Wanchi Huang, violin with Robert Koenig, piano

PROGRAM:

Walton: Violin Sonata in A Minor
Britten: Suite op. 6 for violin and piano

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Wanchi Huang, born in Taiwan, started playing violin at age six and came to the U.S. at age 13 to study at the Peabody Conservatory and the Baltimore School for the Arts, soloing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under conductor Catherine Comet a year later.  She went on to earn a Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, a Master of Music from The Julliard School, and a Doctor of Music from Indiana University. She has given highly acclaimed recitals and collaborated with internationally renowned performing artists in chamber music performances throughout the United States, including at the Kennedy Center.  She has served as an adjudicator at the Hong Kong Music School Festival multiple times and as a performing instructor at the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan for the past five summers.  She has presented at the ASTA National Conference on multiple occasions and her CDs of Eugène Ysaÿe Sonatas and complete Partitas and Sonatas of J.S. Bach for Solo Violin are being released in the fall of 2013 and 2015, under the Centaur Records label.  Both CDs have earned very favorable reviews.  A founding member of the Trio Sorpresa, a piano trio newly formed in 2014, Wanchi is looking forward to their scheduled concert tours in the near future.

Pianist Robert Koenig has established a reputation as a much sought-after collaborative pianist and chamber musician. He performs regularly in major centers throughout the world with many of this generation’s most renowned musicians. Recent engagements have included performances at Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, The Concertgebuow in Amsterdam, The Louvre Museum in Paris, and Royal Festival Hall in London. He has performed with many of today’s leading artists including Sarah Chang, Hilary Hahn, Pamela Frank, Augustin Hadelich, Zuill Bailey, Sara Sant’Ambrogio, Roberto Diaz, Elmar Oliveira, Aaron Rosand, The Miro String Quartet, and The St. Lawrence String Quartet.

Mr. Koenig has appeared at many festivals including Aspen, Ravinia, Banff, Saratoga, Caramoor, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the El Paso Pro Musica, Chamber Music Northwest, West Branch International Festival and Academy, the Campos do Jordao Festival in Brazil, and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. He is frequently heard on radio and television including ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS “This Morning”. Mr. Koenig was staff pianist at both The Juilliard School and The Curtis Institute of Music, and from 2000-2007 he served as Professor of Piano and Piano Chamber Music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. With the assistance of the University of Kansas Center for Research, Mr. Koenig commissioned renowned American Composer Lowell Liebermann to write a new trio for flute, cello and piano. In the fall of 2007, he assumed the position as Professor and Head of The Collaborative Piano Program at The University of California Santa Barbara. Mr. Koenig has recorded for Artek, Ambassador, Biddulph, Cedille, CRI, Decca, Eroica, and Naxos. His CD of transcriptions for viola and piano by William Primrose on Naxos with violist Roberto Diaz was nominated for “Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)” at the 49th Annual Grammy Award