Download Untitled - Lang Ning Liu

Saturday 12 January, 2 pm
CBC Glenn Gould Studio
Duo Volando: Two Piano Extravaganza
Lang Ning Liu
PIANO
Michael Berkovsky
PIANO
Wang Jian Zhong (b. 1933)
“One Hundred Birds Salute the Phoenix”
Arranged for two pianos by the Duo
Xian Xinghai (1905–1945)
Yellow River Piano Concerto
Arranged for two pianos by the Duo
Ode to the Yellow River
Defend the Yellow River
Ástor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
Tangata
INTERMISSION
Constantine Caravassilis
"Sirens" for Two Pianos
World Première, dedicated to the Duo
Saltwater Rites
Winged Daughters of the Earth
Eternal Voices of the Archipelago
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
La Valse
PRESENTER
TITLE SPONSOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Today’s performance has been made possible through the generous support of the
Canada Council for the Arts and the Chinese Artists Society of Toronto.
Special thanks are due to WTC Production, Laurance Tan, Musideum, and Toyota on
Front for all their help and support.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Duo Volando
FEATURING LANG NING LIU & MICHAEL BERKOVSKY
Pianist Lang Ning Liu brings an introspective
approach to both the contemporary and classical
repertoire, with performances that couple breathtaking
technical mastery with profound and eloquent
musicality. Her exceptional artistic range and the
compelling immediacy of her interpretations offer
listeners distinctively original concert
experiences. Anthony Tommasini of The New York
Times hailed her as "a sensitive, extremely compelling
artist", and praised her "elegant pianism, warmth and
artistic maturity". Musical America has remarked on
her "miraculous strength and confident breadth."
Recent highlight engagements include a Canadian
tour with the Toronto Concert Orchestra, which
includes a stop at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; a debut performance and CD recording with
the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in Czech Republic; performances with China
Philharmonic and Liao Ning Philharmonic in China, and the Juarez Symphony Orchestra in
Mexico; solo recitals in the Netherlands, France and Spain; as well as solo and chamber
performances throughout North America and Asia. Past guest soloist appearances include the
Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Shreveport Symphony, Southern
Missouri Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra, Cathedral Bluffs Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic,
University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, the Asian Youth Orchestra, and the New Jersey
Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Liu makes regular media appearances on radio, TV and in the
media print in Canada’s largest broadcast and publishing networks, as well as those abroad.
Notable media appearances within Canada include CTV’s Bravo! & CP24 TV, Fairchild TV,
Rogers TV, OMNI TV, InsideToronto, Sing Tao, M2TV, and regular guest performances on the
Classical 96.3 FM. Ms. Liu has premiered and recorded commissioned works by such
Canadian composers as Vincent Ho, Clifford Crawley, and Constantine Caravassilis.
While performing takes up a significant portion of her time each season, Ms. Liu continues to
devote herself to educational and artistic outreach endeavors. She serves as Youth
Ambassador for the Chinese Culture Centre of Greater Toronto. She is the founding Artistic
Director of the Toronto International Piano Competition and CCC National Canadian Piano
Competitions. In 2009, she was invited to serve as a jury member of the MTNA Competition in
Maryland. Ms. Liu frequently teaches and conducts masterclasses around the world; many of
her students have won national and international prizes.
Ms. Liu began her studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, making her
orchestral debut with the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra at age 10, performing Beethoven's
Piano Concerto No. 1. She entered The Glenn Gould School in Toronto on full scholarship at
age 17, where she received her Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance. She holds a
Master's degree in Piano Performance at the renowned Juilliard School in New York.
www.ArtOfLangNing.com
Canadian-Israeli pianist, Michael Berkovsky, made his
New York debut at Avery Fisher Hall and has toured as a
soloist in Ireland, Costa Rica, Japan, Italy, Israel, Canada
and the United States. He has won numerous awards,
including the Peabody Conservatory Competition, LisztGarrison, IBLA Grand Prize, Jacob Flier International
Competition and has performed under the baton of
Vladimir Feltsman, Stefan Sanderling and Leon Fleisher.
He was also a recipient of the America Israel Cultural
Foundation Scholarships, and with the recommendation of
Maestro Valery Gergiev, was awarded White Nights
Foundation Scholarships while studying at the Juilliard
School.
Michael was born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel in 1990. He has studied
with NatalyLitvinova and was mentored by Alexander Slobodyanik. In 2001, his family moved
to Toronto, Canada. He received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School
where he studied with YohevedKaplinsky and Julian Martin. In 2011, he completed his Doctoral
degree at the Peabody Conservatory of the John Hopkins University while under the tutelage of
Professor Yong Hi Moon.
In the past year, Dr. Berkovsky hasbeen invited as a guest artist at a number of local music
festivals. He will also be featured as guest faculty at the InterHarmony Festival in Tuscany, Italy
in the upcoming summer of 2013. He frequently judges local competitions in Canada and is a
board member of the Canadian Music Competition and CCC Music Festival. He also conducts
masterclasses regularly in Toronto, Kingston and Barrie. Mr. Berkovsky is in high demand as a
teacher and currently has a full studio in which a number a number of his students have placed
highly in local and national competitions.
Dr. Berkovsky is also an active chamber musician; he has collaborated with the Jupiter
Chamber Orchestra, singers from the Metropolitan and Toronto Opera companies and with
chamber musicians from the Glenn Gould School Faculty and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In
June 2012, Mr. Berkosvky collaborated with conductor William Noll and Moscow Conservatory
Professor PavelNarsessian in the performance of Bach’s Triple Piano Concerto, Poulenc’s Two
Piano Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Suite for Two Pianos in Naples, Florida. Dr. Berkovsky
has further been invited to perform a lecture-recital and collaborative program at the
Rachmaninoff Conference held February 14-18, 2013, in Naples, Florida.
