Lavard Skou-Larsen was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil. At the age of 4, he received his first violin lesson from his father, Conductor Gunner Skou-Larsen. After studying with Ernst Moravec in Vienna, he was admitted into the Academy of Music and Performing Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg at the age of 14 to study with Dr. Helmut Zehetmair. Skou-Larsen earned a performance diploma with distinction and later completed a postgraduate diploma under Sandor Végh.
Skou-Larsen has won prizes both as soloist and chamber musician, including the Concertino Prague and the Sergio Lorenzi in Trieste, Italy. He was a member of the Camerata Academica under Sandor Végh from 1983-86. He has been teaching violin at the Mozarteum in Salzburg since 1991, the same year he founded the Salzburg Chamber Soloists. He led the European Chamber Orchestra from 1996-2002 and has been the acclaimed chief conductor of the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss am Rhein since 2004. Skou-Larsen has performed as concertmaster and conductor with leading symphony and chamber orchestras in Europe, North America and South America, including the European Union Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Orchestra Internazionale d´Italia, Orchestre de Chambre de Geneve, Orchestra Sinfonica de Porto Alegre, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, the Texas Music Festival Orchestra and many others. In 1997, he and pianist Alexander Müllenbach released the first-ever recordings of the Brazilian composer Camargo M. Guarnieri’s complete violin sonatas for the Marco Polo Label of Naxos.
Soloist Biography Chinese violinist Xiao Wang began studying the violin at the age of 5. His professional training began in middle school attached to the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music at age 10 with professor Wei-Dong Tong. He achieved his first honor at the age of 11 by winning the Sonata Competition in the Central Conservatory and also was a semi-finalist of the 2002 International Young Tchaikovsky Competition. In his eight years at the Central Conservatory, Wang has been the concertmaster for the Chamber Orchestra and Young Artist Symphony. He made his solo orchestral debut in China at the age of 16 playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. After graduating from high school in Beijing, Wang was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in 2005, where he was awarded an Artist Diploma and studied with former Boston Symphony concertmaster Joseph Silverstein. He was associate concertmaster for the Opera Orchestra at Curtis from 2007-09. While at Curtis, he worked with many renowned conductors, including Simon Rattle, Charles Dutoit, Michael Stern, Christopher Eschenbach and Philippe Entremont, among others. He also has accompanied many famous musicians in concert, such as Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, Lang Lang and Hilary Han in Carnegie Hall.
Xiao Wang
Lavard Skou-Larsen
Conductor Biography
As an active chamber musician, Wang’s ensembles have been coached by members of the Emerson, Juilliard, Guarneri, Takacs and Tokyo string quartets. He also has collaborated with the American String Quartet and its members in numerous performances. He has performed in solo and chamber music master classes with Pamela and Claude Frank, Peter Wiley, Midori, Cho Liang Lin, Arnold Steinhardt and David Geber. Wang has participated in the New York String Seminar, the Meadowmount Music Festival and Great Wall Music Festival in Beijing. Wang is currently a full scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music studying with Professor Lucie Robert. This is Wang’s first summer at the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival.
Texas Music Festival Staff and Underwriters Texas Music Festival Administration Alan Austin, General and Artistic Director Melissa McCrimmon, Assistant Director David Tomatz, Director Emeritus Franz Anton Krager, Music Director and Chief Conductor Robert Mayes, Director of Scheduling and Housing Dennis Whittaker, Chamber Music Coordinator Lauren Moore, Operations/Personnel Intern Lynna Russell, Marketing/Public Relations Intern Jacob Sustaita, Orchestra Manager James Beauchamp, Orchestra Librarian Jason Burton, Equipment Manager Megan McDonough, Housing Coordinator Wayne Steinke, Transportation Coordinator/Housing Jason Abbott, Adam Van Court, Housing Staff Grand Underwriter Immanuel and Helen B. Olshan Foundation 5 • www.woodlandscenter.org
Underwriters Nadene & Jim Crain Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation El Paso Corporation Lecture Series Joseph Evans KUHF/KUHA Radio Moores School of Music Society Texas Commission on the Arts Wortham Endowed Chair in Performing Arts University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences University of Houston Moores School of Music In-Kind Akademisches Orchester Leipzig American Festival for the Arts The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Houston Symphony Texas A&M University
Volunteer Spotlight
Couple Dedicated to Partners and the Arts Nancy and Mike Becker moved to The Woodlands in 1994. Nancy joined The Woodlands Living Arts Council in 1995, as did Mike the following year. When the Council became The Pavilion Partners, they continued their volunteerism and have been active members of the organization ever since. The couple has volunteered at numerous events over the years, including symphonies and ballets, educational outreach programs such as Children’s Festival, fundraisers, contemporary concerts and The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival in support of Partners. Through the years, they have convinced many of their close friends to volunteer their time and talents by joining Partners. Spending time at The Pavilion also has been a family affair for the Beckers. All three of their sons, Chris, Ryan and Mark, worked for The Pavilion’s parking division throughout high school and college. Ryan and Mark even worked their way up to become parking supervisors. Nancy and Mike recently left Cochran’s Crossing to move into their newly built “retirement” home in Creekside Park. Nancy was on the Cochran’s Crossing Village Association for 15 years, serving 13 years as president, and
recently became vice president of Creekside Park Association. Nancy and Mike have volunteered for many years with The Boy Scouts of America in various capacities until all three sons achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. They also are active in their church, St. Anthony of Padua. Mike is a lector and volunteers time to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Nancy sings in the SALT Band for Lifeteen Ministries at Mass and other Lifeteen functions. The Pavilion applauds Nancy and Mike Becker for their dedicated volunteerism!
Rock Out at The Pavilion Partners Pre-Concert Dinner and Fundraiser by Lauren Tennet
Are you still sporting your 1980s power mullet or side pony tail? Do you wish you could go back and hang out with the “Breakfast Club” or take a trip with Ferris on his day off? Well, it may not be 1985 anymore, but you can still rock out like it is. Join us for The Pavilion Partners’ “Heart of Rock n’ Roll” Pre-Concert Dinner & Fundraiser July 21 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion’s House of Blues Hospitality Tent prior to the Joe Cocker & Huey Lewis and The News concert.
Your VIP dinner commences at 6 p.m. followed by a live auction with items any “rock star” would love. Special reserved seating for the concert, as well as VIP club passes, are included in this stellar deal. All dudes and dudettes are encouraged to wear their favorite concert T-shirts. Funds raised from the event benefit The Pavilion’s performing arts events and educational outreach programs.
of t r ea Roll” H e k n’ h T “ oc R
Tickets to the electric evening are $200 per person. The evening starts at 5 p.m. with a social hour including complimentary beer and margaritas.
Don’t wait to hop on this crazy train! Tickets are limited, so please respond by July 2. Seating is allocated on a first come, first served basis. To make reservations for the Pre-Concert Dinner & Fundraiser visit www.woodlandscenter.org. June 2012 • 6