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LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION CONCERT
2022-2023 DEIB CONCERT SERIES 01
January 31, 2023
7:30pm Mead Witter Concert Hall
Lunar New Year Celebration honors the traditional holiday that is observed in countries and territories around the globe. Join us for a free performance with a special program and learn more about dance and music inspired by Asian culture. Explore a wider range of repertoire outside of the traditional Western Classical canon and its inspiration!
About Kangwon Lee Kim
Dr. Kangwon Lee Kim, Madison Bach Musicians concertmaster and Assistant Artistic Director, is a versatile violinist with repertoire ranging from baroque to 21st-century using both baroque and modern violins.
She has performed throughout the US as well as in Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Norway, and Czech Republic and has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler and Laurence Lesser. Ms. Kim has been invited to perform at the St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. She was also featured in the Rising Young Artist Series at the Seoul Arts Center where her recital was televised nationwide on Korean Cable Network. Ms. Kim has recorded for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and CRI labels, and live recordings of her performances have been heard on National Public Radio, WFLN in Philadelphia, and Wisconsin Public Radio.
As a baroque violinist, Ms. Kim has performed with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Brandywine Baroque, the Classical Symphony, Lyra Baroque, Indy Baroque, Greater Lakes Baroque, and the Third Coast Baroque. She has also appeared in faculty recitals at the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin and has given guest recitals at Pomona College and the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Kim was Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Biola University in CA and has also taught at Ripon College and Lawrence University Conservatory.
Recently, Ms. Kim has been invited to serve as music director of Love in Music, a nonprofit organization that reaches out to the underserved communities in the LA area, and she enjoys training and working with the music teachers who give free lessons to the young students. During the summer, she teaches at Credo summer chamber music festival at Oberlin College and is the chair of MBM’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop.
About Changyue Liu:
Changyue Liu is from Northeast China. She started learning the piano at the age of four, and then she focused on schoolwork in middle school and high school. After graduating from Tsinghua University with a bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering, she worked in Beijing and restarted playing the piano with Ying Zhang at Central Conservatory of Music Continuing Education Program. The desire for music drove her to pursue a music degree, and she received her second bachelor’s degree in piano performance in Professor Steven Glaser's studio at the Ohio State University in 2021. Currently, she is a second-year master student in Professor Christopher Talor's studio at UW-Madison, where she also teaches undergraduate applied piano courses. Teaching allows her to think deeper about piano, and she is experimenting with more possibilities in music making.
About Karen Szczech
Violinist Karen Szczech is a first generation Polish-American from Chicago, Illinois. In Spring of 2021, she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Violin Performance studying with Lenora Marya-Anop, and a Minor in Psychology while also completing her Suzuki training in Books 1 through 6 with Vera McCoy-Sulentic at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Violin Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madisonstudying under Dr. Dawn Wohn. Prior to her university studies, Karen graduated from The Chicago Academy for the Arts in 2017 studying violin under Rachel Brown and composition under Jesse Langen.
As a violinist and composer, Karen has premiered and performed works in multiple festivals such as: Darmstadt New Music Festival in Darmstadt, Germany; Omaha Under the Radar in Omaha, Nebraska; Ear Taxi Festival and Chicago Trio Workshop in Chicago, Illinois; Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, Nebraska; and Emerald Coast Chamber Music Festival- Midsummer Virtual Institute. During the summers, Karen can be found at Summer Music Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin holding the position as one of the violin faculty for the program.
Karen is also the violinist and instructor at Magical Keys. Magical Keys is a duet, private teaching studio, and non-profit organization that is run with her older sister who is a pianist, harpist, vocalist, and composer, Kasia Szczech-Dlugosz. As a duet they play at multiple special occasions within the Chicago area, such as weddings, and other large celebrations. As a private teaching studio, they teach children of all ages and provide them with music education not only on their instruments but in music theory and history. Lastly, as a non-profit organization, a large-scale production is put together by musicians within the Chicago area called, The Magical Keys Christmas Extravaganza. The Magical Keys Christmas Extravaganza is a Christmas show including musicians from all different backgrounds and experiences that come together to create a magical night to help those in need during the holidays. Every year Magical Keys sponsors the organization “Dom Samotnej Matki”, “House of the Lonely Mother”, and all ticket proceeds from The Magical Keys Christmas Extravaganza go to this home for single mothers in need.
