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Summer Solstice Festival 2013 | June 21 – 23, 2013
Guest Artists
Called by the Toronto Star "Canada’s pre-eminent clarinetist and wind soloist", Leduc-born James Campbell has performed in most of the world’s major concert halls and with over 50 orchestras, including the London Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Russian Philharmonic. During the 2003–04 season he performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops in the premiere of Dreaming of the Masters, a jazz concerto by Allan Gilliland, commissioned by the Edmonton Symphony and written for James Campbell. Campbell has collaborated and performed with many of the world’s great musicians, including Aaron Copland and the late Glenn Gould, as well as chamber music tours with over 30 string quartets including the legendary Amadeus String Quartet; the Guarneri; Vermeer; New Zealand; St Lawrence; Fine Arts, and Allegri String Quartets. Since 1989, James Campbell has made Bloomington, Indiana, his base during the academic year as Professor of Music at the prestigious music school of Indiana University. |
Jacques Després has led a diverse artistic life, having appeared as a soloist with many orchestras, solo recitalist, collaborative artist, lecturer, educator, recording artist, and musical director of the Summer Serenades at Stony Brook University in New York. Critics worldwide have celebrated Després' musical approach for its rare combination of virtuosity and artistic integrity. Després was awarded a Premier Prix à l’unanimité au Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. He graduated with a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School and holds a DMA from the University at Stony Brook. He received the Artist Diploma with Distinction at Indiana University. His teachers were Christiane Sénart, Gyorgy Sebok, Adele Marcus and Gilbert Kalish.
Canadian-born cellist Adrian Fung is a founding member of the Afiara String Quartet, winners of the Concert Artist Guild International Competition in New York and top prizes at the Munich ARD and Banff International String Quartet Competitions. A new music enthusiast, Adrian premiered several works from many composers, including a cello concerto and an amplified piece for solo cello, both written for him by Huck Hodge and commissioned by the International Society for Contemporary Music. Adrian studied cello with Bonnie Hampton, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Fred Sherry, Antonio Lysy, David Hetherington and Susan Gagnon. After receiving diplomas from McGill University and Mannes College of Music, Adrian earned a Bachelor’s from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was also a teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. He has performed with the Juilliard, Alexander, and Cecilia String Quartets, Robert Aiken, Atar Arad, Denis Brott, James Campbell, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Anton Kuerti, and Michael Tree.
David Harding is currently Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. He has an extensive solo and chamber music career, having performed throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, Central America and Australia, in such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw, and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. His performances have been broadcast on CBC, BBC, NPR, ABC (Australia) and Deutschland Radio. He performs at many chamber music festivals throughout North America including the Sitka Chamber Music Festival and Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. David is a member of the flute, viola, harp ensemble “Trio Verlaine” with whom he has recorded works by Debussy and Ravel, and the Glass Chamber Players, with whom he recorded Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Philip Glass’ Sextet. Other notable CD projects include a recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, with the string trio Triskelion for CBC records, the music of Aaron Jay Kernis with the Chester Quartet, and Brahms’ Viola Sonatas and Horn Trio for Skylark Music. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, David was the winner of the Sir John Barbirolli award at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. Having served on the faculty of Indiana University South Bend and the University of British Columbia, David has given master classes at the Banff International Centre for the Arts and universities throughout North America. He plays on a viola made by Pietro Antonio della Costa, Tresviso Italy, circa 1750.
A founding member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Marina Hoover has enjoyed a distinguished career as a chamber musician and soloist. Born in Edmonton, Ms. Hoover studied under David Soyer at the Curtis Institute of Music and obtained a Master’s degree at Yale under Aldo Parisot. She has appeared as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Yale Chamber Orchestra, Curtis Orchestra, and the Belo Horizonte Symphony in Brazil. Her recordings include a Juno award-winning recording of the Schumann String Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 and the Grammy-nominated Yiddishbuk, both with the St. Lawrence String Quartet.
