Menuhin Winner Angelo Xiang Yu to Perform at Jordan Hall

Boston, Jan. 12, 2015, — In the evening of Jan. 17, Foundation For Chinese Performing Arts will present a new year concert that features two you the most talented young musicians in the area: violinist Angelo Xiang Yu and pianist Qing Jiang. After winning Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2010 as a student at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Angelo Xiang Yu came to Boston to study violin at NEC.

Angelo Xiang Yu, violin

Winner of the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2010, violinist Angelo Xiang Yu is regarded as one of today’s most talented and creative young violinists. His astonishing technique, distinctive sound, and exceptional musicality have won him consistent critical acclaim (the Strad, String magazine, Boston Globe) and enthusiastic audience response worldwide.

In addition to winning the Menuhin Competition, including the Bach Prize and Audience prize, Angelo also won 2nd prize in the Wieniawski International Violin Competition (2006); 3rd prize in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (2011); and 2nd prize and the Best Commissioned Work Prize in the 25th Irving M. Klein International String Competition.

Angelo appeared as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber , Auckland Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, Munich Chamber Orchestra, among others. He will debut with the Charlotte Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and Toronto Symphony Orchestras next season.

Angelo has performed in venues throughout the world, including Konzerthaus Berlin, Shanghai Grand Theatre, National Center For The Performing Arts (China), Wienawski Hall (Poland), the Grand Theatre of Calgary, Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), Oslo Opera House and Troldsalen Bergen (Norway), Auckland Town Hall (New Zealand), Louvre Museum Auditorium (France), Bennett-Gordon Hall, Heinz Hall, as well as NEC’s Jordan Hall and Boston Symphony Hall.

As an enthusiastic chamber musician, Angelo’s “Xiang Quartet” not only won the 1st prize in the Bode Cup Chamber Music Competition, but also premiered many contemporary chamber masterpieces in China. He has been invited to numerous world-renowned festivals such as Verbier Academy, Yellow Barn, Bergen, Kronberg Academy, Perlman Chamber Music, Morningside Music Bridge (Canada), and the Steans Institute at the Ravinia. He has collaborated with such artists as Kim Kashkashian, Ivry Gitlis, Walter Levin, Ana Chumachenco, Mihaela Martin, Pamela Frank, Paul Katz, Ida Kavafian, Igor Ozim, Frans Helmerson, and Christian Tetzlaff.

Angelo has recently been featured as the Artist in Residence on the “Performance Today” show by American Public Media and broadcast nationally. He has also been invited to give live performances and interviews in both Drive Time Live at WGBH and On Pointat WBUR.

Born in Inner Mongolia, Angelo received his early training from Qing Zheng at the Shanghai Conservatory. He received his BA from New England Conservatory with the Presidential Scholarship in Violin under Donald Weilerstein and Kim Kashkashian. After his BA in 2012, Mr. Yu continued to be a candidate for NEC’s most prestigious Artist Diploma, which he was awarded in May 2014. He is now working towards a MM Degree. Mr. Yu is currently under CM Artist Management, New York. http://www.cmartists.com/artists/angelo-xiang-yu.htm
(2014)

Qing Jiang, piano

Praised by the New York Times as a “fiery musician” whose playing is “vigorous and passionate,” pianist Qing Jiang is emerging as a unique and versatile artist. As a
soloist, Ms. Jiang has performed to acclaim across the United States and abroad, including concerts in Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Jordan Hall, Gardner Museum,
LACMA, the Beijing Conservatory, and festivals appearances at Yellow Barn, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Britten-Pears Young Artist Program, Music@Menlo, Christian
Tetzlaff’s Carnegie Professional Training Workshop, Perlman Music Program, and Aspen Music festival where she soloed with the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra.

Dynamic as a chamber musician, Ms. Jiang is a founding member of NEC’s Honor’s Ensemble Trio ING, and she has collaborated with notable artists including Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, Anthony Marwood, Roger Tapping, Natasha Brofsky, Paul Watkins, Gilbert Kalish, and the late Michael Steinberg among others. Equally experienced with contemporary music, she has worked closely with composers Brett Dean, Jennifer Higdon, Stephen Coxe, Daniel Temkin, and David Ludwig. Committed to education, Ms. Jiang has taught piano and chamber music at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and the Yellow Barn Young Artist Program, and served as musical studies faculty and staff pianist at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Born in China, Ms. Jiang gave her American debut at age 17. She was a Jack Kent Cooke National Arts Scholar, and a finalist for the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust
Award. Ms. Jiang holds degrees from Arizona State University (BM), Juilliard (MM), and New England Conservatory (DMA), studying with Caio Pagano, Robert McDonald, Patricia Zander, and Wha-kyung Byun. (For more, see: www.qingjiangpiano.com)


Ke Xu, composer

Hailed by Chicago Constellation Salon as “hyper-expressive”, composer Ke Xu was the first prize winner of both the 2013 Mivos I Creation International Composition Prize; and the 2012 Young Composer Competition of Beijing International Modern Music Festival(2014).

His music have been performed at the 2014 MATA Festival, the 2012 Beijing International Modern Music Festival and the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival for two consecutive years (2010 and 2011). His ensemble for traditional Chinese music “The landscape of Mongolia grassland ” was selected in the music album “The Sound of China” by Chinese Central Propaganda Department; his string quartet “Tai Chi” is on the program of Mivos String Quartet for their world concert tour. His solo cello piece “Withered Rose” was selected as the test repertoire of the cello department at Shanghai Conservatory (2010-2012).

After graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory in 2011, Ke Xu continued his studies and received his MM under Kati Agócs at the New England Conservatory. Other compositional teachers whom Ke Xu studied with include Chen Gang, Robert Beaser, John Haiss, and John Mallia. (For more, see: www.kexumusic.com)