Hong-Mei Xiao, first prize-winning violist at the Geneva International Music Competition, will be the guest artist at Brigham Young University’s annual William Primrose Memorial Concert Friday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.
Xiao will be assisted by BYU faculty member Jeffrey Shumway on piano.
Admission is free for both the concert and the accompanying Primrose Memorial Master Class Thursday, March 3, at 5 p.m. in E-432 Harris Fine Arts Center.
The program will include Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Sonata in E flat major, Tchaikovsky’s “None but the Lonely Heart” transcribed by William Primrose, four character pieces from Schumann’s “Märchenbilder” and Ernest Bloch’s 1919 Suite for Piano and Viola.
The Primrose Memorial Concert is an annual event that honors the legendary violist and former BYU faculty member William Primrose (1903–1982). The concert series features violists from around the globe, who, like Primrose, distinguish themselves on the instrument and promote its scholarship.
A recipient of the Patek Philippe Grand Prize, Xiao has performed in major concert halls throughout Europe, North America and the Far East. She appeared as a soloist with the North German Radio Orchestra, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Budapest Philharmonic and the Japan Philharmonic, among others. As an active chamber music performer, she has collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Joseph Silverstein and Cho-Liang Lin.
Xiao graduated with highest honors from the Shanghai Conservatory and earned a master’s degree in music from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Previously, she served as principal violist of the Minnesota Orchestra, as a faculty member at the University of Michigan and as a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music.
This performance was originally scheduled for Nov. 12, 2010.
For more information, contact Claudine Bigelow at (801) 422-1315 or Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348 or ken_crossley@byu.edu. To learn more about Hong-Mei Xiao and her music, visit www.hongmeixiao.com/flash/hongmeixiao.html.
Writer: Philip Volmar
