Pei Yao Wang, piano, and Friends 11/17/06

Friday, November 17, 2006
8:00 P.M.
Center for the Arts, Concert Hall

Taiwanese prodigy Pei-Yao Wang began playing the piano at age five, and became the Curtis Institute’s youngest student. She later studied with Claude Frank and, for a time, was the only piano pupil of Performing Arts Series artist Richard Goode. Now, she has brought together a number of young string musicians, including violinist and Vermont Youth Orchestra alumnus Soovin Kim, who played a Brainerd recital a few years ago, and cellist Sophie Shao, who played here previously with the chamber ensemble Concertante. For this concert, they perform music by three composers whose anniversaries we celebrate this year: Mozart, Robert Schumann, and Shostakovich.

Performing Arts Series Director Paul Nelson commented, "Pianist Pei-Yao Wang was brought to our attention by a friend who has heard her at the Marlboro Music Festival, which attracts some of the world’s finest young musicians to learn and perform chamber music for several weeks each summer.  Pei-Yao Wang has gathered some of the brightest young stars of the string world to play works by three composers whose anniversaries are celebrated this year:  Mozart, Robert Schumann, and Shostakovich.  Among the other musicians will be violinist Soovin Kim, who grew up in Plattsburgh, played with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, and then went on to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute, after which he won the Paganini International Violin Competition.  He’s played here before.  We welcome him back, as we do cellist Sophie Shao, who played here a few seasons ago (impressively, we felt) with the chamber ensemble Concertante."

Reserved Seating: $15/12/5. http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets or 802-443-MIDD (6433).

Pre-performance dinner: Rehearsals Cafe, 6:30 p.m. Reservations required.

Concert Program:

Soovin Kim , violin
Jessica Lee, violin
Rebecca Albers , viola
Sophie Shao, Cello
Pei-Yao Wang , piano

MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor, KV 478

SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Quintet in G minor

 Intermission

SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44

For program notes, please contact Events and Residency Manager Allison Coyne Carroll at carroll@middlebury.edu

Artist Biographies:

Pei-Yao Wang, piano

Pianist Pei-Yao Wang has established herself as a prominent soloist and chamber musician. She made her official orchestral debut with the Taipei symphony Orchestra at age 8 and has since performed as soloist with the Stamford Symphony, Orlando Symphony, South Fingerlake Orchestra and Taipei Philharmonic. She also has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia; including venues such as the Carnegie, Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, 92nd street Y, Merkin Halls in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Salle des Varietes in Monte-Carlo, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. As a chamber Musician, Pei-Yao has collaborated with members of the Guarneri , Orion, Chicago, Mendelssohn and Miro quartets; and has performed with other distinguished artists such as Claude Frank, Hilary Hahn, David Shifrin, and Mitsuko Uchida. She is also regularly invited to perform at festivals including Marlboro, Caramoor, Norfolk, La Jolla, Ravinia, and Bridgehampton in New York. She is currently a member of Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center, a program to promote emerging young artists.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Pai-Yao was the youngest pianist ever to receive the overall First Prize in the Taiwan National Piano Competition, at the age of eight. Four years later, she was invited to study at The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with Seymour Lipkin and Institute Director Gary Graffman. She then studied with Claude Frank at Yale University, where she received the Master of Music degree, and also pursued a concentration in architecture. She currently resides in New York City, where for several years she was under the tutelage of celebrated pianist Richard Goode. Pei-Yao is currently a member of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Program.


Soovin Kim , violin

American violinist Soovin Kim is increasingly sought after for the character, nuance, and excitement of his performances as concerto soloist, chamber musician and recitalist. Particularly known for his breadth of repertoire, Mr.Kim typically takes on everything from Bach to Paganini to the big romantic concertos to new commissions within a single season. He appears this season playing Mozart with the Baltimore and Nashville symphonies, Mendelssohn with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the National Philharmonic, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.

He will work again with Maestro Myung-Whun Chung playing the Brahms Double Concerto with cellist Jian Wang and the Seoul Philharmonic. Mr. Kim begins his season with violinist Christian Tetzlaff on a chamber music tour that includes performances at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus. Subsequent projects range from recitals of the three Brahms sonatas and four Ives sonatas in Philadelphia to a performance of the two Schubert piano trios as a part of the North Carolina Symphony’s Schubert Festival.

Mr. Kim’s first CD with Azica Records, Niccoló Paganini's demanding 24 Caprices for solo violin, was released in February 2006 and was named Classic FM magazine’s Instrumental Disc of the Month. Another Azica CD of Fauré’s Sonata in A Major and Chausson’s Concerto for violin, piano, and quartet will be released in early 2007.

Mr. Kim devotes a part of each year to studying and performing the quartet literature with the Johannes String Quartet. In past seasons he has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Mr. Kim won first prize at the Paganini international competition as well as receiving the Henryk Szeryng Career Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and later attended and graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music. Mr. Kim resides in Manhattan with his new wife Joanne, and teaches at Yale University and Bard College. He plays on a 1709 Antonio Stradivarius violin, the “ex-Kempner.”

Jessica Lee, violin

Violinist Jessica Lee first captured national attention with a feature article in LIFE magazine at the age of 3.  In 1989, at the age of 6, she performed at the White House in Manila, Philippines for President Corazon Aquino.  Since then, this Korean-American artist has been heard on four continents including such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall.  Most recently, she garnered First Prize at the 2005 Concert Artist’s Guild International Competition, along with the Victor and Sono Elmaleh prize, R.G. Niederhoffer Audience Prize, and numerous performance prize engagements throughout the US. 

