded grants from the Fromm Foundation, the National Endowment for the
Arts, Meet the Composer Foundation, the Tanglewood Music Center, the
Massachusetts Cultural Council, ASCAP, the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute of Harvard University, and the Bellagio Rockefeller Foundation.
Recent performances include her Violin Sonata at the Weill Recital Hall,Tu at
Merkin Hall, i by Boston Musica Viva, FuII by Network for New Music in
Philadelphia and the Uzbekistan Contemporary Music Festival, Twice Removed (Boston,
Vancouver, San Diego and Little Rock), Moments (Shanghai, China), Jian by the
Boston Modern Orchestra Project, 66 Times by Voices of Change in Dallas, Shui
by the Fischer Duo's at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, and a concert in Rome
dedicated to Ms. Chen's work by the Freon Ensemble.
Shih-Hui Chen was the Composer in Residence at the Boston University
Tanglewood Institute (2000, 2001) and is Assistant Professor of Composition at the
Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. She is a proud mother of her 18 month
old daughter Lia.
Gordon Chin
Gordon Chin, born 1957 in Taiwan, is one of the most active composers in his native country. His extensive catalog of compositions includes four symphonies, a cantata, 3 violin concertos, piano concerto, numerous choral works, chamber works, five percussion quartets, and works for solo instruments. Chin is a recipient of the DMA degree from Eastman School of Music.
Chin’s works have been performed world wide by ensembles such as Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Asia Pacific Orchestra in Los Angeles, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, The Timisuala Symphony of Romania, Euodia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Tokyo, Ensemble 2e2m of France, Amadinda Percussion Group of Hungary, and International Sejong Soloists, among others.
Timothy Mangan of the Los Angeles Times describes Gordon Chin as “a confident master of the Western modernistic large orchestral idiom." A review from the Dallas Morning News by John Ardoin praises Mr. Chin’s Phantasy for violin and piano as “a strong, assured piece of writing that flirted with atonality but had no trouble in communicating its ideas to an audience with skill and poise." Valerie Scher, the music critic from the San Diego Tribute, after hearing Formosa Seasons, described Chin as “clearly an impressive talent with a rising reputation”, and wrote that the work is “combined edgy vitality with confident handling of string sonorities”
Gordon Chin currently serves as the music director of both YinQi Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and YinQi Chamber ensemble in Taipei, and is a faculty member of Taiwan National Normal University, when he teaches composition, and directs a New Music Ensemble.
Hsu Tsang-Houei
Hsu Tsang-Houei was born in 1929 in Chang-hua, Taiwan. In his teens he went to Japan to study the violin. In 1949 he entered the Music Department of the National Taiwan Normal University studying composition under Xiao Erhua and violin under Dai Cuilun. Upon graduation and after fulfilling his military service he went on to study violin and musicology at the Ecole Cesar Franck and the Sorbonne in Paris with Jolivet and Messiaen among his teachers.
Hsu has composed more than a hundred pieces during the past 30 years, including solo songs, solo instrumental music for both Western and Chinese instruments, chamber music, symphonies, opera and Chinese ballet music. He founded the Chinese Composers' Forum (1961), Chinese Society for Contemporary Music (1969), and co-founded the Asian Composers League (1973). Hsu has contributed greatly to the creation of modern music derived from Chinese tradition in Taiwan.
In his study of ethnomusicology, Hsu has been engaged continuously for more than 30 years in field work all over Taiwan. He surveyed, collected and wrote about the folk music existing in Taiwan. He founded the Chinese Folk Music Research Center (1967) and Chinese Folk Arts Foundation (1975), and dedicated himself to the preservation of the tradition of Chinese folk music.
Hsu taught composition, theory, and musicology in National Taiwan Normal University, National Taiwan Academy of the Arts, National Institute of the Arts, Soochow University and Chinese Culture University. He was chairman of the Department of Music and director of Graduate Institute of Music at National Taiwan Normal University, and chairman of the Chinese Society of Ethnomusicology.
His music, which ranges from operas to solo songs and from piano concertos to solo sonatas for piano, although first misunderstood and rejected in Taiwan as too avant-gardist, is really oriented toward the classics of modernism.
He passed away in 2001.
Lai Deh-Ho
Lai Deh-Ho, born in Changhua in 1943, graduated from the Music Department of National Taiwan Academy of Arts in 1969, a student of Hsu Tsang-Houei, Shi Wei-liang and Hsiao Er-hua. After earning his degree at Taiwan Academy of Arts, he attended the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, in 1978 to study composition with G.Wimberger. Since 1981 he has been teaching at his alma mater, the Taiwan Academy of Arts. He received the Wo Shan-lien's Liberal Arts Award in 1984 and the National Arts Award in 1987.