About Melody Ma
Melody Ma is a senior double majoring in Computer Science and Music Performance. She studies Piano with professor Jessica Johnson and is a software engineer at Amazon.
Music Background
The Jasmine Flower Fantasia was composed by Wanghua Chu in 2003. Jasmine Flower is a very famous Chinese folk song. The composer adapted the music to a piano solo with rich emotions and forms. He used various chords and polyrhythms to elicit feelings and blend the emotions with background scenes, making the piece technically difficult but inspirational. He integrated the sound effects of eastern and western instruments into the piece, which reflected the elegance of jasmine and the beauty of Chinese women.
About Asian Musical Instruments Community
Enact musical performances for the campus community and encourage others in their musicianship
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Performers:
Xiang Chen - pipa,
YingYing Xie - guzheng (1),
Zheyan Xu - guzheng (2)
Shiyun Cheng - guzheng (3),
Harry Hsieh - violin,
Hanxiang Wei - piano,
About Srividya Ramesh & Shri Naatiya Vidhyalayaa
Mrs. Srividya Ramesh is the founder and dance instructor of Shri Naatiya Vidhyalayaa Dance School in Madison WI. So far she has trained more than 50 students in India and USA. She has been learning Bharatanatyam (Indian Classical Dance) since 5 years of age and has given more than 100 performances in India, Madison(Wisconsin) and Chicago(Illinois). Bharatanatyam is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms and it involves intricate footwork, beautiful face expressions and complicated hand gestures. Dancers will be trained for hours to ballet to the rhythm of the music. Costumes and Make-up play a crucial role in conveying the characters and story of the ballet and music helps enhance the mood of the viewers.
About Junchi Li
About Elsa Wei
Hanxiang Wei was born in China. Later, she went to Peru and lived there for seven years. Now she is a UW student, a sophomore majoring in Psychology and Environmental Sciences. She has been playing piano since childhood and she keeps practicing piano while growing up. Her favorite composer is Chopin.
About VIVID Dance
We've founded VIVID to appeal people who have similar interests: K-Pop, Hip-Hop, dancing, performing, filming, editing, and creating! Our goal is to achieve an environment to allow people to feel comfortable and grow in their dance abilities with little judgement. We want to allow people to expand their artistic abilities, by directing their own videos, filming, and editing them. VIVID is an open place for people that have a mutual enjoyment of dance to come together, learn and create.
About James Waldo
Cellist James Waldo is a sought-after chamber musician and recitalist. A regular performer at Midsummer’s Music in Door County, WI, James has appeared in chamber music settings at such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully and Merkin Halls at Lincoln Center, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, Music on the Fox, and the Grande Theatre in Harbin, China. Notable collaborations include performances with Sara Sant’Ambrosio, Anne-Marie McDermott, Monica Huggett, Ruth Cunningham, and the Ulysses String Quartet. James’ playing appears in the soundtrack for the feature film Uljhan/The Knot (2021, Winner – Asian Film Festival) and the experimental short film Burning Cathedrals (Official Selection – Cannes Short Film Festival, 2022). James has appeared as a concert soloist with the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra, the Chinese Ensemble of NY, Philomusica, and the UW Symphony Orchestra.
James received his Doctor of Musical Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from University of Wisconsin-Madison under the instruction of Uri Vardi, with additional studies in jazz (doctoral minor), musicology, and Russian language. James completed his Master of Music degree at Mannes School of Music, studying cello with Timothy Eddy, and chamber music with Mark Steinberg, Todd and Daniel Philips, Pavlina Dokovska, Laurie Smukler, Victor Rosenbaum, Jacob Lateiner, Martha MacGaughey, and Arthur Haas.
While living in New York City, James served as principal cellist for the Cecilia Chorus of NY from 2015-2019, and performed with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony, Cantori NY, and the Chinese Ensemble of NY. James co-founded the Listen Closely Chamber Music Initiative of uptown Manhattan, a collective of locally based musicians performing concerts in the neighborhood’s local parks, libraries, museums, and churches. James toured nationally from 2008-2014 as founding cellist and arranger for the orchestral folk ensemble Spirits of the Red City, and has performed regularly with The Brilliance and jazz pianist and composer Robert Rodriguez.
