In celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthday – it's the composer's 250th birthday weekend – Memorial Chapel will host “Pei-Yao Wang, piano and Friends” on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 3 p.m. as part of the College's Chamber Concert Series.
Birthday festivities for the musical genius are being held around the globe this weekend.
Wang's “Friends” include Jessica Lee and Aaron Boyd on violin, Maurycy Banaszek on viola, Pricilla Lee on cello and Peter Lloyd on double bass.
The campus performance by this young prize-winning group of Marlboro music festival virtuosi will include three of Mozart's piano concertos: No. 11 in F, K.413, No. 12 in A, K.414 and No. 13 in C, K.415 (his chamber versions for piano and strings). He composed the three concertos in 1783 at the age of 27.
Rounding out the program is his Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K.525.
Chamber Concert Series
This will be Wang's third series' appearance at Union. The Taiwan-born performer began piano lessons at age 5, had her first orchestral performance at 8 with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and went on to become the youngest student at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She holds a master's of music from Yale University, where she also pursued architecture.
A member of Chamber Music Society Two program at Lincoln Center, she has appeared in solo performances with various orchestras including the Stamford Symphony, Orlando Symphony and Taipei Philharmonic.
Prize-winning violinist Jessica Lee has been capturing audience attention ever since being featured in Life magazine at the age of 3. Last year, she won first prize at the Concert Artist's Guild International Competition. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, she earned her master's from Juilliard in 2003 and has soloed with the numerous orchestras, including the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She participates in chamber music festivals worldwide.
Cellist Priscilla Lee is a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient who has appeared as soloist with various symphonies. She made her New York chamber music debut in 2003 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a member of the Grancino String Quartet. The California native, another Curtis graduate, holds a master of music degree from the Mannes College of Music.
Maurycy Banaszek began studying violin in his native Warsaw at age 6. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he has performed with European and American orchestras and has received numerous violin, viola and chamber music awards, including the 1998 Coleman Competition in Los Angeles. A founding member of the Elsner String Quartet, he has participated in numerous international music festivals and made recordings and broadcasts for television and radio stations here and abroad.
Concert tickets are $20 for the general public and $8 for students at the door one hour before the performance, or they may be picked up at the College Facilities Building. For more information, call 388-6080 or 372-3651.