Judy Kang is distinctly recognized for her individuality and unique career as a violinist and established soloist and chamber musician in the classical world as well as in the world of pop, indie, jazz, and hip hop music. To attempt to define or fit Judy Kang into a conventional mold would be to defy an artist born with a multi dimensional gift. Her constantly evolving and non-conventional artistry has not only established her as a forerunner and pioneer of this generation of violinists, but as a multi faceted artist in the art of production, visuals, arrangement, composition, and teaching. Born and raised in Canada to a single mother, Judy’s unusual gift for music was recognized immediately when she picked up the violin at the age of four. Seemingly destined to become a violinist from a dream her grandmother had of a vision of a baby girl holding a violin, the night before she was born, Judy instantly learned and memorized a piece at her first lesson. She was performing solo recitals and winning competitions in her first year of playing. Judy was 6 years old when she made her solo debut with an orchestra and at age ten, she burst onto the classical music scene in a nationally acclaimed televised performance as soloist with the National Arts Center Orchestra. She auditioned to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music with a fractured wrist (from a volleyball game) and was accepted to study there on full scholarship. At 17, she graduated with a Bachelor in Music as the youngest graduate in its history. At the age of 19, Judy was granted the Lily Foldes Scholarship from the Juilliard School and graduated with a Master’s degree. She became the first graduate, with high honours, of the prestigious Artist Diploma at the Manhattan School of Music. Her mentors include Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Mann, Lorand Fenyves, Aaron Rosand, Felix Galimir, Gary Graffman, Henry Meyer, James Keene and Yoko Wong. |
Jasmine Lin is a prize-winning soloist at the Paganini and Naumberg International Competitions; member of the Formosa Quartet, Trio Voce, and Chicago Chamber Musicians, and returning guest artist of the Summer Solstice Festival. Ms. Lin is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. She gave her New York debut in Merkin Hall, where the program included her poetry set to music. Her poem, The night of h’s, received an Editor’s Choice Award from the International Poetry Foundation. She is on the faculty at Roosevelt University and is a proud native of Chicago. |
A recipient of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Meng-Chieh Liu first made headlines in 1993 as a 21-year-old student at the Curtis Institute of Music, when he substituted for André Watts at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with three hours’ notice. The concert earned high acclaim from critics and audience alike and was followed by a number of widely praised performances, including a recital at the Kennedy Center and a concert on the Philadelphia All-Star Series. A dedicated chamber musician, as well as a solo artist, he has collaborated with musicians in North America, Europe, and Asia, in addition to working with artists in other disciplines, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Dance Project. Mr. Liu received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Jorge Bolet, Eleanor Sokoloff, and Claude Frank. He received the 2002 Philadelphia Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award and first prizes in the Stravinsky, Asia Pacific Piano, and Mieczyslaw Munz competitions. Mr. Liu has been on the faculty of Roosevelt University since 2006 and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1993. |
 PATRICIA TAO  Piano
Patricia Tao combines teaching and performance as an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alberta and a much-in-demand chamber musician. Director of the Summer Solstice Festival, she also pursues her interest in music programming as Director of the Hear’s to your Health music series at the Walter Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre. Dr. Tao received her doctorate from Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Gilbert Kalish, after studies at Harvard and Indiana Universities, where she studied with Leonard Shure and Gyorgy Sebok, respectively. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Virginia. Since 2002 she has taught piano and chamber music at the University of Alberta, where she is Associate Professor of Music.
Andrew Wan is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster. In August of 2008, he was named concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), making him one of the youngest leaders of a major symphony. His relationship with the orchestra began with performances of Elgar’s Violin Concerto, which were hailed as one of the top two musical moments of 2007 by La Presse. Mr. Wan received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Masao Kawasaki and Ron Copes. In 2008, he was the only violinist to be accepted into the prestigious Artist Diploma Program at Juilliard. He is currently on violin faculty at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University as well as the Orford Music Festival. The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, Canada Council, Anne Burrows Foundation, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Winspear Fund have generously supported Mr. Wan. Andrew Wan performs on a 1744 Michel’Angelo Bergonzi violin, and gratefully acknowledges its loan from the David Sela Collection. |
JACQUES DESPRÉS
ADRIAN FUNG
MENG-CHIEH LIU
ANDREW WAN