The British Connection

Casual Concert: October 27th, 2019 @ 7:30 PM
Salon Concert: October 28th, 2019 @ 7:30 PM

The lush, pastoral romanticism and witty energy of many 20th century British composers derive from 19th century composers like Felix Mendelssohn, whose imaginative scene-setting and soaring melodies left a lasting impact on the musical world. English composers Edward Elgar and Arnold Bax offer open-hearted phrases and tonal harmonies with plenty of dramatic tension; Malcolm Arnold’s Sonatina, composed just after World War II, is rather a playful, jazz-influenced thrill-ride that pushes both performers to their limits.

Program

Edward Elgar: Sonatina in G major for Piano Solo
Arnold Bax: Clarinet Sonata in D major for Clarinet and Piano
Malcom Arnold: Sonatina Op. 29 for Clarinet and Piano
Intermission
Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61, Overture arr. for piano 4-hands
Felix Mendelssohn: Two Concert Pieces Op. 113/114 for Clarinet and Basset Horn

Listen

Musicians

Taiwanese Pianist Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao enjoys performing in a wide variety of settings, which includes chamber music, opera, orchestral ensembles, new music ensembles and choral music. She has collaborated with many distinguished artists including Lynn Harrell, Stefan Jackiw, Robert McDuffie, Bion Tsang, Gerardo Riberio, David Coucheron, Jennifer Stumm, and many members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
Kao is currently the Assistant Professor of Professional Practice and Collaborative Piano Artist at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She is also the collaborative piano coordinator at the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York. She has been a collaborative pianist at Columbus State University and Mercer University in Georgia, where she worked with students of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings.

She has appeared at Carnegie Weill Hall and can be heard with cellist Bion Tsang on his CD The Blue Rock Sessions. She was also a member of the Boulder Altitude Directive, a modern music ensemble dedicated to commissioning and performing new music, during their inaugural season. Cecilia has received fellowships for both the Aspen School of Music and the Music Academy of the West, where she studied with Jonathan Feldman. She also was a chamber music artist at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival in Florida.

Kao holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with the pioneer pedagogue, Anne Epperson. Prior to her move to the U.S., she was one of the first pianists to receive the Master of Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, where she also received her bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance. Her principal teachers include Anne Epperson, Margaret McDonald, Alexandra Nguyen, Elizabeth Pridgen, Chi-Chen Wu, and Shu-Cheng Lin.

Stas Chernyshev, a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, is recently appointed principal clarinetist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. He is the founder and artistic director of Fort Worth Performances for Autism, and a co-director of Opus Nova Chamber Music Series. Mr. Chernyshev is a prize winner of many international competitions, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Russia, South Korea, Japan. A devoted chamber musician, Mr. Chernyshev has collaborated with Grammy-winning ensemblesEighth Blackbird and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, commissioned new works for his instrument. He has been featured on WQXR -New York’s classical music station and WHYY’s television program - On Stage at Curtis. Mr. Chernyshev holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a Master’s degree from St. Petersburg Conservatory, Russia. He is an alumnus of Ensemble Connect (formerly Ensemble ACJW), a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute, and ArtistYear, a program of the Curtis Institute of Music.

Ann Hung, born in Taipei, Taiwan, began her musical studies at a young age, starting with piano at age five and clarinet at age nine. Dr. Hung is an active performer in the Dallas and Fort Worth area who regularly performs in the realms of both the orchestral and chamber music. She has shared the stage with the Fort Worth Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the faculty of the Juilliard School. Dr. Hung is always pushing the boundaries of her repertoire and skills, such as collaborating with jazz musicians and commissioning new composers. As a proponent of new music, she has avidlycommissioned new works including a wind quintet with her quintet Opus Now premiering in Symphony Space in NYC. One of the new works that Dr. Hung commissioned is included in a recently released album “Stained Glass Story” by Eldad Tarmu. Dr. Hung is currently teaching in Lewisville ISD, Burleson ISD as private lesson instructor and often plays with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. She is the associate director of the Fort Worth Performances for Autism and co- founder of Opus Nova Chamber Music Series.