Raised by two accomplished recorder players, James is an enthusiastic proponent of historical performance practices on cello and viola da gamba. James was founding member of LeStrange Viols, whose record “William Cranford Consort Music for 4, 5, and 6 Viols” (Olde Focus 2015) received “honorable mention” on Alex Ross’ list of 2015’s best recordings in The New Yorker. Other notable collaborations include performances with Pomerium, the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, the Salon/Sanctuary concert series, and the Madison Bach Musicians.
James has served as a clinician and guest artist at Cornell College, Eastern Tennessee State University, Western Carolina University, Suffolk Community College, Hofstra University, SUNY-Potsdam, and the Juilliard School Evening Division. He teaches cello at the Madison Country Day School, and has run a small private cello studio continuously since the age of 17.
James and his pianist spouse Alyona A. Waldo have performed at numerous festivals and concert series together across the United States and China as the A.W.Duo. In 2015, the duo performed the complete cycle of works for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven in New York City and Columbia, South Carolina. James enjoys time with his daughters Sofia and Masha, along with dog Remy and cat Eddy.
About Lina Yoomin Lee
Lina Yoo Min Lee (D.M.A.) is a highly prolific pianist and proactive pedagogue across the world. Lee has been captivating audiences with her personal and insightful expressionist style mostly in the United States, Spain, and Korea. Her most recent piano solo recital at Carnegie Hall in New York City was highly acclaimed for her exquisite interpretation of an eclectic program and powerful pianistic virtuosity. Her enthusiasm to create an inclusive platform led her to feature works by female composers through her concert series in five different states in the U.S. Her recent concerts have been broadcasted. Her latest album featuring works by female composers will be released soon.
Along with her solo career, Lee is a vivid collaborative pianist and chamber musician. She has had extensively collaborated with singers, instrumentalists, and orchestras. Her recent Meschter-Lee Violin and Piano duo has performed in several residencies and given outreach concerts and workshops in California and Wisconsin. Lee has collaborated with internationally renowned artists, including members of Madison Symphony Orchestra and Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra. She is enthusiastic about creating interdisciplinary collaboration not only with musicians but also with other artists. Accordingly, she programmed and directed a music-poet-dance concert and brought multi-disciplinary events to her community. Her engagement with diverse collaboration brought her to numerous music festivals, including Stanford Summer Seminar and Aspen Music Festival.
Lee is a very passionate pedagogue and educator teaching piano and presenting her research worldwide. She currently serves on the piano faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously, she taught students at the Peabody Preparatory School of the Johns Hopkins University through the piano pedagogy program. She has given lecturers, masterclasses, workshops, and presentations internationally. In 2022, she performed and presented lecture recitals at the University of Kansas in the U.S. and at the Seoul National University in Korea. In 2021, she performed at Stanford University in the U.S. and gave a lecture-recital at the European Piano Teachers Association International Conference in Madrid, Spain. She has also appeared at an online live forum for the Frances Clark Center National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in 2020. Lee has been invited to adjudicate competitions and serve on the juries of national auditions & exams. Most recent ones include 2022 Sejong Music Competitions and the Wisconsin MTNA Piano Competitions.
Enthusiastic about community engagement & arts outreach and dedicated to promoting the works of underrepresented and historically & systematically marginalized composers, Lee is the Founder and Artistic Director of the DEIB Festival in Madison, Wisconsin, which acts to facilitate awareness and provide social justice opportunities for the community through a series of events focusing on DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging), leadership, collaboration and community engagement.
Lee earned both B.M. in Piano Performance and M.M. degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University under a Lucy Brown Memorial Piano Scholarship, Lydia and Richard Gillespie Endowed Scholarship and Yeojung Annual Piano Scholarship. She also completed a D.M.A. with a full scholarship in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated with the Jeanette Ross Award. Her major teachers include Yong Hi Moon and Jessica Johnson, who have always been inspirations in her work.