Er-Gene Kahng, violin
Sheng-Yuan Kuan, piano
Free admission; we suggest a $10 donation
PROGRAM:
Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 - Edvard Grieg
Air (for Violin and Piano)- Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960)
Vioìin Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 94 - Sergey Prokofiev
Le Grand Tango (for Violin and Piano)- Astor Piazzolla
MEET THE ARTISTS:
Er-Gene Kahng, under the guidance of Mark Kaplan, Erick Friedman, Syoko Aki and Almita Vamos at UCLA, Yale and Northwestern, has earned top prizes at The Young Artist Competition (The Philharmonic Society of Arlington, MA), The Carmel Music Society Instrumental Competition, The SAI Instrumental Competition (held at Chautauqua, NY), The Fort Collins Symphony Young Artist Competition, the UCLA Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and the R.D. Colburn School’s Orchestra da Camera Concerto Competition.
Kahng has held title positions with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as section positions with the Lancaster Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, and Norwalk Symphony in Connecticut. Co-sponsored by the Council for Human Understanding in Los Angeles and Sanrio, Inc., Kahng served as a young ambassador to Japan visiting Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto in April 1996, being the youngest ambassador to represent the United States. Other significant travels have included South Africa (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Swaziland, Pretoria) through the National Youth Leadership Forum, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti through the ACCORDS Arts Organization in California.
Before joining the University of Arkansas in 2007, Kahng taught at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, Connecticut. Her students have gained admission to some of the top music schools in the country, including New England Conservatory, University of Southern California, Peabody Conservatory/Johns Hopkins University, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, as well as being prizewinners of the MTNA regional and national level competitions.
---------------------------------------------
Taiwanese pianist Sheng-Yuan Kuan holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Kuan has obtained awards at competitions worldwide, including the 13th Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna (Best Female Pianist Award, 2009), the 12th Taipei Chopin International Piano Competition (3rd Prize, 2008), Corpus Christi International Competition in Texas (2nd Prize, 2008), New York Kosciuszko Chopin Piano Competition (3rd Prize, 2003), and BYU-Hawaii Concerto Competition (Winner, 2000). She was also the recipient of Honolulu Morning Music Club Scholarship, Peabody Institute of Music's Career Development Grant, Chamber Music Award and Accompanying Assistantship. Her performances have brought her to major music venues, including Vienna's Musikverein, Taipei National Concert Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Sheng-Yuan has collaborated with famed musicians such as Nobuko Imai, Jesse Levine, Espen Lilleslatten, Patti Monson, Stephen Sterling, Richard Stolzman, Stephen Taylor, Keng-Yuen Tseng and Time for Three. She also made appearances at music festivals such as Bowdoin, Aria, Sarasota, Yellow Barn, Gijon Piano Festival and Norfolk Summer Music Festival.
This year, Ms. Kuan has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, Singapore's Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Peabody Institute of Music, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Chamber Music by Candlelight series at the Baltimore Second Presbyterian Church as well as venues in the New York area. Ms. Kuan is currently a candidate of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Peabody, where she is also an Associate Piano Instructor. Her teachers have included Peter Frankl, Scott McCarrey and the late Constance Keene. She's now under the guidance of Professor Boris Slutsky.