He makes use of serialist techniques in his Shuhuai yizhang (A Statement of Sensation or From Apathy to Chaos) for woodwind quintet (1985), applies minimalist practices in Zuopin 1980 (Opus 1980) for thirteen instruments and, in Zhongmiao (All wonders) of 1974, presents a modernist soundplay for Chinese instruments.
Meet the Artists (Alphabetical order)
Pi-Chin Chien, cello
In 2002, for the label "Musikszene Swcheiz", Pi-Chin Chien made the World Premiere Recording of Paul Juon's Cello Concerto with Tomasz Bugaj conducting the Crakow Philharmonic. In 2001 she recorded the world premiere recording of the cello concerto by the Swiss composer Fabian Müller with the Philharmonia Orchestra London conducted by David Zinman. The cello concerto is dedicated to her. In addition to her solo career, Pi-Chin Chien loves to play chamber music. She has played in the European Fine Arts Trio since 1999. And tours extensively with this ensemble, which already belongs among the world's best despite being founded relatively recently. In 2001, the ensemble issued a CD of the piano trios of Chopin and Debussy, which was awarded the Fryderyk-Prize by Polish music critics. The ensemble also performed concerts in various European cultural centers, and embarked on a tour of Asia. In Spring 2000, Ms. Chien toured Taiwan, performing Schelomo by Ernest Bloch, accompanied by the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.
1999 she gave a recital of 20th century music at the International Contemporary Music Festival in Taipei. At the invitation of Taiwan's president, she gave a highly publicized performance at the Presidential Palace Concerts in 1998. She was accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra; television and radio broadcast the performance live. From 1996 to 1998 she was a member of the Zurich String Trio and performed with this ensemble in Asia, Middle and South America and Europe.
Pi-Chin Chien was born in Taiwan. Her solo career began at the age of 13 when she appeared with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Five years later she began her studies in Europe and earned a soloist's diploma with the highest honors. Her teachers included Markus Stocker, Claude Starck, Marek Jerie und Stanislav Apolin. She has participated in master classes given by Pierre Fournier, Mistlav Rostropowitsch, Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Shafran, Zara Nelsova und Arto Noras.
Tom Chiu, violin
Violinist Tom Chiu has received wide acclaim for his performances as a soloist, chamber artist, and experimental improvisor. Particularly noted for his endeavors in new music, Mr. Chiu has worked closely with distinguished composers such as Milton Babbitt, Virko Baley, Dean Drummond, Oliver Lake, Charles Wuorinen, and Zhou Long, among others, as well as free jazz icon Ornette Coleman, with whom he appeared at the 2000 Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival in New York. He also seeks out collaborative projects with experimental artists whose work he admires, such as balloon virtuoso Judy Dunaway, avant choreographer Eun-Me Ahn, sound designer and synthesist Virgil Moorefield, and ambient-drone guitarist David First. One very special interdisciplinary project of recent years is Red Beads, a collaboration with composer Ushio Torikai, puppeteer Basil Twist, and theatrical mastermind Lee Breuer of Mabou Mines. His discography includes recordings for the BMG, Cambria, Cold Blue Music, Koch, Mode, Sombient, and Tzadik labels, and his original works as a composer-improvisor have been performed in numerous countries around the world, including Mongolia and Uzbekistan. With the FLUX Quartet, of which he is founder and first violinist, Mr. Chiu has appeared at international festivals in Melbourne and Oslo, as well as American festivals such as Ojai, Summergarden, and Lincoln Center's A Great Day in New York. Currently, FLUX is resident ensemble in When Morty Met John, a three-year series at Carnegie Hall featuring the music of John Cage, Morton Feldman, and composers from the New York School. Holding degrees in music and chemistry from Yale, as well as a doctorate in music from Juilliard under the tutelage of Cho-Liang Lin, Mr. Chiu occasionally reminisces about his childhood appearance with Tom Hanks in the feature film, The Man With One Red Shoe.
