Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts
Summer FREE Concert @ NEC 2023
夏日系列音樂會
at New England Conservatory,
Boston, Massachusetts

 
Aug 10 to 26, 2023
All concerts Admission Free, suggested donation $10 at door
Age 6 and under not admitted
 


 




CONCERTO CONCERT

Saturday, August 26, 2023, 7:30 pm
at
Jordan Hall


Concerto concert
with
Mercury Orchestra




~Program~


ESTER MÂGI
(1922-2021)
Bukoolika (Bucolic) (1996)
9'

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
(1840-1893)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23
 
(Second Edition, 1879)

I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso
20'
II. Andantino simplice
6.5'
III. Allegro con fuoco
7.5'

Soloist:
傅聰國際協奏曲比賽
2023 concerto competition winner
Che Li
李澈



~Intermission~


SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
(1873-1943)
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44 (1935-1936)

I. Lento – Allegro moderato – Allegro 14'
II. Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro vivace
13'
III. Allegro – Allegro vivace – Allegro (Tempo primo) –
Allegretto – Allegro vivace
13'

 

To the grand finale of 2023 Summer Free Concerts @ NEC on 8/26 at Jordan Hall, Chi Wei Lo of the Boston Musical Intelligencer commend on this stunning display of strength, momentum and wondrous beauty, and we quote: “Under the baton of Channing Yu, the Mercury Orchestra brimmed over with magic and vitality. Right from the introduction of the concerto, one sensed the majestic, yet charming granduer in Li’s pianism. Li’s gave an immaculate and pristine take of the first theme; the second and third themes sounded sentimental and ever flowing. In polyphony, Li brought out the varying voices with tasteful clarity, seemingly intertwined and separate all at once. Under Yu, Mercury Orchestra showed itself to be illustrious, supportive, communicative, respectful, and loving. With rapture, the crowd called Li back four times.


Admission Free, suggested donation $10 at door.
Age 6 and under not admitted.

中華表演藝術基金會
Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts
Lincoln, Massachusetts

 
 
photos: Chung Cheng
 

event photos: Xiaopei Xu and Chi Wei Lo
 
Soloist : 傅聰國際協奏曲比賽 2023 concerto competition winner
 
Che Li 李澈,China
 

information
Che Li, male, was born in Zhejiang, China in April 2001. He recently graduated from New England Conservatory of Music with his bachelor’s degree of music in Piano Performance. He began to learn piano from his mother at the age of four. In 2013, he was admitted to Shanghai Conservatory of Music and studied with Professor Yunlin Yang. In 2019, he was admitted to the New England Conservatory and studied with Professor Haesun Paik.

He has made many achievements in China and abroad, some of which are as following: In 2015, he won the third place in the professional youth group of the fourth German Omeil Cup Qingdao International Piano Open.

In 2016, he won the second prize of the professional youth group of the 16th Xinghai Cup National Children's Piano Competition (the first prize is vacant). In February 2017, he won the first place in the professional youth group of the second National Youth Piano Open of the affiliated middle school cup of Shanghai Conservatory of music. In May 2018, he won the second place in the professional youth group of the 63rd German Gaotian Competition in China. In July 2018, he won the third place in the concerto professional group competition of the eighth Shenzhen Piano Open competition Che Li has held solo and Concerto concerts in Shanghai, Wenzhou, Hefei, California, and other places. These include: In November 2016, he performed "Grieg Piano Concerto in a minor" with Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra at He Luting Concert Hall of Shanghai Conservatory of music; In April 2017, he successfully held a solo concert in the Conservatory of music of Wenzhou University. On November 7, 2018, a solo concert was held in concert hall attached to Shanghai Conservatory of Music. On July 29, 2019, he cooperated with the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra in "Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor" at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in the United States. On September 19, 2020, the "New Star Shines in the Yangtze River Delta" -- the concert of Zhong Hang and Che Li Chinese young pianists studying in the United States, was held in Hefei Grand Theater.

Che Li has participated in the exchange and study of International Piano Master Classes for many times and received the guidance and instruction of many internationally renowned piano educators.
 
Mercury Orchestra
MERCURY ORCHESTRA WINS 2010 AMERICAN PRIZE COMPETITION
www.mercuryorchestra.org

 

(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—June 18, 2010) The Mercury Orchestra has been selected as the national winner of the 2010 American Prize in Orchestral Performance, community orchestra division, in a competition including orchestras from 26 states and the District of Columbia.

The American Prize is a series of new non-profit national competitions designed to recognize and reward the very best in the performing arts in the United States. Founded in 2009, the American Prize rewards the best recorded performances of music by individuals and ensembles in the United States at the professional, community/amateur, college/university, church and school levels. 

