The Faculty Artist Series presents Chiao-Wen Cheng, Assistant Professor of Accompanying, Yoojin Jang, Assistant Professor of Violin, and Guy Johnston, Associate Professor of Cello, on Friday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. The program consists of Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat, Opus 1, No, 1; and Mendelssohn’s Trio No, 1 in D Minor, Op. 49. This concert will be presented through livestream as a virtual performance.
Taiwanese pianist Chiao-Wen Cheng has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her solo engagements include the Fort Worth Symphony, Greece Symphony, and Taiwan Shin-Min Orchestra. Cheng has won numerous piano competitions and awards, including First Prizes at the Schubert Club Competition (2012); the Piano Texas International Academy and Festival Concerto Competition (2010); the Excellence in Accompanying Award at the Eastman School of Music (2010); and the Clara Ascherfeld Award in Excellence in Accompanying at Peabody Institute (2009). Cheng has also enjoyed presenting solo piano recitals in major venues around the world.
A vibrant and dedicated chamber musician, Cheng has become a sought after collaborative partner. A particularly rewarding facet of her career has involved chamber music concerts with musicians from all of the world, including Juliana Athayde (concertmaster, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra); Astrid Schween (cellist, Juilliard String Quartet); and Ko-ichiro Yamamoto (principal trombone, Seattle Symphony Orchestra). Cheng is Collaborative Piano Faculty at Perlman’s Music Program.
Cheng began piano lessons with her aunt at the age of four. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as a student of Frank Weinstock, where she received a Van Cliburn Scholarship. She completed her master’s degree at Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University as a student of Benjamin Pasternack, where she received a full scholarship. Cheng holds a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she was a student and teaching assistant of Barry Snyder. At Eastman, Cheng was also the recipient of a graduate assistantship as a collaborative pianist and large ensemble pianist. Cheng is an Assistant Professor of Accompanying at the Eastman School of Music and a Piano Instructor at Eastman Community Music School.
Applauded by The Strad for her “fiery virtuosity” and “consummate performances,” violinist YooJin Jang is a winner of the 2017 Concert Artists Guild Competition and is also First Prize winner of Japan’s 2016 Sendai International Music Competition. These two prominent victories have resulted in a busy itinerary of international recital and concerto engagements, and also the release of two new recordings, including a CD of her prize-winning Sendai concerto performances.
YooJin has appeared with the Budapest Festival Orchestra (led by Ivan Fischer), Bulgaria National Radio Symphony Orchestra (Emil Tabakov), Sofia Philharmonia Orchestra (Ljubka Biagioni), the Erato Ensemble (Sholomo Mintz), Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and the NEC Philharmonia (Josh Weilerstein). She earned a Master of Music, Graduate Diploma, and Artist Diploma from New England Conservatory, as a student of Miriam Fried, and she is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at NEC. In the fall of 2020, Yoojin started her position as assistant professor of violin at the Eastman School of Music.
One of the most exciting and versatile British cellists of his generation, Guy Johnston was born into a musical family and joined his brothers in the world-renowned choir of King’s College, Cambridge. He went on to achieve important early successes through the BBC Young Musician of the Year title, the Guilhemina Suggia Gift, the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, and receiving a Classical Brit Award at the Royal Albert Hall.
He has made many important debuts including the First Night of the BBC Proms under Leonard Slatkin, the DSO Berlin under Juraj Valchua, the St. Petersburg State Capella Orchestraunder Dmitriev in St. Petersburg, the Osaka Philharmonic under Tadaaki Otaka, and the the English Chamber Orchestra under Jonathan Tilbrook. Highlights with leading orchestras in the UK are Strauss’s Don Quixote with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain under Yan Pascal Tortelier, the Walton Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic under Tortelier, the Dvorak Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Michael Seal, Britten’s Cello Symphony with the Royal Northern Sinfonia under Robin Ticciati, and Shostakovich Concerto No. 2 with the RTE National Orchestra under Vladimir Altschuler.
Guy plays a 1714 David Tecchler cello, generously on loan from the Godlee-Tecchler Trust which is administered by The Royal Society of Musicians. He has recently commissioned and recorded a number of short new works to celebrate its tricentenary by composers including Charlotte Bray, David Matthews, and Mark Simpson. This CD also includes a performance with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia recorded in Rome, where the cello was made.
The Faculty Artist Series is generously supported by Patricia Ward-Baker.
This performance will be live streamed at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/live/ and will be free to view. The stream will start approximately 15 minutes before the event.
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About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.