Thursday 28 July 2011 7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall
Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 2
Lim Yan started playing the piano at the age of five and was a student of Ms Lim Tshui Ling
in Singapore before leaving for Manchester in 1993. There, he first attended Chetham's
School of Music where he was taught by David Hartigan, and subsequently completed his
higher education at the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of
Music, where his tutor was Ronan O'Hora.
Whilst in the UK, Yan performed extensively throughout Europe and worked with many leading
conductors and orchestras. His recital at the Cheltenham Festival featured the
world premiere of Der Heimat zu by John Hails. In Manchester, he collaborated
with conductor Vassily Sinaisky, and also the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater
Hall, performing both of Liszt’s Piano Concertos. Concert tours of Sweden and Serbia, where
he played with the Belgrade Radio Orchestra, included concertos by Shostakovich and
Brahms. Most recently, he was invited to perform the Yellow River Piano Concerto at the
2010 Beijing International Piano Festival, and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 with
the "Mihail Jora" Philharmonic in Bacau, Romania.
Back home in Singapore, Lim Yan has appeared with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in such
works as Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. He was
also the soloist in Grieg's Piano Concerto for the visit of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony
Orchestra in April 2009. As a chamber musician, Yan has given recitals with violinist
Ning Feng, cellist Wang Jian and flautist Andrea Griminelli, besides his ongoing piano
quintet series with Take 5. In October 2006, Yan was honoured to receive the Young Artist
Award from the National Arts Council.
Thursday 21 April 2011 7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall
Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto in D
Canadian-born violinist Lara St. John has been described as "something of a phenomenon" by The Strad and a "high powered soloist" by the New York Times.
She has performed as soloist with the orchestras of Cleveland, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Seattle, Brooklyn, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, the Boston Pops and many more in North America. In Europe, she has played with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Symphony (Hanover), Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Bournemouth Symphony, and the Amsterdam Symphony, among others. In Asia, solo appearances have included the Hong Kong Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, China Philharmonic in Beijing, Guangzhou Symphony and the Shanghai Broadcasting Orchestra. Lara has also performed with the Queensland Orchestra in Australia and the Akbank Symphony in Turkey.
The Los Angeles Times has written, "St. John brings to the stage personal charisma, an unflagging musical imagination and genuine passion." Recitals in major concert halls have included New York, Boston, San Francisco, Ravinia, Washington DC, Prague, Berlin, Toronto, Montreal and in the Forbidden City.
Lara St. John's recording with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and conductor Eduardo Marturet: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons and Piazzolla - The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires reached No. 2 on the iTunes charts on its first day and Maestro José Antonio Abreu, the founder of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and El Sistema wrote of the recording: "This stunning recording features the extraordinary violinist Lara St. John. She and the musicians of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra give an inspired performance under the baton of Eduardo Marturet."The Cleveland Plain Dealer said "Lara St. John is as captivating in the seductive scenes of the Piazzolla as she is crisp, caressing and colorful in Vivaldi's atmospheric paeans to nature" and Audiophile Audition stated "Do we need another Four Seasons? With playing and sound like this, yes we do!"
Lara’s sixth recording, Hindson, Corigliano, Liszt (arr. Kennedy/St. John) was released in 2008 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, featuring two world premiere works; the Matthew Hindson Violin Concerto and the Martin Kennedy/St. John arrangement of Totentanz by Franz Liszt, as well as 'The Red Violin Suite' by John Corigliano. In writing of his impressions of the recording, John Corigliano commented: "I'm thrilled to be included in a new recording by the brilliant and always surprising Lara St. John. She is a real maverick, as a performer and in her choice of repertoire. An opulent and virtuosic new violin concerto and my Red Violin suite are coupled with a newly arranged version of a 19th century pianistic tour de force in her latest stunning release."
Lara's fifth recording, Bach: The Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo described as "awe-inducing" by The Toronto Star, and "wild, idiosyncratic and gripping" by the Los Angeles Times, was released in the autumn of 2007 where it climbed to No. 2 and was the year’s best selling double album on iTunes.
Her third recording, Bach: The Concerto Album appeared in the "strongly recommended" section of Gramophon, which stated, "It is difficult to argue with such a technically dazzling and unfailing musical interpretation". In June of 2005 the recording was released on iTunes where it immediately reached No. 1 in the classical category. Lara has also recorded for Sony Classical.
Her debut CD, Bach Works for Solo Violin, has sold over 50,000 copies and received resounding acclaim. The Chicago Tribune described Ms. St. John as having "superb technique and an irresistible vitality," while US News and World Report called the recording "an exquisite performance." Her second album, Gypsy, was described as "a sizzling display" by Gramophone, and The Strad called her "an electrifying player, as deeply satisfying in Bach as she is bewitchingly seductive in Waxman's Carmen Fantasy."
She has been featured in People, US News and World Report, on CNN's Showbiz Today, NPR's All Things Considered, Fox News, CBC and a Bravo! Special: Live At the Rehearsal Hall.
The 2010-2011 concert season includes more than 45 performances in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland, the United States and Canada as well as a concert in New York’s Central Park.
Lara began playing the violin when she was two years old. She made her first appearance as soloist with orchestra at age four, and her European debut with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon when she was 10. She toured Spain, France, Portugal and Hungary at ages 12 and 13, entered the Curtis Institute at 13, and spent her first summer at Marlboro three years later. Her teachers have included Felix Galimir and Joey Corpus.
She performs on the 1779 "Salabue" Guadagnini thanks to an anonymous donor and Heinl & Co. of Toronto.
Tuesday 30 November 2010 7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall
Richard Strauss
Concerto No. 1 in E flat major
Stewart Rose, French Horn player, is a native of New York City. He is Principal Horn with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and has been Principal Horn with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s since 1983. In 1989 he became Principal with the New York City Opera Orchestra. Mr. Rose has also performed as Guest Principal Horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Ensemble Wein-Berlin and the Met Chamber Ensemble with James Levine. Other recent performances include appearances at the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, Spoleto, Edinburgh and Eastern Shore Music Festivals. He recently released to great critical acclaim, his first solo CD “From the Forest”, a collection of early Classical works for Horn and Orchestra by Haydn, Telemann, Leopold Mozart and Christoph Forster with the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, now available on iTunes.
Highlights of this past season include a domestic tour with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and soloist in the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s “Synaxis” with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Rose has made over 100 recordings of the chamber music and orchestral literature for BMG, Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI and Music Masters. Recent releases include his appearance as first horn on the New York Philharmonic’s DG release of “Harold in Italy” with Lorin Maazel; Renee Fleming sings “Bel Canto” with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and in works for wind ensemble by Beethoven, Mozart, Pleyel, and Rossini with Mozzafiato on Sony Classical. Other recordings include Paul Simon’s recent releases “You’re the One” and “Songs From the Capeman”, solo horn on Pat Metheny's soundtrack for “A Map of the World”, and soundtracks for “Beauty and the Beast” and “Cape Fear”. He has appeared on numerous “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcasts with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the New York City Opera, and is a frequent guest with the “CBS Late Show Orchestra”.
The New York Times critic John Rockwell has noted Stewart Rose for his “remarkable virtuosity, agility and fluency, and his ability to retain the horn's cheery rusticity.”
Buffalo Globe critic Herman Trotter said of “From the Forest”: “This is a recording to be treasured, not only by horn players but by average music lovers searching for new frontiers of musical excellence.”
“Stewart Rose's horn solos were eloquent and sure. The instrument can play dirty tricks on the best of performers but was on its best behavior here.”
New York Times, Feb. 8, 2007
“forceful yet elegant playing”
The New Yorker, Feb. 2007