From Flowery Meadows to Misty Mountain Peaks
8pm Saturday 6 November
QPAC Concert Hall
Conductor Johannes Fritzsch
Soloist Ray Chen (Violin)
Wagner Tannhäuser: Overture
Mozart Violin Concerto No.4*
Bruckner Symphony No.3 (1889)
The great Austrians Mozart and Bruckner could not be greater contrasted in scale and era, yet fi t together so beautifully in their shared divine inspiration. If Mozart's ornately perfect music depicts minute detail of the valleys and meadows, Bruckner's scales the heights of the most rugged mountain ranges and thunders out to the world. A primordial journey out of the mist, from the mountain tops to the valleys below.
*This concerto has been changed at the request of the soloist
"Ray Chen can do pretty much anything he wants on the violin" Anne Midgette, The Washington Post
Biography - Ray Chen
Winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (2009) and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition (2008), Ray Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today. His recent performances, including debut recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington D. C. and the Merkin Hall in New York, have enraptured both the audiences and the critics. "Ray Chen can do pretty much anything he wants on the violin" (Anne Midgette, The Washington Post). "His whole performance was out of this world" (Elise Simoens, De Standaard).
Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Ray Chen was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 15, where he continues to work with Aaron Rosand on expanding his repertoire. Mr. Chen plays the "Huggins" Stradivarius, on loan from The Nippon Music Foundation, and the 1721 Stradivarius known as "The Macmillan", provided as part of the award for winning the 2008-09 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York.
Mr. Chen's performance of Bach's Double Violin Concerto became the muchdiscussed highlight of the 2009 Aspen Music Festival. Maestro Vengerov, who met Mr. Chen while serving on the jury of the Menuhin Competition in Cardiff, immediately engaged him to perform with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St. Petersburg as well as at the opening concert of the next Menuhin Competition in April 2010 in Oslo.
"I have had the pleasure of knowing Ray Chen since his triumph at the Yehudi Menuhin Competition", says Maxim Vengerov. "Ray has proven himself to be a very pure musician with great qualities such as a beautiful youthful tone, vitality and lightness. He has all the skills of a truly musical interpreter." Ray Chen's upcoming engagements include a performance with the Taipei Symphony at this year's World Expo in Shanghai, a North American orchestral debut with the New Jersey Symphony as well as concerts with the Orchestre National de
Lille, Deutsche Symphonie Berlin and Sydney Symphony. Mr. Chen will also be the featured soloist of the Rostropovich Festival in Moscow.
Columbio Artisits Music (c) 2010
