Modern Art Meets Chamber Music - A Stride Arts Series
The New Asia CMS musicians brings a celebratory program themed “Vibrancy” as their first in-person performances in New York since the pandemic started in 2020. The repertoire selected ranges from duo to piano quintet, featuring works by Beethoven, Caroline Shaw, Piazzola, Dvorak and others, and bringing together folksy elements and traditions of international music.
The program begins with two string quartets - a transcription of a Taiwanese folk song, “Craving for the the Spring Wind” and Caroline Shaw’s Valencia, delivers a contrast of traditional and contemporary employment of the same instrumentation. Followed by two trios - the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Trio, Op.70 No.1, which begins with a fast-moving rhythmic figure, and Moszkovski’s Suite for two violins and piano, another spectacular and brilliant work. The first half of the program concludes with music from Latin America to Asia - Piazolla’s Le Grand Tango for cello and piano, a virtuosic concert rendition of tango for both instruments, and The Wild Life Suite, which features erhu, the Chinese violin.
The second half of the program features Dvorak;s Piano Quintet No.2 in A major, a much celebrated repertoire for the instrumentation. The quintet is a mixture of the composer’s personal expressive lyricism and elements of Czech folk music, and ends the program with a chorale-like section which quickens to a spirited closure.
Program:
Chang Shiuan: String Quartet for Folk Tune (望春風)
Caroline Shaw: “Valencia” for String Quartet
Beethoven: Trio in D major, NO.1, “Ghost”, I. Allegro vivace e con brio
Moszkovski: Suite for Two Violins and Piano,Op.71, IV. Molto vivace
Piazzola: Le Grand Tango
Folk Song, The Wildlife Suite for Erhu, Violin and Piano
-Intermission-
Dvorak: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op.81
I. Allegro ma non tanto
II. Dumka. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo-Furiant: Molto vivace
IV. Finale. Allegro
Musicians:
Keiko Tokunaga, violin
Winner of the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/ Small Ensemble Performance, violinist Keiko Tokunaga spends most of her days touring and performing globally as a soloist and chamber musician. Ms. Tokunaga has performed, toured and recorded extensively with the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet from 2005 to 2019, and has been praised by the Strings Magazine for possessing a sound “with probing quality that is supple and airborne” and for her “pure, pellucid bow strokes”. Ms. Tokunaga has soloed with various orchestras including the Spanish National Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya and Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, Ms. Tokunaga released her debut album, Jewels, from New York Classics Label. She is currently on faculty at The Juilliard School’s Pre-College as well as Fordham University.
Joanne Lin, violin
Joanne Lin is a violinist based in New York. Her performances are expanding through the US and Asia including venues of Carnegie Hall, Headquarters of the United Nations, and Lincoln Center, amongst others.
Joanne was invited to perform at both the opening and closing concert of the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in 2017, the top 10 semi-finalists at The Cooper International Violin Competition in Cleveland, Ohio in 2019, and invited by the General Agent of AKG Acoustics to give a recital at the National Recital Hall in Taiwan in 2020. Joanne’s orchestral career has included collaborations with Maestro David Robertson, Maestro Simon Rattle, and MaestroYannick Nézet-Séguin at Juilliard. In early 2020, Joanne was taught by violinist Pierre Amoyal.
Joanne has recently graduated from The Juilliard School Pre-college Division, where she studies violin with Professor I-Hao Lee. She will be starting her next education level at DePaul University for double majoring in B.M. and B.S. with an almost full scholarship for entire years of study.
Andy Lin, viola/erhu
Taiwanese born violist and erhuist, Wei-Yang Andy Lin, is recognized as one of the most promising and the only active performers who specialized in both western and eastern instruments. Praised by The Strad “The great Molto adagio…..elicited some of the night’s most sensitive work, especially from Wei-Yang Andy Lin on viola.” and New York Times “Taiwanese-born violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin..…is also a virtuoso on the erhu, and he gave a brilliant performance.” Andy is the artistic director and co-founder of the New Asia Chamber Music Society and holds his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School and his Doctor’s degree in Musical Arts from SUNY Stony Brook. He has won numerous competitions including Taiwan National Viola Competition and First Prize in the 2008 Juilliard Viola Concerto Competition. Read full bio. (www.andylinviola.com)
Nan-Cheng Chen, cello
Cellist Nan-Cheng Chen’s performance was recently described as “personable and smile-inducing” and “fine playing” by Washington Post and “Beautiful Tone” by New York Concert Reviews. As a chamber musician, Nan-Cheng is the executive director and co-founder of the New Asia Chamber Music Society (NACMS). An active soloist, Nan-Cheng Chen was featured in concert tours throughout North and South American, Europe and Asia, and has collaborated with Simon Bolivar Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Metro-West Symphony, Quincy Symphony and Symphony Pro Musica, which received a review that states: “It was the kind of performance one might hear live only once a decade”, from Worcester Telegram and Gazette.
Nan-Cheng’s festival participations includes Banff Centre Residency, Sarasota Music Festival, Heifetz Institute and Kneisel Hall. Read full bio.
David Fung, piano
Praised for his “ravishing and simply gorgeous” performances in The Washington Post, pianist David Fung regularly appears with the world’s premier ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the San Diego Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony, as well as the major orchestras in Australia, including the Melbourne, Queensland, and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.
This season, Mr. Fung performs alongside Yuja Wang and Gustavo Dudamel with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in their Sound/Stage series at the Hollywood Bowl. Mr. Fung also appears with the Brentano Quartet at Carnegie Hall and returns to Caramoor. Read full bio.
*Hors d’Oeuvres and Wines will be served
*Special thanks to Nan-Cheng Chen for sponsoring and Stride Arts for hosting the concert.