PROGRAM

Shui-Long Ma: Legend of Taiwan – Overture of Chivalrous Liao Tian-Ding
Gordon Chin: Triple Concerto
Tyzen Hsiao: Ilha Formosa: Requiem for Formosa’s Martyrs

ABOUT THE CONCERT

Philharmonia Northwest is joined by Taiwanese choirs from Seattle, Vancouver B.C., and Taiwan to give a rare performance of Tyzen Hsiao’s Ilha Formosa Requiem for Formosa’s Martyrs, and soloists Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu (violin), Felix Fan (cello), and Angelo Rondello (piano) to perform Gordon Chin’s Triple Concerto. The concert also includes Shui-Long Ma’s portrayal of one of the most famous legendary Taiwanese Robin Hood figures, Liao Tian-Ding.

Ilha Formosa (Music of Taiwan)
Sat., September 29th at 2PM
Benaroya Hall
200 University St.
Seattle, WA 98101

Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, violin
Felix Fan, cello
Angelo Rondello, piano
Chung-Kuang Lin, baritone
KuanFen Liu, guest conductor
Ya-Li Lee, soprano

GUEST ARTISTS

Praised by the Seattle Times as “Simply marvelous” and Taiwan’s Liberty Times for “astonishingly capturing the spirit of the music,” violinist/violist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Cindy has collaborated in concerts with renowned artists such as Teddy Abrams, Gary Graffman, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Anthony Marwood, Midori, Thomas Quasthoff, Yuja Wang, and members of the Alban Berg, Brentano, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Miró, and Tokyo string quartets at prominent venues such as the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and festivals such as Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Mainly Mozart, the Marlboro Music Festival, and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. She has also collaborated as a guest violist with the Dover Quartet, Formosa Quartet, Orion Quartet, and Shanghai Quartet. Cindy is a recipient of many awards including the Milka Violin Artist Prize from the Curtis Institute of Music, and third prize at the International Violin Competition of David Oistrakh. She taught violin, chamber music, and string pedagogy at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California from 2010 to 2015, and has coached chamber music at the Encore School for Strings and Hotchkiss Summer Portals. She is currently the Artist in Residence and Artistic Partner of the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles. Cindy plays on a 1734 Domenico Montagnana violin, 1918 Stefano Scarampella violin, and a 2015 Stanley Kiernoziak viola.

Felix Fan‘s versatility has made him one of the most sought after cellists of his generation. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham and Janos Starker, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Musikverein and Royal Festival Hall. Fan’s recent solo engagements include the San Diego and Pacific Symphonies, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Macau Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. In 2006, Fan and violinist Cho-Liang Lin recorded Gordon Chin’s Double Concerto with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony (Naxos).

Fan’s interest in contemporary music has led to collaborations with today’s leading composers including George Crumb, Tan Dun, Hans Werner Henze, Oliver Knussen, Kaija Saariaho and Charles Wuorinen. Appearances with the Bang on a Can All-Stars has allowed Fan to work with artists as diverse as Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Terry Riley and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. In 2008, Fan joined the Flux Quartet.

In 1998, Fan founded Muzik3, a performance series and commissioning foundation dedicated to the advancement of modern music with an emphasis on integrating theater, dance and video. Muzik3 led to the formation of Real Quiet, a trio consisting of Fan, David Cossin (percussion) and Andrew Russo (piano). Since its inception in 2004, Real Quiet has premiered over 20 works and recorded music by Marc Mellits (Endeavour Records) and David Lang (Naxos). In 2005, Fan performed a series of radio plays written by acclaimed screenwriters Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers, starring actors Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep. Fan has also worked with innovative choreographers Karole Armitage, Shen Wei and Christopher Wheeldon.

Fan studied cello with Eleanore Schoenfeld (University of Southern California), Janos Starker (Indiana University), Aldo Parisot (Yale University) and Boris Pergamenschikow (Hochschule fur Musik, Cologne, Germany). In 1994, he was honored by Bill Clinton as a Presidential Scholar. Fan plays the ‘Haussman’ Stradivarius of 1724.

Angelo Rondello‘s career has brought him across the globe and throughout the United States. Described as “a true tour-de-force such as not often encountered.” (Classical Voice of North Carolina), his recent concerts have brought him to Norway, Italy, Hungary, Japan and Seattle’s Benaroya Hall.

Angelo is director of Seattle Music Exchange Project, which works with cities and cultural organizations to create dynamic, world-class musical presentations that promote cultural exchange. Founded in 2015, SMEP has shared Seattle’s finest musicians with audiences around the world, and has brought outstanding international musicians to the Pacific Northwest.

Also a devoted teacher, Angelo has a thriving studio in Seattle and is a sought after adjudicator and masterclass teacher at universities, music festivals, schools, and private music studios.

