4 minute read
MUSIC
Violinist Yue Deng will perform at the Ojai Art Center on Jan. 15.
Photo by Steve Newkirk
Co-presented by Ventura Music Festival & Sterling Venue Ventures March 2nd | 8pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center MNOZIL BRASS
by Mike Nelson
Celebrated violinist and one-time Ojai resident Yue Deng is returning to perform Jan. 15 at the Ojai Art Center, which should delight those who have heard her play and followed her remarkable career.
But no one is more excited than the artist herself, since it offers her the opportunity to do what she loves most: make connections.
“Just to form a connection with the audience through music is the most enjoyable part of music for me,” says Deng, speaking by phone from her primary residence in Edmonton, Canada, where she plays with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
“Because what we may lack in spoken language, music can overcome,” continues Deng, a native of Hebei, China, who at age 14 attended a competition in England where she spoke no English. “But I could communicate with musicians through my instrument, and vice versa . . . And as musicians, especially after going through COVID and the restrictions that were in place, we found we can still perform through livestreaming to keep our connection with our audience.”
Deng has been playing violin almost since she could talk, rising to prominence when, at age 8, she won first prize in the National Violin Competition in China. A year later, she was studying at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Her musical prowess continued at a rapid pace, earning her a bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio and a master’s from the Juilliard School in New York. During that time, she spent two summers attending the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. In December 1999, she played concerts at Carnegie Hall with the New York String Seminar Orchestra.
Since then, her accomplishments have continued to accumulate. Deng has recorded with Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow and Diana Krall (among others); performed in numerous concert halls around the world; mentored and coached students in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties; and has twice served on the jury for Ventura College’s Henry Schwab Violin and Viola Competition.
“Teaching is also about connections,” notes Deng, who taught online during the pandemic, and still works with students ranging from ages 8 to 82. “I love being able to pass on the tradition and education I received in China and North America, and to share how music enriches people’s lives. My students inspire me, no matter their age, because it makes me a better artist. And we talk on subjects not related to music, so it becomes a real human connection, which I love.”
And while she handles a “very busy” concert schedule playing the past four years with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Deng enjoys returning to the coastal climes.
“I think I’m more of a California girl now,” she laughs, noting that she and husband Rouslan Krechetnikov (a professor of mathematical and statistical sciences at the University of Alberta) still maintain a home in Ventura.
Deng and Siberian-born Krechetnikov met 12 years ago while she was with the Santa Barbara Symphony and he was assistant professor of mechanical engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara. They were married three months after their first date, and she still plays with the Santa Barbara Symphony, as she will Jan. 21 and 22 in its “Trains, Planes and Violins” concert at the Granada Theatre.
Ahead of that, though, is Deng’s Jan. 15 solo recital at Ojai Art Center, for which she has chosen some of her favorite composers’ pieces. They include Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Fantasy No. 1 and No. 3,” Johan Sebastian Bach’s “Sonata No. 2,” Max Reger’s “Sonata No. 2” and Niccolo Paganini’s “Nel Cor Piu Non Mi Sento,” from the opera La Molinara.
Most of all, she looks forward to reconnecting with “a very loving and kind audience in Ojai,” where she lived for 10 years after “a very intense grad school experience at Juilliard. Living in Ojai was very healing, and this recital feels like homecoming, a highlight of my musical journey.”
Violinist Yue Deng will present a recital of classical music favorites on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 3 p.m. at the Ojai Art Center, 113 S. Montgomery St., Ojai. Tickets $20 at door (exact change); masks required. For more information, call 805-6401158 or visit www.ojaiartcenter.org/music.html.
The Mnozil Brass brings GOLD to Oxnard with their hysterical new show featuring the very best numbers spanning the ensemble’s illustrious 25-year long career. The Austrian band, known as the Monty Python of the music world, seamlessly combines slapstick comedy with extraordinary musical ability. Buy tickets online at AXS.COM or save on fees by calling the Sterling Box Office directly: (888) 645-5006 (10a-6p Daily) Ticket Prices $48 to $78
VenturaMusicFestival.org
