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Taipei Symphony Orchestra US Tour Concert #1
November 2, 2017 @ 7:30 PM - 10:30 PM
The Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO) will be performing at Flint Center, Cupertino at 19:30 on Nov. 2nd. Being the oldest orchestra in Taipei, founded nearly fifty years ago, TSO consists of the most excellent musicians in Taiwan. During the past years, TSO has performed in Germany, France, Austria, Japan, Shanghai (China), the Philippines and etc, enjoying favorable comments internationally.
For the first time in 26 years, TSO will be performing once again in the United States. Led by Principal Conductor Gilbert Varga, along with the twenty-seven-year-old Taiwanese violinist Paul Huang, winner of the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, be presenting Dvořák’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A Minor.
TSO has also specially commissioned Professor Ching-Wen Chao, Ph.D. in Composition at Stanford University, to compose work, Reminiscences from Faraway Islands, which will be the first piece to be performed during the concert, bringing the Taiwanese creativity into the world. TSO hopes to be the bridge to connect the friendship between Taipei City and Bay Area, by cultural events, namely, by this concert.
Paul Huang, Violinist
Recipient of the prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, Taiwanese-American violinist Paul Huang is already recognized for his intensely expressive music making, distinctive sound, and effortless virtuosity. Following his Kennedy Center debut, The Washington Post proclaimed: “Huang is definitely an artist with the goods for a significant career.”
His recent and upcoming engagements include debuts with the Houston, Pacific, Omaha Symphonies, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Louisiana and Seoul Philharmonics, as well as return engagements with the Detroit, Alabama, Bilbao Symphonies, and National Symphonies of Mexico and Taiwan.
He also appears at White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg at the invitation of Valery Gergiev, and returns to the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Caramoor Festival’s Rising Stars series, and Camerata Pacifica as their Principal Artist.
In 2015, Mr. Huang stepped in for Midori to appear with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin performing the Siblieus’ Concerto to critical acclaim. He also appeared with the Alabama Symphony on short notice to perform the Walton’s Concerto. Other season highlights included his Lincoln Center debut performing the Barber’s Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, as well as his sold-out solo recital debut on Lincoln Center’s “Great Performers” Series.
Mr. Huang’s recent recital appearances include performances for Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, University of Georgia Performing Arts, University of Florida Performing Arts, the Strathmore Center, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Jordan Hall, the Louvre in Paris, Seoul Arts Center, and National Concert Hall in Taiwan.
His first solo CD, Intimate Inspiration, is a collection of favorite virtuoso and romantic encore pieces released on the Chi-Mei label. In association with Camerata Pacifica, he recorded Four Songs of Solitude for solo violin on their album of John Harbison works. The album was released on the Harmonia Mundi label in fall 2014.
An acclaimed chamber musician, Mr. Huang appears as a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two. A frequent guest artist at music festivals worldwide, he has performed at Tokyo’s CHANEL Music Festival, Music@Menlo, La Jolla, the Moritzburg Festival and Kissinger Sommer in Germany, the Sion Music Festival in Switzerland, and the Great Mountains Music Festival in Korea. His collaborators have included Gil Shaham, Cho-Liang Lin, Nobuko Imai, Lawrence Power, Maxim Rysanov, Misha Maisky, Jian Wang, Frans Helmerson, and Marc-Andre Hamelin.
Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Huang made critically acclaimed recital debuts in New York and in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center. Other honors include First Prize at the 2009 International Violin Competition Sion-Valais in Switzerland, the 2009 Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation Arts Award for Taiwan’s Most Promising Young Artists, the 2013 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and 2014 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award.
Born in Taiwan, Mr. Huang began violin lessons at the age of seven. He is a proud recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under Hyo Kang and I-Hao Lee. He plays on the 1742 ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesù on loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant Award-Winning Concert Clips
Gilbert Varga, Conductor
Gilbert Varga, son of celebrated Hungarian violinist Tibor Varga, conducts with distinctive presence and flair. A commanding and authoritative figure on the podium, Varga is repeatedly acclaimed for performances displaying exquisite textures, a broad range of colours, and subtle use of dynamics.
Renowned for his elegant and exceptionally clear baton technique, Varga has held positions with and guest conducted many of the major orchestras across the world, and in 2013 was appointed Principal Conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.
Highlights of his 2017/18 season include his returns to Konzerthaus Berlin, Royal Scottish National, Basque National and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra amongst others. In the United States he will conduct the symphony orchestras of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra on tour across the west coast.
Varga’s discography includes recordings with various labels including ASV, Koch International, and Claves Records. His latest recording of cello concertos by Shostakovich & Martinů with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Christian Poltéra on BIS was released in May 2017, and his 2011 recording of concertos by Ravel and Prokofiev with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Anna Vinnitskaya on Naïve Records was given five stars by BBC Music Magazine.
Taipei Symphony Orchestra
(Web) http://www.tso.gov.taipei
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