Pianist Pei-Yao Wang was just eight years old when she made her professional debut, and on Sunday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m., she will make her seventh appearance in Union's Chamber Concert Series.
Chamber Concert Series
At the upcoming performance in Memorial Chapel, violinist Carmit Zori, violist Eric Nowlin and cellist Sophie Shao will accompany Wang as she presents piano quartets by Mendelssohn, Faure and Schumann.
Since her childhood debut with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Wang has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. As a chamber musician, she has also collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Orion, Chicago, Mendelssohn and Miro quartets, and performed with distinguished artists like Claude Frank, Hilary Hahn, David Shifrin and Mitsuko Uchida.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Wang was the youngest pianist ever to receive the overall first prize in the Taiwan National Piano Competition, also at the age of eight. Four years later, she began studying at The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with Seymour Lipkin and institute Director Gary Graffman. Wang then studied with Claude Frank at Yale University, earning a master’s degree in music and pursuing a concentration in architecture.
Cellist Sophie Shao, like Wang, has been a celebrated musician most of her life. Winner of top prizes at the 2001 Rostropovich Competition and the 2002 XII Tchaikovsky Competition, she has been wowing audiences since she was a child. At age 11, Shao made her first appearance with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and at just 19, she received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Eric Nowlin is a decorated violist, having won many contests, including the 2003 Irving Klein International String Competition, the 2002 Hellam Young Artists Competition and the 2001 Naftzger Young Artists Competition. A graduate of The Julliard School, Nowlin is a founding member of a dynamic New York City music series called Elastic Arts Room. The series presents programs that explore the philosophical and cultural contexts of music today through performance and discussion.
Israel native Carmit Zori came to the United States when she was 15 to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, and her hard work there has paid off. The violinist has played all over the world, from Japan to Latin America to Europe. Zori, who spent 10 years as an artistic director at Barge Music in New York, is the recipient of a Levintritt Foundation Award, a Pro Musicis International Award and a top prize in the Walter Naumberg International Youth Competition.
The concert is free to members of the Union community. General admission tickets cost $20, though area students may attend for $8. For a complete Series schedule, click here.