The 97-member Mercury Orchestra, directed by the young American conductor Channing Yu, brings together some of the most talented amateur musicians in the Cambridge/Boston area to perform some of the most challenging works in the symphonic repertoire. Now in its third season, the orchestra will perform two highly colorful and evocative works—Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1911) and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique—on July 17 in Sanders Theatre at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In their evaluations, the competition judges praised the orchestra’s "excellent interpretations" and made special mention of the orchestra’s "thrilling rendition of the Rondo-Finale from the Mahler Symphony No. 5," taken from a live recording of the orchestra’s performance in July 2009. "What an incredible honor for the Mercury Orchestra," says Maestro Yu, who is also a finalist in the 2010 American Prize for Conducting competition. "The musicians in our orchestra are some of the most dedicated, serious, and expressive artists I have ever worked with, and it is a thrill to make music together."

The Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra of West Windsor, N.J., took second prize, and the Auburn University/Community Orchestra of Auburn, Ala., won third prize. The judges’ decision was announced on June 18, 2010, on the American Prize website, where the three orchestras were congratulated "for their outstanding achievement, ranked among the finest community orchestras in the country." 

Justin Albstein, Mercury Orchestra’s general manager, says, "it’s wonderful that our orchestra has received this recognition in only its second year. The musicians deserve tremendous credit for taking on some of the most challenging pieces in the repertoire and succeeding brilliantly."

Adds Brian Van Sickle, principal flutist: "This is really an honor to receive such recognition. What I love most about playing in this orchestra is how sensitively all of the players work together and listen to one another. It’s a thrill to be a part of it all."
 
Channing Yu
music director and conductor

American orchestra and opera conductor Channing Yu is Music Director of the Mercury Orchestra in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Music Director of Bay Colony Brass in Watertown, Massachusetts. He is national winner of the 2010 American Prize in Orchestral Conducting in the community orchestra division. 

He has also served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Lowell House Opera, the oldest opera company in New England, where he conducted over thirty fully staged performances with orchestra, including Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Puccini’s Turandot, Verdi’s Otello, and Puccini’s Tosca. For his musical direction of Tosca, he was awarded second prize in the 2011 American Prize in Opera Conducting national competition.

His 2013–14 invitational engagements include conducting the Fall River Symphony Orchestra (Fall River, MA) and Berlin Sinfonietta (Berlin, Germany), and adjudicating for the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition, the Brookline Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, and the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Concerto Competition.

Of the Lowell House Opera’s performance of Otello, The Harvard Crimson wrote, "The production’s hero was the orchestra, under the keen direction of Channing Yu. Yu was able to channel all the energy of the 80-member ensemble into moments that spanned the entire emotional spectrum—from sheer joy to complete misery. The sound produced by the orchestra was stylish, heartfelt, and on the whole, refined." The Boston Musical Intelligencer noted, "The real star of the performance was the orchestra, led with great skill by Channing Yu."

He served as guest conductor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in its 2008 production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s baroque opera Les arts florissants. He guest conducted the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra in 2008 and 2009. He was invited as one of fourteen conductors worldwide to work with conductors Neeme Järvi, Leonid Grin, and Paavo Järvi in master classes at the 2009 Leigo Lakes Music Days Festival in Estonia. In 2010, he worked with George Pehlivanian and L’Ensemble Orchestral de València in Spain. In 2013 he worked with Johannes Schlaefli and conducted the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria.

He began formal study of conducting at Harvard University with James Yannatos; there he served as assistant conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and conductor of the Toscanini Chamber Orchestra. Since then, he has worked with a number of conductor teachers in the master class setting, including Kenneth Kiesler, Diane Wittry, Charles Peltz, and Frank Battisti.

Channing Yu grew up in Pennsylvania. Originally trained as a pianist, he was a divisional grand prize winner of the American Music Scholarship Association International Piano Competition, and he has appeared as piano soloist with numerous orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchèstra Nova. He has been praised by The Boston Globe for his "imaginative piano work." He performs with the chamber ensemble sul ponticello, in Cambridge, MA. As a violinist, he has served as concertmaster of the Brahms Society Orchestra and as violinist in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a founding member of the string quartet Quartetto Periodico. As a lyric baritone, he has performed with the Boston Opera Collaborative, in the Richard Crittenden Opera Workshop in Boston, and in the Neil Semer Vocal Institute in Coesfeld and Aub, Germany. He also sings with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Grammy award-winning chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. He is a member of the faculty of the Powers Music School in Belmont, Massachusetts. Channing Yu lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.








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Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts


中華表演藝術基金會
Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts
Lincoln,  Massachusetts