衛武營國家藝術文化中心 National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)

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"Taiwanese violinist Nai-Yuan HU is an awesomely capable performer whose technical facility, musical intelligence and unfaltering verve place him among the higher echelons of today's string virtuosi."——BBC Music Magazine

"…a master musician.  A true violist, Mr. Neubauer exults in his instrument's dark, rich, sumptuous tone."——The New York Times

This Series starts with the last chamber work of MOZART. Spanning across 156 years, one may appreciate the warm viola sound from MOZART's Quintet, BRAHMS opened up possibilities of structures and tonality by laying the foundation on conventional skills, and MARTINU's three madrigals that were inspired by MOZART's duets. The selected works offer audience a sense of the composers' unpredictable wildness, though they had inherited the German and Austrian fashions. Series II focuses on the music salon culture emerging from the 19th century. Artists and enthusiasts sparked dialogues about culture and arts at salons, which inspired them to produce more works. Ideas and thoughts flow around a salon, and music was born within the flow. From CHOPIN's elusive Cello Sonata, FRANÇAIX' humorous and sensible music, to FAURE's illusory expression, they are presented in search of the perfect, charming lost time from the last century.

  Program  

9/8(Thu)19:30 The Unbound Spirit

W. A. MOZART: String Quintet in E-flat Major, K. 614 

Bohuslav MARTINŮ: Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola (1947)

J. BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 1 in g minor, Op. 25

9/9(Fri)19:30 Un Rendez-vous Musicale

F. CHOPIN: Sonata for Piano and Cello in g minor, Op. 65

Jean FRANÇAIX: String Trio (1933) 

Gabriel FAURÉ: Piano Quartet No. 2 in g minor, Op. 45

  Creative and Production Team  

"The Unbound Spirit"

Music Director, Violin｜HU Nai-yuan

Violin｜William WEI 

Viola｜Paul NEUBAUER, HUANG Hung-wei

Cello｜Bion TSANG

Piano｜Steven LIN

"Un Rendez-vous Musicale"

Music Director, Violin｜HU Nai-yuan

Viola｜Paul NEUBAUER

Cello｜Bion TSANG 

Piano｜WNAG Pei-Yao

  Artists Introduction  

Music Director, Violin｜HU Nai-yuan

Since winning the First Prize of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1985, violinist HU Nai-yuan has appeared on many of the world's stages, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and other major venues in Europe.

As a recitalist, Mr. HU performed in such venues as Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and Jordan Hall in Boston where he premiered Bright Sheng's “The Stream Flows” in 1990. He has appeared either as guest soloist or chamber music artist in such festivals as Mostly Mozart, Marlboro, OK Mozart, Seattle, Grand Teton, Kirishima in Japan, Casalmaggiore in Italy, and Beijing where he performed with FOU Ts'ong, Martha ARGERICH and Misha MAISKY.

Mr. HU's recording of GOLDMARK's Concerto and BRUCH's Concerto No. 2 with Gerard SCHWARZ and the Seattle Symphony (released by Delos Music) garnered “Critics' Choice” from Gramophone as well as praises from many publications including BBC Music Magazine, The Times of London, and The Washington Post. He has also recorded for EMI Taiwan, Koch International, Sunrise, and Chi-Mei in Taiwan, playing on the Foundation's Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù violins.

Mr. HU has served on the jury of international competitions such as the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium and the Seoul International Violin Competition. He has given master classes in music schools in America, Europe and Asia. Born in Taiwan, Mr. HU began studying the violin at age five. He arrived in the United States in 1972 to continue his studies with Broadus Erle and later with Joseph Silverstein. He attended Indiana University where he studied with Josef GINGOLD and subsequently served as Mr. GINGOLD's assistant. He currently resides with his wife June HUANG in New York City.

Violin｜William WEI

Born in Taiwan, William began his violin studies at the age of five. He is a proud recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Scholarship at the Juilliard School, where he earned his Bachelor's degree under Hyo KANG. He is currently pursuing his Master's degree at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin under Kolja BLACHER, former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. William's recent highlights have included concert series, stepping in for violinist Shlomo MINTZ in Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major with Eliahu INBAL, NSO with HU Nai-yuan and Ray CHEN, and Baden-Baden Philharmonic with Pavel BALEFF. William plays on a 1761 Tomasso BALESTRIERI loaned from the Chimei Foundation in Taiwan.

Viola ｜Paul NEUBAUER

Violist Paul NEUBAUER's exceptional musicality and effortless playing led the New York Times to call him "a master musician." He recently made his Chicago Symphony subscription debut with conductor Riccardo MUTI and his Mariinsky Orchestra debut with conductor Valery GERGIEV. He also gave the U.S. Premiere of the newly discovered Impromptu for viola and piano by Shostakovich with pianist WU Han. In addition, his recording of the Aaron Kernis Viola Concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, was released on Signum Records and his recording of the complete viola and piano music by Ernest BLOCH with pianist Margo GARRETT was released on Delos. Appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21, he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki philharmonics; National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras. He has premiered viola concertos by Bartók (revised version of the Viola Concerto), Friedman, Glière, Jacob, Kernis, Lazarof, Müller-Siemens, Ott, Penderecki, Picker, Suter, and Tower and has been featured on CBS's Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, he has recorded on numerous labels including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical. Mr. NEUBAUER is the artistic director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College.

