The Ip Piano School 10th Annual Concerto Concert
Sunday, April 6, 2003, 4 PM at Boston University Tsai Center for Performing Arts

Tickets:

$35, $50, $75, $100
Order from The Ip Piano School: Tel: 617-542-9129

Pogram

Winnie S.C. Ip, Music Director

Winnie S.C. Ip is the founder and director of the Ip Piano School. She received her B.M. from the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, and her M.M. from Catholic University in Washington D.C. She holds a diploma with merit for advanced chamber music and a L.R.S.M., both from the Royal Schools of Music, England. Ms. Ip is a National Certified Teacher of Piano and music Theory for Music Teachers National Association. Ms. Ip also holds a Certificate in Administration and Management from the Harvard University Extension School.

She has been a board member of the New England Piano Teacher Association since 1998-2001, a representative of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in England since 1990, the committee chair for Massachusetts Music Teachers Association Junior High School Competition since 1998, and also the committee chair for New England Piano Teacher’s Association High School Hamlet/ Davidson competition since 2001.

Ms. Ip has had solo recitals in Hartford, Connecticut and Washington D.C. as well as chamber recitals in Boston, Massachusetts; Salzburg, Austria; and Siena Italy. She has studied in Mozarteum, Austria; Siena, Italy; Edinburgh, England; and Lyon, France. Ms. Ip has also been listed as an Honored Professional in the National Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals and as Marquis in the 18th edition of Who’s Who in the World.

Mei-Ann Chen, Conductor and Music Director

In late March last year, the Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) announced that Mei-Ann Chen had been unanimously selected as the next Conductor and Music Director of the 78-year old institution. Ms. Chen was chosen from a pool of more than 112 candidates from around the world after a four month process of evaluation by a search committee made up of board members, parents, music teachers, and representatives from the Oregon Symphony and the Portland Opera.
“I have rarely come across a more outstanding young conductor whose musicianship and sheer technical ability just radiates across to the audience and to the Orchestra . . . an example of real connection between Conductor and Orchestra where the players not just responded but went with her challenges in the most musical and exhilarating manner. This was really quite breathtaking,” said Oregon Symphony President Tony Woodcock, a member of the PYP’s search committee.
Most recently, Ms. Chen had successful debut with both the Oregon Symphony and Eugene Symphony and was one of eight emerging conductors selected to participate in the 2003 National Conductor Preview to be held in Jacksonville Florida in March. Before that, she was chosen by Leonard Slatkin to participate in the National Conducting Institute which culminated in a performance with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in June. This summer, Ms. Chen was named Academy Conductor by David Zinman and Murry Sidlin at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Last year, Ms. Chen was nominated by the Rolex as a Protégé candidate for the new Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and was a regional finalist in the Inaugural Maazel-Vilar Competition in Tokyo, Japan.

Prior to her appointment with the PYP, Ms. Chen was a doctorate candidate in orchestral conducting at the University of Michigan where she studied with Kenneth Kiesler and served as Music Director of the Campus Symphony and Campus Philharmonia and conducted productions of Mozart’s Magic Flute and Verdi’s Falstaff. In addition, she was the Conductor and Music Director for the newly established Arbor Opera Theater in its debut production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and made several appearances with the Toledo Symphony (Ohio) in their Education/Casual series.

Born in Taiwan, Ms. Chen was preparing to pursue an academic career in high school when her violin performance caught the attention of Benjamin Zander (conductor of the Boston Philharmonic) and Mark Churchill (dean of preparatory division at the New England Conservatory) during the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra’s Asia tour. Consequently, she was invited to study violin on a scholarship at the New England Conservatory. While earning her bachelor’s in violin, Ms. Chen’s conducting talent was discovered and developed by Frank Battisti in wind ensemble, Richard Hoenich in orchestral conducting, and Tamara Brooks in choral conducting. She went on to become the first person in NEC history to receive a double master’s degree simultaneously in conducting and violin performance and to win the two most prestigious awards - Gunther Schuller Medal for extraordinary contribution to musical life in the community and George Chadwick Medal for most outstanding undergraduate.