Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra will collaborate with Chinese-Australian violinist Ray Chen to perform Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E Minor.”
Christoph Eschenbach will wield the baton and the orchestra will also present Weber’s “Overture to ‘The Freeshooter’” and Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9.”
Ray Chen
Born in 1989 in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Chen was the first-prize winner in the 2008 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition and now records on the Sony Masterworks label. He plays the 1715 “Joachim” Stradivarius.
Chen graduated with a bachelor of music degree in violin performance at the Curtis Institute of Music in the United States. In 2006 and 2007, Chen attended the Encore School for Strings, studying under David Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2008 he attended the Aspen Music Festival on a full tuition fellowship, studying at the Juilliard School and Cleveland Institute of Music. In April 2016, he was the youngest juror ever of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in London.
Christoph Eschenbach
Eschenbach was orphaned during World War II. His mother’s cousin adopted him in 1946 and began to teach him to play the piano. In 1955, Eschenbach enrolled at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, studying piano and conducting. He then pursued further studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. As a pianist, Eschenbach has won numerous first-place piano competition prizes. He has made more than 80 recordings as piano soloist, conductor, or both, has appeared in several television documentaries, and has made many concert broadcasts for different European, Japanese and U.S. networks. Eschenbach is credited with helping and supporting talented young musicians in their career development, including pianist Lang Lang.
Time: 8 p.m., May 17
Tickets: 280-1,280 yua
Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall, intersection of Hongli Road and Yitian Road, Futian District (福田区红荔路和益田路交汇处深圳音乐厅)
Metro: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit D