Viola｜HUANG Hung-wei

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, violist HUANG Hung-wei joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as Principal Viola in February 2021. In 2002 Mr. HUANG became the youngest-ever principal viola of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, going on to play with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He has served as guest principal viola of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mr. HUANG has performed chamber music at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Boston's Jordan Hall and the Kennedy Center and at the Marlboro, Santa Fe, and Great Mountain Festivals. He has collaborated with Joshua BELL, Myung-wha CHUNG, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo MA, Anne-Sophie MUTTER, Paula ROBISON and Mitsuko UCHIDA, as well as members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Orion string quartets.

HUANG Hung-wei began music lessons at the age of seven with LIN Chia-zong, and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Mannes School of Music.

Mr. HUANG served as guest professor of viola and chamber music at the Korea National University of Arts, and his students are members of professional orchestras around the world.

Cello｜Bion TSANG

Cellist Bion TSANG has been internationally recognized as one of the outstanding instrumentalists of his generation: among his many honors are an Avery Fisher Career Grant, an MEF Career Grant and the Bronze Medal in the IX International Tchaikovsky Competition. He has performed as soloist with such orchestras as the New York, Mexico City, Moscow, Busan and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, the Atlanta, Pacific, Civic, American and National Symphony Orchestras, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Saint Paul and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras and the Taiwan National Orchestra.

Mr. TSANG's chamber music career has been marked by collaborations with such artists as violinists Pamela FRANK, Jaime LAREDO, LIN Cho-liang, Anne Akiko MEYERS and Kyoko TAKEZAWA and Chee Yun, violist Michael TREE, cellist Yo-Yo MA, bassist Gary KARR and pianist Leon FLEISHER. He has been a frequent guest artist of the Chamber Music Societies of Boston, Brooklyn and Fort Worth, Chamber Music International of Dallas, Da Camera of Houston, Camerata Pacifica of Los Angeles and Bargemusic in New York and performed at such festivals as Marlboro Music Festival, the Cape Cod, Tucson, Portland and Seattle Chamber Music Festivals, the Bard Festival, Bravo! Colorado, Music in the Vineyards and the Laurel Festival of the Arts, where he served as Artistic Director for ten years.

Mr. TSANG's discography includes three live recordings: BEETHOVEN: Sonatas and Variations for Cello and Piano (Artek), BRAHMS: Cello Sonatas and Four Hungarian Dances (Artek), and Bion TSANG & Adam NEIMAN: Live at Jordan Hall (BHM Media).

Piano｜WANG Pei-Yao

Having studied and lived in the US for close to 30 years, WANG was hailed by The New York Times, The San Francisco Times, and The Washington Times as "an exceptional musician with a poetically unique style, delicate touch, and an interpretation full of drama". She was a resident pianist for chamber musicin Lincoln Center in New York, and starting in 2006, served as one of the few vocal coaches of Chinese descent for Metropolitan Opera in New York. She regularly performs in major concert halls around the world and has collaborated with numerous renowned musicians, including LU Shao-chia, CHIEN Wen-pin, LIN Cho-liang, TSENG Yu-chien, and Hilary HAHN. Since moving back to Taiwan, she has served as the vocal coach for many opera performances and is currently a visiting professor at Department of Music in National Taiwan University of Arts.

Piano｜Steven LIN

A top prize winner of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, Steven Lin is establishing himself as one of the most distinctive and original artists of his generation. He first made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 12. Recently, he made a sensational Carnegie Hall debut playing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1, and has been hailed by the New York Times for playing that is "…immaculately voiced and enhanced by admirable subtleties of shading and dynamics."

His recent debuts include Kansas City Symphony Orchestra with Michael Stern, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras with Miguel Harth-Bedoya, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico with Carlos Miguel Prieto, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra with Asher Fisch. In the 2018-19 season, He made his debuts in Dubai and Bahrain Spring Festival in the Middle East. He also returned to Taiwan for a Three-city recital tour in spring 2019. A Frequent performer with summer festivals, he has appeared including the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, New Hampshire Music Festival, Aspen music festival, the Aspen Chamber Music Workshop, under the mentorship of David Finckel and Wu Han, and the La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest, curated by violinist Cho-Liang Lin. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Gidon Kremer and Misha Maisky.  Steven Lin completed the Artist Diploma program at the Curtis Institute of Music, under the guidance of Robert McDonald.

Advisor｜Ministry of Culture

Presenter｜Taiwan Connection

Co-presenter｜National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)

Sponsor｜Chen-Yung Foundation, Wen Long Cultural Foundation