The PE Music Society will start off this year’s concerts with a superb violinist from China, Ji-Yia Susanne Hou, partnered on the piano by Bryan Wallick. The concert takes place on Tuesday, 17 February 2015 in the NMMU South campus auditorium. The concert starts at 19h30.
International Violinist, Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, is the first ever violinist to capture 3 Gold Medals with unanimous Juries at 3 International Violin Competitions.
As a solo violinist, Hou has traveled the world, touring in Canada with Debut Atlantic & Prairie Debut, and throughout the United States, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, China, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong
Born into a musical family, Ms Hou had music surrounding her all her life. Both her mother and father are violinists, and thus at the tender age of 4, Hou began studying violin with her father, Alec Hou. Less than a year later, she gave her first public performance and was received with a standing ovation. At nine, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto invited her as a scholarship student.
The outstanding violin being used by Yi-Jia Susanne Hou is the ex-Mary Portman, Fritz Kreisler Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, Cremona, c. 1735 on extended loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the generous efforts of The Stradivari Society® of Chicago. The Stradivari Society® is a unique organization that supports the very highest level of string playing by assisting patrons who own the most precious antique Italian instruments and choose to make them available to artists of exceptional talent and ability.
Bryan Wallick is gaining recognition as one of the great American virtuoso pianists of his generation. Gold medalist of the 1997 Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev, he has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and South Africa.
Mr. Wallick’s 2013-14 highlights included a solo recital debut at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, debut performances with the Portland Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Pretoria Symphony Orchestra, and a last minute cancellation with the Johannesburg Philharmonic. He also performed solo recitals throughout South Africa and performed chamber recitals with violinist, Sergey Malov, cellist, Anzel Gerber and soprano, Hanli Stapela. In 2014-15, he will return to perform with the Johannesburg Philharmonic, the Kwa-zulu Natal Philharmonic, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and will also perform solo and chamber recitals throughout South Africa with violinist, Suzanne Hou and soprano, Hanli Stapela.
Mr. Wallick studied with Jerome Lowenthal in New York City, where he was the first Juilliard School graduate to receive both an undergraduate Honors Diploma (2000) and an accelerated Master’s Degree (2001).
For their recital in PE they chose the following programme:
- Scherzo (Sonatensatz) in C minor – Johannes BRAHMS (1833 – 1897)
- Fantasy in C Major – Franz Peter SCHUBERT (1797 – 1828)
- Andante moderato -Allegretto – Andantino – Tempo primo – Allegro vivace – Allegretto – Presto
- Violin Sonata No 3 in D Minor, Opus 108 – Johannes BRAHMS ( 1833 -1897)
- Allegro, Adagio, Un poco presto e con sentiment, Presto agitato
- Masks – Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891 – 1953)
- Adoration – Mychael DANNA (born 1958)
- Taste of Canada – Yi-Jia Susanne Hou
- Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Opus 28 – Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835 – 1921)
Alan Straton
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