Hsin-Yun Huang, viola
Hsin-Yun Huang has been firmly established since 1993 as one of the leading violists of her generation. In that same year, she won the top prize in the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the highly prestigious Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award, which included a scholarship grant, and concerto and recital appearances in Japan. Ms. Huang was also the youngest-ever gold medalist in the 1988 Lionel Tertis International Competition on the Isle of Man. As a result of these and other successes, she has been telecast in concerto appearances with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra in Munich, the Zagreb Soloists in Paris and the Tokyo Philharmonic in Tokyo; other significant appearances include live broadcast performances with the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Russian State Philharmonic and the National Symphony of Taiwan.
A native of Taiwan, Ms. Huang currently resides in New York, and is an active soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., the Far East and Europe. She is in constant demand in her native Taiwan, appearing annually with the National Symphony of Taiwan. Ms. Huang also recently appeared in a nationally televised solo recital for President Chen Shui-Bian. She has participated in various prominent chamber music festivals, including the Spoleto Festival; Chamber Music Northwest, the Marlboro Music Festival; Prussia Cove, England; the El Paso Chamber Music Festival; the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, Festival de Divonne in France; the Newport Festival and many others. She has collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Joshua Bell, Joseph Suk, Menahem Pressler, Joseph Silverstein, Gary Hoffman and Michael Tree.
Ms. Huang was a member of the Borromeo String Quartet from 1994-2000. With the Quartet, she participated in such festivals as the Spoleto Festival in Italy; the Bravo! Festival in Vail, Colorado; the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; the Prague Spring Festival; the Orlando Music Festival in the Netherlands; the Stavanger Festival in Norway and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland; and in such prominent venues as New York’s Alice Tully Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Japan’s Casals Hall, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1998 the Borromeo String Quartet was awarded the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award and was chosen by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be members of “CMS Two” in recognition of the Quartet’s place in the next generation of world-class chamber musicians. As part of CMS Two, Ms. Huang and the Borromeo Quartet were featured in a “Live from Lincoln Center” telecast.
Hsin-Yun Huang came to England at the age of fourteen to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School with David Takeno. She continued her studies at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with Michael Tree, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree, and at the Juilliard School with Samuel Rhodes, where she earned her Master of Music. She currently serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music in New York.
Helen Huang, piano
At age 20 Helen Huang can already look back on an impressive list of engagements with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, National Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.
Born in Japan of Chinese parents in October 1982, she moved to the United States with her family in 1985 and began piano lessons two years later. Within a year she had won her first competition, and several other victories soon followed. In May 1995 she became one of the youngest recipients of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Ms. Huang has developed a close association with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, with whom she has appeared each season since her subscription debut in 1995. She joined that orchestra on its 1998 Asian tour for several concerts in Japan and again during the summer of 1999, touring in North America. In April 2001 she gave four concerts with the Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. Ms. Huang made her Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debut in February 1998 with guest conductor Pinchas Zukerman, and returned for concerts with Jesús López-Cobos in May and September of 1999.
Highlights of recent seasons have included performances with the Israel Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, KBS Symphony in Seoul, and at the Taipei International Chamber Music Festival in Taiwan. Other notable engagements include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur, and concerts in Vienna and the United States with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.
Helen Huang's recordings are available on the Teldec label. She made her debut recording, of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, in live concerts with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, and later worked with them to record the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21. She has also recorded a recital album, For Children, featuring works of Debussy and Schumann. Ms. Huang made her national television debut in a concert with the Boston Pops Orchestra for PBS's Evening at Pops and was featured in an A&E broadcast from the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico.
Ms. Huang's first public appearances were with several orchestras in the Philadelphia area. Just after her eighth birthday, she made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra after winning its student concerto competition. Similarly, she won the New York Philharmonic's Young Performers Auditions and performed with the orchestra, under Music Director Kurt Masur, in December 1992.
Helen Huang is a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky at The Juilliard School. She earlier attended the preparatory division of Manhattan School of Music, winning its concerto competition in 1992. In 1994 she was selected by the New York Philharmonic to receive Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award for promising young artists.
Nai-Yuan Hu, violin
Since winning First Prize in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Competition in 1985, violinist Nai-Yuan Hu has appeared on many of the world’s stages, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Avery Fisher Hall in New York and major venues in Europe, North and South Americas and Asia.
Mr. Hu’s solo engagements include appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Toronto Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Netherland and Rotterdam Philharmonic orchestras, Liège Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille in France, Haifa Symphony, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Hong Kong Philharmonic and others. With the Belgian National Orchestra, he toured throughout Germany in such cities as Munich, Hannover and Dortmund. He has collaborated with such conductors as George Cleve, Adam Fischer, Leon Fleisher, Gunther Herbig, Jahja Ling, Gerard Schwarz, and Maxim Shostakovich, among others.
