Peter Serkin Piano Four Hands House Programme

20 OCT

2015｜TUE｜6:30PM

Grand Hall, Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre The University of Hong Kong 香港大學李兆基會議中心大會堂

Peter Serkin Pianist Peter Serkin is one of the most thoughtful and individualistic musicians performing today and is recognized for his artistic passion and integrity. He has performed with the world’s major symphony orchestras with such eminent conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, James Levine, Herbert Blomstedt, and Christoph Eschenbach. Also a dedicated chamber musician, Serkin has collaborated with Alexander Schneider, Pamela Frank, Yo-Yo Ma, the Budapest, Guarneri and Orion string quartets, and TASHI, of which he was a founding member.

Serkin is a prolific recording artist with multiple Grammy nominations including one he made of the six Mozart concerti composed in 1784 with Alexander Schneider and the English Chamber Orchestra, which also went on to win the

Julia Hsu prestigious Deutsche Schallplatten and Stereo

Review magazine’s ‘Best Recording of the Year’. Other Grammy-nominated recordings include Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur

l’Enfant Jesus and Quartet for the End of Time on BMG and a solo recording of works

by Stravinsky, Wolpe, and Lieberson for New World Records.

Peter Serkin’s rich musical heritage extends back several generations: his grandfather was violinist and composer Adolf Busch and his father was pianist Rudolf Serkin. In 1958, at age 11, he entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he was a student of Lee Luvisi, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, and Rudolf Serkin. He later continued his studies with Ernst Oster, Marcel Moyse, and Karl Ulrich Schnabel. He currently teaches at Bard

A formidable and versatile young pianist of uncommon musical vision, Julia Hsu has emerged as a leading light in the classical scene. Originally from Taiwan, Hsu studied at The Purcell School for young musicians with Professor Patsy Toh at age 14. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance with distinction.

College Conservatory of Music and the Longy

She went to Helsinki as an exchange

School of Music.

student to study at the Sibelius Academy, where she benefited greatly from the guidance of Professor Matti Raekallio, whom she then later followed to Germany, at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theatre, in the highly sought-after ‘Soloklasse’ programme. In 2010 she completed her second Master’s degree in Piano Accompaniment at London’s Royal Academy of Music.

E a r l i e r in 2013, Hsu was appointed Musician-in-Residence in Yilan’s Rudolf Steiner School, Taiwan, as well as a Festival Fellow at the Bowdoin Music Festival and a scholar at the Banff Arts Centre. Hsu has been a Collaborative Piano Fellow at New York’s Bard College since 2013.

Legendary American pianist Peter Serkin needs no introduction. With countless performances and distinguished recordings, Serkin is known for “striking that magical balance between intellect and heart”. This time at HKU, Serkin will present a delightful programme for piano four-hands, joined by Taiwan’s rising star Julia Hsu, with works by Schumann, Bizet, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms.

Sit back, unwind, and enjoy this enchanting twilight hour!

SCHUMANN BIZET MOZART SCHUBERT SCHUBERT BRAHMS

Six Etudes in Canonic Form, Op. 56 Three Pieces from Jeux d’enfants Sonata in B-flat major, K. 358 Allegro in A minor, Lebensstürme , D. 947 Rondo in A major, D. 951 Five Hungarian Dances, Nos. 8, 9, 11, 12, 18

Programme Enquiry

3917 8165 museinfo@hku.hk www.muse.hku.hk Presented by

Supported by

Department of Music, HKU Endowment Funds for Music & Fine Arts, HKU

HKU CMT