Sarita Kwok, violin

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES

SARITA KWOK VIOLIN + JIAN LIU PIANO MARCH 31, 2010 Sprague Memorial Hall Thursday at 8 pm

MUSIC BY Beethoven Bresnick Messiaen Prokofiev

Robert Blocker, Dean

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES

March 31, 2011 · Sprague Memorial Hall Sarita Kwok, violin Jian Liu, piano

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1770–1827

Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in D major, Op. 12, No. 1 Allegro con brio Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto Rondo: Allegro

MARTIN BRESNICK

Bird as Prophet

b. 1946

OLIVIER MESSIAEN

Theme and Variations

1908–1992 Intermission

SERGEI PROKOFIEV 1891–1953

Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in F minor, Op. 80 Andante assai Allegro brusco Andante Allegrissimo – Andante assai come prima

Note from Martin Bresnick Bird as Prophet is the last in a series of twelve pieces entitled Opere della Musica Povera (Works of a Poor Music). The title Bird as Prophet refers to a piano miniature of the same name from the Waldszenen of Robert Schumann. Bird as Prophet’s combination of simple programmatic suggestiveness and abstract patterning seeks to recapture the vivid, oracular, but finally enigmatic spirit of Schumann’s (and Charlie Parker’s) remarkable musical prophecies.

ARTIST PROFILES

Sarita Kwok violin Australian violinist Sarita Kwok has been featured on stages in Australia, New Zealand, England, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Japan, and the United States and has performed as a soloist with the major symphony orchestras in her home country.

After being named the James Fairfax Sydney Symphony Orchestra Young Artist, she made her debut with the Sydney Symphony at age fifteen and went on to win Australia’s most prestigious musical award, the Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year (Strings).

She has been awarded prizes at the Kloster Schöntal Violin Competition (Germany) and the Gisborne International Music Competition (New Zealand), and won an honorary diploma at the Seventh Wieniawski and Lipinski International Competition, Poland.

As a founding member and first violinist of the Alianza String Quartet, Ms. Kwok has given performances at the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Aldeburgh Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, and the French Academy in Rome.

The ASQ are the Grand Prize winners of the

2007 Plowman Chamber Music Competition and the 2008 Chamber Music Foundation of New England International Chamber Music Competition. From 2006 to 2008 they were in residence at Yale and were mentored by the Tokyo String Quartet. With the ASQ, Ms. Kwok has been featured on the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music Series, Danbury Concert Association, Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.), Redbank (N.J.) Chamber Music Series, and the Flagler Museum Series (Fla.). The quartet has been described by the New York Times as “musical, well trained,” with “an unusually elegant sound – they boil over with an edge-ofthe-seat eagerness”. Upcoming engagements include a ten-concert tour in France.

Individually, Ms. Kwok has been performed on series such as the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Hebron Academy and Temple Emanuel Chamber Series, Hammond Performing Arts Series, Concert des Lauréats de l’Académie de Lausanne, and on WGBH public radio (Boston), Suisse Romande (Switzerland), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This season she was the guest violinist with the award-winning piano quartet Ensemble Made in Canada on its annual Canadian tour. Ms. Kwok has given master classes at Wellesley College, Central Connecticut State University, State University of New York at New Paltz, and the University of Arkansas.

Ms. Kwok received both the Doctoral and Master of Musical Arts degrees from the Yale School of Music as a student of Syoko Aki. She currently serves on the faculty of the Yale Department of Music and is the director of the undergraduate lessons program.

ARTIST PROFILES Yale School of Music 203 432-4158 concerts@yale.edu music.yale.edu/media

COMING UP Yale Philharmonia April 1 | 8 pm | Fri Woolsey Hall | Free Peter Oundjian, guest conductor. Strauss: Notturno, with bass-baritone Tyler Simpson; Smetana: Sarka; Mahler: Symphony No. 5.

Bach Keyboard Concertos April 6 | 8 pm | Wed Sprague Hall | $12–$22 Concertos by J.S. Bach for keyboard and strings. With Katie Hyun & David Southorn, violins; Ettore Causa, viola; and Mihai Marica, cello.

The Yale Cellos April 20 | 8 pm | Wed Sprague Hall | $10–$20 Aldo Parisot, director. With the world premiere of a new work by Ezra Laderman.

Jian Liu piano Pianist Jian Liu has appeared on concert stages in China, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States, and with the Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra, and Chandler Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Liu’s performances were broadcast by various radio and TV stations including KPHO in Phoenix and Suisse Romande Radio in Switzerland. Since winning first prize at the Sixth Missouri Southern International Piano Competition in 1996, Mr. Liu has been honored at various national and international competitions, including the Third Horowitz International Piano Competition and the MTNA Chamber Music Competition.

He has been a featured artist alongside pianist Maria João Pires, cellist Jian Wang, flutist Ransom Wilson, and clarinetist David Shifrin.

His artistry has taken him to such prestigious concert halls as Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, and Rose Theater of Lincoln Center. Mr. Liu received his MMA degree from the Yale School of Music under Claude Frank. He recently joined the faculty of New Zealand School of Music in Wellington, New Zealand, as the piano program coordinator.