In summer seasons, Mr. Hu has appeared either as a guest soloist or chamber music artist in such festivals as Mostly Mozart, Marlboro, Grand Teton, Waterloo, Seattle, and Newport. A chamber music enthusiast, he has collaborated with such musicians as Fou Ts’ong, Martha Argerich, and Misha Maisky in the 1999 Beijing Music Festival, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and others in the 2000 Taipei International Music Festival (the latter directed by violinist Cho-Liang Lin). He also has participated in the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society concerts and Brooklyn’s Bargemusic series. Mr. Hu’s performances have been broadcast on WQXR (the radio station of The New York Times), National Public Radio and PBS in the United States; and Belgian, Dutch and French radio and television stations as well as National Public Television in Taiwan.
Released by Delos International, Mr. Hu’s recording of Goldmark’s Concerto and Bruch’s Concerto No. 2 with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony garnered “Critics’ Choice” from Gramophone as well as praises from many publications including BBC Music Magazine, The Times of London, and The Washington Post. Besides Delos, Mr. Hu has made recordings for EMI, Koch, and Sunrise. In 2003, a Viennese album is to be released by EMI.
In 2001, Mr. Hu appeared in a cameo role as the rooftop violinist serenading Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman in the Miramax romantic comedy, Kate & Leopold. In that same year, he collaborated with Lin Hwai-min and his Cloud Gate Dance Theater, performing Taiwanese composer Hsu Tsang-Houei’s Five Preludes for Solo Violin in an outdoor presentation that was attended by over ten thousand people.
Born in Taiwan, Mr. Hu began studying the violin at age five and was soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Taiwan three years later. He came to the United States in 1972 to continue his studies, first with Broadus Erle and later with Joseph Silverstein. At Indiana University, he studied with Josef Gingold and also served as Gingold’s assistant after graduation. He plays on a Stradivari “ex-Hubay,” dated 1726.
Cho-liang Lin, violin
Taiwanese-American violinist CHO-LIANG LIN receives accolades the world over for the elegance of his playing and the superb musicianship that mark his performances. Renowned for appearances as a soloist with major orchestras, he is also frequently heard in recital and in chamber music and was chosen by Musical America in 2000 as “Instrumentalist of the Year”.
Mr. Lin’s 2002-2003 season included engagements with the Dallas Symphony; Montreal Symphony, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music performing Water Passion After St. Matthew, a choral and performance work commemorating the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death, composed and conducted by Tan Dun. Among his U.S. engagements were appearances with orchestras in California, Florida, Indiana, and Utah. He was heard in a duo-recital at New York’s Alice Tully Hall on May 5, 2003 with pianist André-Michel Schub. With the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he performed in New York and on tour, highlighted by an appearance at Boston’s Gardner Museum. Internationally, he performed in Europe and Asia.
Recently Mr. Lin played with great distinction as guest artist with the Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic and the Vancouver Symphony, among others. Overseas, he performed with orchestras in France, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Australia, China and Taiwan.
Cho-Liang Lin founded the Taipei International Music Festival in 1997, the first large-scale international music festival in the history of his native country. He led a second Festival in May 2000 and a third Festival in March 2003. Some of the concerts have been shown on giant television simulcasts outside the concert hall, to audiences of up to thirty thousand cheering music lovers.
This summer he leads his third season at the helm of the La Jolla SummerFest. Last summer included the world premiere of a work for solo violin composed by Esa-Pekka Salonen for Mr. Lin. He also made return appearances in Aspen, Santa Fe, the Naantali Festival in Finland, and the Malaysian Philarmonic.
An advocate for contemporary composers, Cho-Liang Lin has premiered works by Tan Dun, Joel Hoffman, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Elie Siegmeister, Bright Sheng, George Tsontakis and George Walker. In San Diego and Taipei, he has presented the world premiere of two concertos by the Taiwanese composer, Gordon Chin.
He has many resplendent recordings released on the Sony Classical label, some of which have won such awards as Gramophone’s Record of the Year as well as two Grammy nominations. Recent albums include a disc of sonatas by Debussy, Poulenc and Ravel with pianist Paul Crossley and a Schubert chamber music disc. He has recorded Tan Dun's violin concerto Out of Peking Opera with the Helsinki Philharmonic led by Muhai Tang for the Ondine label. For Decca, he has recorded Aaron Jay Kernis’ Concerto for Violin and Guitar with conductor Hugh Wolff and guitarist Sharon Isbin with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Soon to be released is a recording with the Helsinki Philharmonic for the Ondine label of the Rouse Violin Concerto (Mr. Lin performed both the world premiere and New York premieres).
