The Carl Broman Concert Series at Mary Baldwin University will continue at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, in Francis Auditorium with the award-winning Chinese pianist Yun-Chin Zhou. The Cleveland Plain Dealer hailed this exciting young artist as a “dashing virtuoso … complete with dazzling fingerwork and shapely phrasing.”
“We’re so pleased to bring Yun-Chin Zhou to Staunton,” says Lise Keiter, professor of music at Mary Baldwin. “He has chosen a fantastic program — the repertoire will be familiar to the audience, yet at the same time, these are not pieces that you get to hear very often. This concert is not to be missed!”
Zhou will open with a delightful Prelude and Fugue of J.S. Bach (C-sharp Major from Book II) and then treat the audience to Chopin’s beautiful B Major Nocturne (op. 62, no. 1). He will follow with the Symphonic Etudes of Robert Schumann, a compelling work that combines virtuosity with Schumann’s trademark Romantic style. The second half of the program includes several Rachmaninoff preludes, and he will close the program with the exciting Eighth Sonata of Russian composer Serge Prokofiev. Considered a masterpiece, this work was described by the great pianist Sviatoslav Richter as Prokofiev’s “richest” contribution to the sonata repertoire.
A native of Shenyang, China, Zhou began his piano studies at the age of seven. As winner of the 2013 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International auditions, he gave debut recitals in New York and Washington DC on the Young Concert Artists Series last season to rave reviews. At the YCA auditions, he was also awarded an impressive seven performance prizes, including the Sunday Musicale Series Prize and the Vancouver Recital Society Prize, as well as the John Browning Memorial Prize, Ruth Laredo Memorial Award, and the Slomovic Prize. Zhou also won first prize in the 2013 Gina Bachauer Piano Competition at Juilliard, which brought him a full scholarship and an appearance on WQXR’s Young Artist Showcase with Robert Sherman.
Tickets for Yun-Chin Zhou’s concert may be purchased at the door and are $25 for the general public, $20 for seniors, and $5 for students (Mary Baldwin students, faculty, and staff are free). For more information call 540-887-7294 or visit Music at Mary Baldwin.