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Altenburg Arts and the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) are proud to jointly present virtuoso violinist Kevin Zhu, hailed for his awesome technical command and maturity" (The Strad), who returns to Singapore in January 2024 for two evenings of spectacular music.
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FRENCH FLAIR & FIREWORKS
VIOLIN RECITAL BY
KEVIN ZHU
FRIDAY 12 JANUARY 2024
8:15PM
VICTORIA CONCERT HALL, SINGAPORE
"Absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its incredible purity” (L’ape musicale)
“Awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad)
Virtuoso violinist Kevin Zhu, who brought the house down at his Singapore debut recital in February 2023, returns to Singapore in January 2024 to perform two concerts!
Winner of the First Prize and three special prizes at the 2018 Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy, Zhu will open his solo recital at the Victoria Concert Hall with two works of staggering difficulty for solo violin, Bartók's Sonata for Solo Violin and Bach's Chaconne. He is then joined by pianist Akira Eguchi in a French selection by Massenet, Debussy and Messiaen, and themes from Bizet's Carmen in a dazzling fantasy by Waxman with fireworks aplenty.
Besides this recital, a week later, Zhu heads to the Esplanade Concert Hall as soloist in Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with the Orchestra of the Music Makers.
PROGRAMME
BARTÓK – Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz. 117
BACH – Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004
MASSENET – 'Méditation' from Thaïs
DEBUSSY –Violin Sonata in G minor, L. 140
MESSIAEN – Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus, from Quatuor pour la fin du temps
WAXMAN – Carmen Fantasy
(Programme subject to change at the artist's discretion)
THE ARTISTS
KEVIN ZHU, violin
American violinist Kevin Zhu has amassed an outstanding record of concert performances and competition wins since he began playing violin at age three. Praised for his “awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad) and “absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its incredible purity” (L’ape musicale), Zhu has performed on the world’s largest stages, ranging from the Konzerthaus Berlin to London’s Royal Festival Hall to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Initially coming to international attention after winning the 2018 Paganini Competition and 2012 Yehudi Menuhin Competition, he has established himself as a leading figure among the next generation of musicians, astonishing audiences with his peerless technical mastery and inimitable artistic voice.
In the 2023-24 season, Zhu makes his Kennedy Center debut performing Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium), returns to the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, and tours with cellist Jan Vogler and pianist Andrew Armstrong. Zhu embarks on a multi-city recital tour across China and makes his debut at the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore with Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto.
Recent performing highlights include concerts on Paganini’s famed violin ‘Il Cannone’, concerto appearances in Beijing and at the historic Reggia di Caserta in Italy, and recitals in Santiago de Chile and Montréal’s Salle Bourgie. Zhu is also a passionate chamber musician, collaborating frequently with artists such as Louis Lortie, Lawrence Power, and Boris Giltburg.
In addition to his endeavors on stage, Zhu serves as a Culture Ambassador of the Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China. He has been featured on ABC Eyewitness News, BBC Radio 3, and RAI Radio 3, and is the recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant.
Zhu holds a Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. Zhu performs on the c1722 “Lord Wandsworth” Antonio Stradivari violin, which is on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.
AKIRA EGUCHI, piano
Acclaimed for his "extraordinary artistry, maturity and intelligence" (New York Times), Akira Eguchi has captivated audiences and critics throughout the world as a piano soloist, chamber musician, harpsichord player and collaborative pianist.
Since making his highly-acclaimed New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1992, he has performed in the foremost music centers of the United States, Europe, and the Far East.
In great demand as a chamber musician, Eguchi has performed at the Aspen, Ravinia, and Newport festivals in the United States and Pacific in Japan, the Japan Festival in London, and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, La Folle Journee in France. His radio and television credits include performances on WQXR and WNCN in New York, NPR, NHK of Japan, KBS of Korea, Radio France, BBC, PBS, and NBC, amongst others. More than 40 recordings are available from Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Denon, Marquis Classics, Victor, IDC, BMG, Kosei publishing, Canary/Vanguard, AVEX, Octavia, and NYS Classics.
Also active as a composer, his works include cadenzas for the Mozart Violin Concertos K.216 and K.219, commissioned by Kyoko Takezawa and Julian Rachlin, and for the Haydn Cello Concerto in C Major, which was commissioned by Ko Iwasaki. Also, piano trio version of Faure's Après un Rêve arranged by Akira Eguchi was published from International Music Company in June 2007.
Born in Tokyo, Akira Eguchi received a degree in Music Composition from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he subsequently served as a faculty member. He received his Master's Degree in Piano Performance from The Juilliard School. Recently, he was appointed as a Professor at Tokyo National University of the Arts. He also is a guest professor of Senzoku-Gakuen Music College in Japan.