Born in Taiwan in 1960, Cho-Liang Lin began his violin lessons when he was five years old. At the age of twelve, he went to Sydney to continue his musical studies. Three years later, inspired by an encounter with Itzhak Perlman, he arrived in New York in 1975 to audition for Mr. Perlman's teacher, the late Dorothy DeLay, at the Juilliard School. Within two years of his enrollment, Mr. Lin won the first Queen Sofia Violin Competition in Madrid and his concert career was soon launched. He has been a member of the Juilliard faculty since 1991 and resides in New York with his wife and daughter. His violin is the 1734 Guarneri del Gesù The Duke of Camposelice.
Meng-Chieh Liu, piano
A recipient of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant, pianist Meng-Chieh Liu first made headlines in 1993 as a 21-year-old student at The Curtis Institute of Music when he substituted for André Watts on the All-Star Series at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. The concert earned high acclaim from critics and audience alike, and was followed by a number of widely praised performances, including a recital at the Kennedy Center and a concert on the Philadelphia All-Star Series; a Philadelphia Orchestra appearance was also scheduled. Already an accomplished artist at the time, Mr. Liu had made his New York orchestral debut two years earlier.
The stellar beginning of Meng-Chieh Liu’s career was abruptly halted by a rare and debilitating illness that affected his connective tissues. Hospitalized and almost immobile for a year, doctors believed his chances for survival were slim and, should he survive, playing the piano would be “absolutely impossible.” With arduous determination and relentless physical therapy, Mr. Liu has been restored to health and now embarks again on his concert career. During the 2001-2 season his performance schedule included U.S. appearances in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle and San Diego, as well as concerts in Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Spain.
A dedicated chamber musician as well as solo artist, he has collaborated with musicians in North America, Europe and Asia, in addition to working with artists in other disciplines, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, who invited Mr. Liu to work with his White Oak Dance Project. His concerts have heard over the airwaves around the world, and a biography on his life was broadcast on Taiwanese National Television.
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Meng-Chieh Liu began his piano studies early and at age 13 was accepted by The Curtis Institute of Music to study with Jorge Bolet, Claude Frank, and Eleanor Sokoloff. He has received The 2002 Philadelphia Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award and first prizes in the Stravinsky, Asia Pacific Piano and Mieczyslaw Munz competitions. Mr. Liu has been a member of The Curtis Institute’s faculty since 1993, the year he graduated.
Sophie Shao, cello
A native of New York City, cellist Sophie Shao has established herself as a prominent soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Ms. Shao has received a plethora of prizes and honors, including top prizes at the 2001 Rostropovich International Violoncello Competition and the XII International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002, as well as the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. She made her official orchestral debut with the Houston Symphony at age eleven, and has since performed as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Orchestre de Paris, Russian State Academic Symphony Cappella, Erie Symphony, Yale Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic, and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, among others. She has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, at such venues as the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie, Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, and Merkin Halls in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, Ford Centre in Toronto, and Rice University in Houston. In 1995, Ms. Shao recorded a work by Andre Previn with the Curtis Orchestra for EMI Classics.
In great demand as a chamber musician, she has collaborated with members of the Beaux Arts Trio, the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, Cleveland String Quartets, and has performed with such distinguished artists as Gary Graffman, David Shifrin, Jaime Laredo, Ani Kavafian, Midori, Andre Previn, Eugene Istomin, Cho-Liang Lin, Paquito D'Rivera, Andras Schiff, Claude Frank, and Christoph Eschenbach. Ms. Shao’s many festival appearances include Marlboro, Caramoor, Bridgehampton, Sarasota, Music from Angel Fire, Saratoga, Bard and Ravinia. In the 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 seasons, Sophie Shao was a member of Chamber Music Society Two, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's program for emerging young artists.
Ms. Shao began studying piano at the age of five with her mother, a well-known keyboard pedagogue in Taiwan. At the age of six, she began playing the cello, and later became a pupil of Shirley Trepel, former principal cellist of the Houston Symphony. At thirteen, she enrolled at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she continued studying cello with David Soyer and chamber music with Felix Galimir. After graduating from the Curtis Institute, Sophie continued her cello studies with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, graduating with a B.A. in religious studies from Yale College, where she was also awarded the Louis Sudler Prize for the Creative and Performing Arts. In May of 2001, Sophie received her M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where she was enrolled as a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow.
