Two “amazing” soloists are combining their talents on violin and piano to perform the music of legendary classical jazz composer George Gershwin, as well as early 20th century romanticists Debussy and Ravel.
The North Okanagan Community Concert Association (NOCCA) welcomes violinist Haerim Elizabeth Lee (Liz) and pianist David Fung Thursday evening, Jan. 25 at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre.
From Korea via Texas, Lee immigrated to America at the age of eight after already studying for four years in her home country. She went on to her first symphonic solo at age nine, and proceeded with numerous world symphonies afterward. One distinctive highlight of her musical progression was her performance as concertmaster with Yo Yo Ma at the Kennedy Centre Honours Concert in Washington to honour Maestro Seiji Ozawa in the presence of then President Barack Obama.
Lee’s traditional musical education has included a scholarship in music at the University of North Carolina School of Arts, a Bachelor of Arts degree from the New England Conservatory, a Masters in Music from Rice University, Houston which included time with B.C.’s own Jon Kimura Parker, and then a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan where Lee became involved in the Gershwin Initiative. This last step inspired her to attend the Paris Conservatoire and develop a passion for French culture, cuisine and musical history and provided an exposure to classical jazz as only the French can do.
She now teaches as a Violin Professor at Texas Christian University and is extremely proud of those artists with whom she has collaborated as well as the festivals in which she has performed.
Fung is a member of the Faculty of Music at UBC whose credentials are literally too many to mention. Born in Australia, Fung went on to win the ABC Young Performer of the Year at age 14. He has gone on to compete successfully as a laureate in the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition and the ArthurRubenstein International Masters Competition in Tel Aviv, the latter which awarded him the Chamber Music and Mozart Prizes.
Fung has performed with orchestras the world over, from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Cleveland, Detroit, to Tel Aviv, Seoul and Shanghai as well as his native Australia with the Melbourne, Queensland and Sydney Symphonies. Concert venues include Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln and Kennedy Centres, the Louvre, Gewandhaus, the Palais des Beaux-Arts, and Zurich Tonhalle. This is only a partial listing.
His interpretations have been described as “sensitive yet bold, agile and alert” and “heartbreaking.” These quotations now lead us to this unique collaboration with Lee, whose musical accolades parallel those of Fung.
Tickets are available at ticketseller.ca or by calling 250-549-7469.
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