August 19, 2005
Friday, 8 PM
Larry Weng, piano

Program

Sonata Op. 81a Beethoven
Adagio-Allegro, “Les Adieux”
Andante espressivo, “L’Absence”
Vivascissimamente, “Le Retour”

Ballad No.1, Op. 23 Chopin

Intermission

Ondine, from “Gaspard de la Nuit” Ravel

Excursions, Op.20 Barber
II. In slow blues tempo
III. Allegretto
IV. Allegro molto

La Valse (transcription by composer) Ravel

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Larry Weng, “A Decade in Black and White”

Larry Weng was born in Nanning, China on September 25, 1987. He immigrated to the United States at the age of five. He lived in Newton, MA and began his study of the piano with Dorothy Shi at age seven. He enrolled at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School at age eleven, where he began to study piano with Sylvia Chambless over the next seven years. He also focused on theory and chamber music through the young musician’s program. Larry Weng soon won recognition at NEC, winning the school’s concerto competitions. Recently he won the senior concerto competition, and is performing the Ravel Concerto in G Major on June 3 in NEC’s Jordan Hall with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Benjamin Zander, conductor.

Larry Weng has won virtually every competition throughout New England, including the Massachusetts Music Teachers’ Association Competitions and the prestigious New England Piano Teachers’ Association Competitions, and recently won a Harvard Association award. He was a finalist in the International Tschaikowsky Competition in Kurashiki, Japan in 2004. He has performed with the New England Philharmonic Orchestra and will perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as the 2005 winner of the concerto competition. Larry Weng has been accepted into the joint program between Columbia University and the Juilliard School in the fall of 2005.

Larry Weng now lives in Needham, MA and graduated from Needham High School in June. Although he has many musical accomplishments, he has endeavored to live his life fully as a normal teen-ager. He is intensely interested in literature and poetry, is a talented painter, and has balanced academic studies with his musical pursuits. He enjoys playing poker with his friends, and walks around in baggy pants with head sets listening to LOUD music! His favorite legendary icons are Frank Sinatra and the Beatles. Every form of musical expression fascinates him.

Larry Weng is a young man with extraordinary gifts. There was a celebration of his remarkable musical journey throughout the past ten years with a gala benefit concert on June 11at 7:30 PM in Williams Hall at the New England Conservatory sponsored by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts. This occasion also celebrated the release of his first compact disc, “A Decade in Black and White.” His many friends, teachers, and family were there to support Larry Weng in launching his next decade of musical exploration!


Summer Music Festival