Keng-Yuen Tseng, violin
A native of Taiwan, Keng-Yuen Tseng began studying the violin at the age of five and made his performing debut at the age of seven. Upon his arrival in the United States in 1980 Mr. Tseng was awarded a full scholarship at Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Erick Friedman and Glenn Dicterow.
Mr. Tseng has won numerous top prizes at national and international competitions both here and abroad. In 1990, he received the award for best interpretation of a new composition at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow, and three years later he triumphed at the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Belgium by winning the Silver Medal. Among his other prizes are those from the North Carolina Symphony Artist Competition, New Jersey Symphony Artist Competition, and the Washington International String Competition.
Mr. Tseng has performed in recital and as soloist with orchestras throughout the US, Europe, Central and South America, the Far East, Including the National Orchestra of Belgium, Noordholan Philharmonic, Koninklijk Philharmonic Orkest van Vlaanderen, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Simon Bolivar Orquesta Sinfonica, Tibilisi Symphony Orchestra and the Taiwan Symphony, among others. He has appeared at such venues as Washington’s Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection, Carnegie Hall, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Belgium and Theatre Des Champs-Elysees in Paris. His 1995 performance in Beijing was televised throughout China.
A dedicated teacher, Mr. Tseng has taught at State University of New York (Purchase), New York University and is currently a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music preparatory division and the Peabody Institute of Music. He travels to his native Taiwan several times each year to conduct master classes and seminars, and he mentors a growing list of prize-winning students. In addition, Mr. Tseng also serves as the Artistic Director of the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan.
Min-Ho Yeh, clarinet
Min-Ho Yeh received his Bachelor of Music degree from National Taiwan Normal University in 1992 and a Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory in Boston in 1997 with academic honors and distinction in performance. He won the Taipei Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in 1989. Since then he has performed concertos with ensembles such as the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the Taiwan Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the National Taiwan Normal University Symphony Orchestra, Indiana University Orchestra, and Indiana University Clarinet Choir.
His orchestral playing with the NEC Symphony Orchestra has been praised in the Boston Globe. In 1997, he was a recipient of the Stoeckel Fellowship Award of the Norfolk Music Festival. In 1998, he was invited to join the recent recording (Crystal label) of the Trio Indiana, a clarinet ensemble formed by Indiana University faculty. In 2000, he appeared as a chamber musician at the Festival of Sound in Ontario, Canada; the concerts were broadcast by CBC Radio. In 2002, he was invited to perform at Taiwanese American Heritage Week concerts in Boston, San Diego and Seattle.
Mr. Yeh has played with the “Magic Clarinet” Clarinet Quartet, the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Asian Youth Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Orchestra (Indiana), the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Conway Symphony Orchestra among many others. He was an Associate Instructor of Clarinet at Indiana University between 1997 and 2001. He is currently Instructor of Clarinet at the University of Central Arkansas, a member of the Sunaura Trio and a candidate for Doctor of Music degree at Indiana University.
Chun-Chieh Yen, piano
Chun-Chieh Yen’s preeminence as Taiwan’s foremost young pianist of international caliber came into sharp focus in 1997, when he won third prize at the third Tchaikovsky International Music Competition (Youth) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Since then Chun-Chieh Yen has concertized both nationally and internationally in Germany, France, Russia, China, Singapore, Japan, Poland, Romania, and Italy. His performances of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 with the National Symphony Orchestra under Uri Meyer; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 in Beijing, China; Balakirev’s Islamey at the Braunschweiger Kammermusikpodium, Germany, all received great critical acclaim and his rendition of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the Taipei Sinfonietta under the baton of Maestro Henry Mazer drew significant public attention in Taiwan.
Chun-Chieh Yen, who made history as the youngest pianist to perform at Taipei’s National Concert Hall, also won first prize in 1999 at the 4th Hamamatsu International Academy Piano Competition in Japan and diplomas in 2000 at the 14th International F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland and 2002 at the 12th International P. I. Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia.
Chun-Chieh Yen, who is presently studying under Prof. Vladimir Krajnev in Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, Germany, studied under Prof. Rolf-Peter Wille in Taiwan, and has received coaching from Lev Naumov, Vera Gornostayeva, Naum Starkmann, Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Hiroko Nakamura, Gyorgy Sandor, Joaquin Soriano, Alexander Jenner, Vladimir Tropp, Andrej Diev, and others in master classes in Moscow, Japan, Poland, Germany and Taiwan.
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