Mr. Berkovsky also regularly collaborates with violinist Janice Lamare. As Co-Directors of the
Barrie Music Festival for Children, they have produced and performed a number of concert
programs specifically for children.
Mr. Berkovsky has also performed together with Lang Ning Liu for the 2012 Moon Festival at
the Cultural Chinese Art Centre in Markham. Recently, Mr. Michael Berkovsky and Ms. Lang
Ning Liu were awarded a grant by the Canadian Arts Council to complete a recording project of
the Chinese folk tune arrangements and newly commissioned work titled “Sirens” for Two
Pianos by Constantine Caravassilis featured in tonight’s program. The recording, produced by
WTC Productions, will be released in the upcoming year.
www.MichaelBerkovsky.com
Constantine Caravassilis COMPOSER
Driven by emotion, beauty and spirituality, and inspired by the
worlds of nature and literature, Constantine Caravassilis’
evocative music is intimately connected to his Hellenic roots,
often drawing inspiration from ancient Greek mythology and
Byzantine culture.
Born in Toronto to a family of musicians, Constantine grew up in
a culturally rich community on Samos Island, Greece. Taking
his first violin lesson at age six, he later switched to the piano
and then founded his own orchestra and choir at age 15, giving
annual concerts at the local lyceum.
Apart from being a prolific composer, Constantine is also an active pianist and conductor based
in Toronto, which has been his home since his late teens. He has conducted the gamUT
chamber orchestra at the University of Toronto, and has recorded and premiered works by
some 25 young Canadian composers to date. Since his mid-twenties, and while still a student,
he has enjoyed international exposure through multiple performances of his music in 20
countries and in important venues including Carnegie Hall (New York), Jordan Hall (Boston),
Southam Hall (Ottawa), Bunka-Kaikan Hall (Tokyo), AlteOper (Frankfurt), Round Tower
(Copenhagen), Smolensk Philharmonic Hall (Russia) and the Athens Concert Hall, to name but
a few. Additionally, his music has been broadcast by BBC3 in Britain, CBC Radio in Canada,
CNN Turk in Turkey, TDK Radio in Japan and WCRB Radio in the United States.
In 2010, Constantine was named finalist for the Royal Bank of Canada Emerging Artist Award,
in addition to winning a number of top honors including the Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian
Music and the Harry Freedman Recording Award. In 2006, he was declared Grand Winner of
the Volos City International Composition Competition (Greece), where he was awarded three
gold medals for his “profoundly mature style and highly individual compositional voice”. Jazz &
Tzaz music magazine hailed him as “the most important Hellenic-descent composer of his
generation”. He has also held composition residencies with the London Song Festival (UK),
the Open Strings Festival (Denmark), the Contemporary Opera Lab (Winnipeg) and the Harp
on the Hills Festival (Richmond Hill, ON).
Constantine studied piano, conducting and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music,
the Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music (University of Manitoba), and the University of
Toronto in both the undergraduate and doctoral levels, as a pupil of some of Canada's finest
musicians. His most influential teachers are Christos Hatzis (composition), Raffi Armenian
(conducting) and Christina Petrowska Quilico (piano). In addition to several academic
scholarships, he has received fellowships and been provided with further professional training
by a number of organizations including the Toronto Summer Music Academy, the National Arts
Centre (Ottawa), City Opera Vancouver, SoundStreams Canada and the Winnipeg Symphony
Orchestra.
www.Caravassilis.ca
SIRENS FOR TWO PIANOS
Constantine Caravassilis
"Sirens" for Two Pianos
World Première, dedicated
to the Duo
i. Saltwater Rites
ii. Winged Daughters of the Earth
iii. Eternal Voices of the
Archipelago
Commissioned by and dedicated to Duo Volando, Sirens is a 3-movement work written in
2012.
In ancient Greek mythology, the Sirens were daughters of the primordial sea god Phorcys
who lived on the isolated island of Faiakes. They were female half-bird/half-human creatures
who assailed passing ships while singing seductive songs to the sailors. Their songs were so
irresistibly beautiful that the sailors would succumb entirely to their charm, crash their ships on
the rocks, and die of hunger on the deserted island.
Homer introduces the Sirens in book VII of the Odyssey when Odysseus orders his shipmen
to plug their ears with wax to avoid being lured by their singing. According to the mythological
tale of the Argonauts, Orpheus would often protect men at sea by singing his own songs,
thereby saving them from the danger of being lured by the sound of the Sirens.
Growing up beside the Aegean Sea, I always associated the traditional folk tunes of the
region with mythological tales, as well as with the many creatures and characters found in
each story. In painting these imaginary scenes with the Sirens in the three movements of my
piece, I used island folk melodies to call them from their ancient Ionian home, despite the fact
that our cultures are thousands of years and miles apart.
Saltwater Rites invites the Sirens to fly closer to Asia Minor and sing for us. The melody of
this folk song is first introduced in a ritualistic manner and then re-processed in a fugal
exposition, portraying the Sirens’ flight towards the Aegean. The music then depicts them
participating in a local ritual dance accompanied by the sound of the wind framed by the
evocative colors of sea and sky.
Winged Daughters of the Earth depicts the duality of these singing creatures. Their half-bird
characteristics are symbolized by ‘bird-calls’ played in the upper range of the piano, while
their half-human qualities are represented by the expression of a number of unfolding moods,
ranging from nostalgic longing to joyful singing and dancing.
In Eternal Voices of the Archipelago we experience the luring sounds of the Sirens
firsthand. The antiphonal singing between the two pianos fuses another island song with a
more romantic-sounding original theme. The Sirens’ song ends with a coda heralding their
departure from the Aegean and their singing high in the skies on their way back to Faiakes.