Chung-Kuang Lin, baritone, works frequently with major orchestras in Taiwan, such as NSO, NTSO, TSO and Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Lin has performed more then 30 opera roles, including Amfortas of Parcifal, Figaro and Don Bartolo of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Germont of La Traviata, Marcello and Schaunard of La Boheme, Eisenstein and Falke of Die Fledermaus, Bassa of Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Papageno of Die Zauberflote, Don Alfonso of Cosi fan tutte, Rocco and Pizzaro of Fidelio, King-Fu Tsai of Chinese opera Xshi-shi, Gianni Schicchi of Gianni Schicchi, Dancairo of Carmen, Miracle from Le Contes d’Hoffmann and Belcore from L’Elisir d’Amore. He is a well-known opera director in Taiwan as well, and has directed many success productions, such as La Boheme, Gianni Schicchi, La Travita, Die Zauberflote, Die Fledermaus, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Der Freischutz. He is currently the assistant-professor at Music Department of the National Taiwan Normal University, and also teaches in the Taipei Chamber Singers and the Chinyun Chorus. Mr. Lin is a member of the Association of Vocal Artists of the Republic of China.

Since her 1999 arrival in Southern Caliornia, Dr. KuanFen Liu has been focused on building community in the performing arts in Ventura County. In 2004, this community building led Dr. Liu to found both the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra (CHICO) and the Channel Islands Choral Association (CICA). These organizations are expressions of Dr. Liu’s vision of bringing classical music to a broad range of audiences and educating communities on its value and versatility.

The Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra features professional musicians who live and perform in Ventura County. Under Dr. Liu’s leadership, CHICO provides ten concerts annually for audiences throughout the Ventura County. CICA is affiliated with California State University Channel Islands and has singers from all over Ventura County. Performers also include faculty, staff members, students, and alumni from CSU Channel Islands. As part of Dr. Liu’s artistic direction, both CHICO and CICA engage in extensive outreach, including performances at schools, nursing homes, and correctional facilities.

Since 2004, Dr. Liu has been on the faculty of the Performing Arts Program at CSU Channel Islands, where she teaches Music Theory, Music Appreciation, Music in History, and other performing arts courses. She was also the Chancel Music Director at First United Methodist Church in Ventura, a post she held between 1999 and 2016. As Chancel Music Director, she oversaw music planning for traditional worship, prepared and directed the Chancel Choir for Sunday worship, annual concerts and musical outreach.

Originally from Taiwan, Dr. Liu began her study of piano and music theory at the age of five, and not long after added violin and voice training. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance from Tunghai University in Taiwan, a Master of Music degree in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral and Sacred Music from Thornton School of Music at USC. As a student, Dr. Liu received numerous scholarships and honors, including the USC Scholarship of Merit and Teaching Assistantship and the Choral and Sacred Music Department Honor Award.

Dr. Liu has participated in some of the finest music ensembles and workshops throughout the country, including the Robert Shaw Carnegie Hall Workshop Chorus, and has toured internationally. While at USC, she toured with the USC Chamber Choir and competed in European Grand Prix Choral Competitions in Spain and France and in a European Regional Choral Competition in France. The chamber choir was awarded the Grand Prix in 2001. In the summer of 2006, Dr. Liu was one of the twelve people chosen to work with the world-renowned German conductor Maestro Helmuth Rilling in the prestigious Oregon Bach Festival, where she rehearsed and conducted the festival chorus and orchestra.

Dr. Liu has studied choral conducting with William Dehning and William Weinert and orchestral conducting with Mark Gibson and David Effron. She has also participated in masterclasses and workshops with Robert Shaw, Charles Dutoit, Helmuth Rilling, Joseph Flummerfelt, James Jordan and Dale Warland. Dr. Liu currently lives in Camarillo, California with her husband, the Rev. Jimmy Huang, and their daughter, Terilyn Huang.

Dr. Liu was the recipient of the 2016 Ventura Mayor’s Arts Awards in the “Artist in the Community” category.

Soprano Ya-Li Lee has performed extensively as soprano in the Pacific Northwest since relocating here in 2004. She was a featured soloist in Brahms’s Girls with Gallery Concerts, the New Year’s Eve Gala with St. James Cathedral, the world premiere performances of a scene from the opera Road to Zion by Dolora Zajick, and the St. Cecilia Cantata and The Seven Last Words by Patrick Stoyanovich. Most recently, Ms. Lee performed Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue with The King’s High School Chamber Orchestra under Ms. Eun Hee Cho’s conducting. The noted music journalist Bernard Jacobson wrote: “Ya-Li Lee, who had by far the largest assignment of the three excellent soloists, has a fine voice and used it with skill and taste.” In the Fall of 2017, she assumed the duties as the Artistic director of Rong Rong Chinese Choir. Ms. Lee received her musical training in Taiwan and Italy. She regularly performs with Ladies Musical Club. She is also currently a soloist and cantor with the St. James Cathedral Choir in Seattle, Washington.

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