Recently praised in The New York Times as a “thoughtful violinist,” Ms. Lee’s 2006-07 season highlights include her concerto debut at Alice Tully Hall, performing the Beethoven Concerto with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, as well as recitals at Indiana’s Purdue University, in Panama City at the Asociacion Nacional de Conciertos, and New York’s St. Bonaventure University and Houghton College.  She also will tour the US once again with ‘Musicians from Marlboro,’ and she will perform with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO).

Other recent featured engagements include her New York recital debut at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall on the Concert Artists Guild winners series, as well as recitals at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, and the Caramoor Festival in New York, among others.  Additional appearances include ‘Musicians from Marlboro’ tours and at Town Hall and the Kennedy Center. 

Ms. Lee has also appeared on the Concerti di Mezzogiorno Recital Series at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Festival de Musica da Camera in Lima, Peru, and the FOCUS! Festival in New York.  She has performed as guest soloist with such orchestras as the American Chamber Orchestra, the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Hampton Youth Symphony, and as one of the soloists with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. 

An active and passionate chamber musician, Ms. Lee recently became a member of the Johannes String Quartet (“the highest level in quartet playing” - Philadelphia Inquirer).  She has been a participant at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival as well as at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and has been heard on the stages of Alice Tully Hall, the Spoleto Festival, the 92nd St. Y Tisch Concert Hall, as well as venues in the Netherlands and Korea. 

A native of Virginia, Jessica Lee began playing the violin at age three and later studied with Weigang Li of the Shanghai Quartet.  At age 14, she was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia under the tutelage of Robert Mann and Ida Kavafian and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree four years later.  In May 2003, she completed her studies with Robert Mann for a Master of Music Degree at the Juilliard School, and currently resides in New York. 


Rebecca Albers , viola

Violist Rebecca Albers has performed in seven countries on three continents and has appeared on national television in the United States and China. As the 2002-03 winner of the Juilliard School's Viola Competition, Rebecca made her New York debut with the Juilliard Orchestra performing the New York premiere of Samuel Adler's Viola Concerto in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. In the summer of 2004, she was a winner of the Music Academy of the West's Concerto Competition. There she performed Alfred Schnittke's Viola Concerto with the Music Academy's Festival Orchestra with Gerard Schwartz conducting.

A native of Longmont, Colorado, Rebecca has won numerous Colorado competitions and awards including the Denver Young Artists Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Boulder Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, and the Longmont Symphony Young Artists Competition. In 2001 she was the western regional winner of the National Federation of Music Club's Wendell Irish Viola Award and in 2005 she was awarded the Wayne Crouse Memorial Award in viola performance at the Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings.

Rebecca has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, the International Musicians Seminar and Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, Music Academy of the West,the Taos School of Music, the Sarasota Music Festival, ENCORE School for Strings, and the Perlman Music Program (PMP) including its residencies in Sarasota, FL, and Shanghai, China. An experienced chamber musician, she has performed throughout the UnitedStates, France and Switzerland, including performances with such artists as Richard Goode, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard and St. Lawrence String Quartets. Rebecca is a graduate student and teaching assistant of Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang at the Juilliard School. Past teachers include James Maurer and Ellie Albers LeRoux.

Winner of a top prize at the 2001 Rostropovich Competition and the Pierre Fournier Prize for the best interpretation of Beethoven Sonata in C Major, op. 102/1, and a laureate of the XII Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002, Ms. Shao received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant at the age of nineteen.  This season Ms. Shao makes her debut performing Elgar Cello Concerto with the American Symphony Orchestra, with music director Leon Botstein conducting. Last season Ms. Shao made her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, playing Shostakovich 1st Concerto under the direction of music director Wen-Pin Chien.  Past orchestral appearances include the Orchestre de Paris with Christoph Eschenbach, the Russian State Academic Symphony Cappella with Valery Poliansky, the Houston Symphony, Erie Symphony, among others. She has performed recitals throughout the United States and Japan, and has appeared in performances in 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 great demand as a chamber musician, she has collaborated with members of the Beaux Arts Trio, the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, Cleveland, Mendelssohn String Quartets, and has performed with such distinguished artists as Gary Graffman, David Shifrin, Jaime Laredo, Andre Previn, Eugene Istomin, Cho-Liang Lin, Andre-Michel Schub, Paquito D'Rivera, Claude Frank, Andre Watts, Martha Argerich, and Christoph Eschenbach. Ms. Shao's many festival appearances include Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Bard, Caramoor, Vail, Bridgehampton, Sarasota, Music from Angel Fire, Saratoga, 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, and continues to be a regular guest at the Chamber Music Society.  Her chamber music collaborations last season took her throughout the United States and to the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy, and this season throughout the United States.

Ms. Shao can be heard on EMI Classics, playing Andre Previn's Reflections with the Curtis Orchestra under the direction of the composer. Her 1995 performance of Mendelssohn's Quartet in a minor appears on Marlboro Music Festival's 50th Anniversary Album on Bridge Records.  Her latest recording, Diablerie, has just been released on Albany Records, featuring the compositions of Richard Wilson.

A native of Houston, Texas, Ms. Shao began playing the cello at age six, and was a student of Shirley Trepel, then the principal cellist of the Houston Symphony and professor at Rice University. At age thirteen she enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying cello with David Soyer and chamber music with Felix Galimir. After graduating from the Curtis Institute, she continued her cello studies with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, receiving a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale College and an M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where she was enrolled as a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow. She now resides in Manhattan, and teaches cello at Vassar College and the Bard Conservatory.