Concert by pianist Carol Yu and friends
Hong Kong Chamber Music Society
proudly presents
Concert by pianist Carol Yu and friends
Date and time:
Thursday 14 October, 2010
(Concert at 7pm / Dinner at 8:45pm)
Location:
Central
Admission:
Concert only:
HKCMS members $260
Non-members $280
Full-time students $120
Concert and Dinner: $540
Programme:
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49
~Intermission~
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major (“The Trout”)
About the musicians:
Carol Yu (piano)
Steinway Artist and Steinway Spirio Recording Artist, is acclaimed for her tasteful and engaging piano performances worldwide, praised by the Times UK and Viktor Merzhanov. She has performed internationally at major venues and festivals, collaborating with orchestras like the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and Malaysia National Symphony Orchestra, and with esteemed conductors and chamber musicians. Carol’s recordings, including a solo album of Chopin and Beethoven, have received international acclaim.
As a “5th Generation Chopin and Liszt Lineage” pianist, she studied under renowned masters such as Merzhanov and Zaritskaya, and chamber music with distinguished artists. She holds First Class Honours degrees from the Royal Academy of Music London and a Master’s from Musikhochschule Trossingen.
Carol founded the Manhattan International Young Artists Music Festival, bringing young talent to Carnegie Hall, and serves as Chairperson of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music & Dance Fund Awardees Association and Artistic Director of Concordia Music International. She is a juror for major competitions and teaches at several Hong Kong universities, having nurtured many award-winning students.
With expertise in music psychology, she presents internationally and actively supports charitable causes through benefit concerts for organizations including UNICEF and Habitat for Humanity.
Chow Lap Chung (violin)
Chow Lap Chung has been a first violinist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 1986. Beginning violin at age six, he performed his first concerto at 11 and studied under Mr. Wang Zhen Shan at the Beijing Conservatory. He won the Lady Maclehose Prize at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1983 and received a Hong Kong Government scholarship to study with David Takeno at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1986.
Chow formed a string quartet and played with various London ensembles, including the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of the Young Musician Symphony Orchestra performing at major London venues. He has performed and taught extensively in the UK, Hong Kong, Macau, and China.
In 1993, he founded a piano trio, and from 1995 to 2000 was with the Hong Kong String Quartet, appearing at major festivals. He represented Hong Kong at the 2001 Asian Friendly Concert in Japan and has given numerous recitals and charity concerts.
Chow founded Charles’ Art Studio in 2005 and has held student and chamber music concerts in Hong Kong. He has lectured at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and currently teaches violin at Hong Kong Baptist University and Education University of Hong Kong.
Meidad Yehudayan (viola)
A native of Israel, Meidad Yehudayan performs around the world as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He recently performed at the International Chamber Music Festival of Ameropa in the Czech Republic, FOOSA String Festival in California and a few concertos in the USA, Hong Kong, Korea and Israel. His projects in the past few years include solo and chamber music concerts with members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Hamburg Symphony, as well as CD recordings with Hong Kong Pure Strings. The first CD, Popsinera, was awarded “The 10 Hottest CDs of the Year 2008” and “The Best Light Music Album of the Year 2008” by Radio Guangdong’s Voice of the City. The second CD Surprise – Happy Birthday was awarded the “Best CD of 2009” by Radio Guangdong. This is one of the biggest awards in China which takes playing, music selection and arrangements into consideration. As a soloist, he was invited to play at the main event of the World Peace Festival 2005 in Korea, where all proceeds were donated to UNICEF.
Yehudayan has given masterclasses at Indiana University in the USA, and was a jury member at the International Vienna Music Competition, HKGNA competitions, Hong Kong Bauhinia Cup Strings Competitions, and Hong Kong International Violin Competition. He was a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong String Quartet between 1995-2001. A prizewinner of many competitions in Israel, he has performed many recitals in Israel, America and Europe, and has recorded for Israeli National Radio & RTHK Radio 4 in Hong Kong.
Yehudayan received his Bachelor of Music Degree and Artist Diploma in the Faculty of Performing Arts at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance, where he studied violin and viola with Samuel Bernstein, a renowned teacher and the first mentor of Gil Shaham. He had the honour to be the first and only Israeli student to be sent to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia, where he received a diploma under the guidance of Yuri Bashmet and Fyodor Druzhinin. Subsequently, he acquired his Master of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Michael Tree, violist of the Guarneri String Quartet, and Pinchas Zukerman.
Yehudayan is the current violist of the Pure Strings Ensemble, and has been Orchestra and Strings Director at Hong Kong International School since 2000.
Artem Konstantinov (cello)
Born in Russia into a family of musicians, Artem Konstantinov has studied at the Glinka School in Novosibirsk, the Moscow Conservatory and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Artem has studied and collaborated with such distinguished cellists as Mstislav Rostropovich, Kirill Rodin, Alexander Kniazev, Natalya Shakovskaya, Alexander Rudin, Marina Tarasova, and Stefan Popov. Artem has won prizes at numerous competitions, including the Competition of Young Cellists in Russia, the Moscow International Competition of Young Ensembles, the 1995 International Chamber Music Competition in Palma d’Oro, Italy, and the 1997 Russian National Cello Competition. In 2001 he received an honorary award from the Russian Ministry of Culture.
From 1999-2005, Artem served as Principal Cello and soloist of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Professor of Cello at the Shenzhen School of the Arts, and Guest Principal Cello for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, he is Principal Cellist of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. He also teaches at Yip’s Music Centre and Hong Kong Baptist University.
Eddie Zong (bass)
Eddie Zong Xiaoqian, Bassist, is currently holding the principal double bass position of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Central Conservatory of Music in 1984 and Master of Music degree from Indiana University in 1988. His teachers include L. Hurst, B. Bransby, S. Sankey and M. Grodner. Before his engagement with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, he was acting principal bass of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans from 1992-94. He was also the principal bass player of the Israel Sinfornietta from 1989-91. He was invited to the music festivals such as Aspen, Blue Lake, Keystone, Missouri, Spoleto and Village Bach. He has been the double bass concerto soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, the Xian Symphony, the Israel Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Indiana University Orchestra. He is now teaching at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Hong Kong Institute of Education and the Hong Kong Baptist University.