Myung-Whun Chung
Conductor Myung-Whun Chung won the second prize at the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 1974. After his musical studies at the Mannes School and the Juilliard School in New York, he was appointed as Carlo Maria Giulini’s assistant in 1979 at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and became Associate Conductor two years later.
He was Music Music Director of the Opéra de Paris-Bastille, Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the first Principal Guest Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden in history, Music Advisor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He founded Asia Philharmonic, an orchestra made up of the best musicians from eight Asian countries. Myung-Whun Chung has conducted the world’s leading orchestras, in Europe, in USA and in Asia.
He has been the recipient of honours and prizes for his artistic work, including the Premio Abbiati and the Arturo Toscanini prize in Italy and the Légion d’Honneur (1992) in France. In 1991, the Association of French Theatres and Music Critics named him “Artist of the year”. And in 1995 and 2002 he won the prize “Victoire de la Musique”. In June 2011, Myung-Whun Chung has been appointed Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres. On 1st March 2017, Myung Whun Chung has been appointed Commendatore Ordine della Stella d’Italia, On 1st June 2022, he received the decoration of “Grande Ufficiate” from President Sergio Matteralla in Palazzo del Quirinale.
In 2008, he was designated the first conductor named as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
WANG Jian
WANG Jian began to study the cello with his father when he was four. While a student at the Shanghai Conservatory, he was featured in the celebrated documentary film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. In 1981, at 12 years old, Jian made his professional debut playing the Saint Saens cello concerto with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra at the Shanghai Music Hall. In 1985, with Mr Stern's encouragement, he entered the Yale School of Music under a special programme where he studied with the renowned cellist Aldo Parisot.
As a soloist, WANG Jian has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw orchestra, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, Chicago, Boston and Detroit Symphonies, , London Symphony, the Halle, the BBC orchestras, Zurich Tonhalle, Gothenburg Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, La Scala, Mahler Chamber, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philhamonic, and NHK Symphony. These concerts have been with many of the greatest conductors, such as Abbado, Sawallisch, Jarvi, Chailly, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Chung, Gilbert and Gustavo Dudamel. WANG Jian also collaborates frequently with all the major Chinese Orchestras, including Shanghai Symphony, China Philharmonic, China NCPA orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou, Shenzhen symphony orchestras and Hangzhou Philharmonic. These concerts have been with one of his closest musical partners YU Long, as well as TANG Muhai, CHEN Zuohuang, LÜ Jia, ZHANG Guoyong, YANG Yang, XU Zhong, LIN Daye, HUAN Jing and ZHANG Jieming. WANG Jian was appointed as the first ever Artist in Residence by the China National Centre for the Performing Arts, also by the Shanghai Symphony orchestra. As a jury member, WANG Jian has judged many of the most important competitions, including the Tchaikovsky cello competition, the Queen Elizabeth cello competition, the Weiniawsky Violin Competition, the Isaac Stern violin competition and the Nielsen violin competition. WANG Jian now serves as the International Chair of the Cello for the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He also serves as a member of Artistic committee for the Shanghai Symphony and Hangzhou Philharmonic. Since 2022, WANG Jian is a cello professor at the Shanghai Conservatory.
WANG Jian has made many recordings, his latest releases being the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He has also recorded an album of short pieces for Cello and Guitar titled Reverie, the complete Bach Cello Suites and a Baroque Album with the Camerata Salzburg, Brahms Double Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado and Gil Shaham, the Haydn Concerti with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under TANG Muhai, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (with Myung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham and Paul Meyer) and Brahms, Mozart and Schumann chamber music with Pires and Dumay. His instrument is graciously loaned to him by the family of the late Mr. Sau-Wing Lam.
Kyoko Takezawa
As the embodiment of musicality, violinist Kyoko Takezawa electrifies audiences with a richness of playing, a virtuosic confidence of feeling, and a fiery intensity that establishes her as one of today’s foremost violinists. Ms. Takezawa’s interpretive insight and indisputable talent have made her a sought-after soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras.
Ms. Takezawa has performed as soloist with such prominent ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, and the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Cleveland, Baltimore, Saint Louis, Houston, Toronto, Dallas, Montreal, Detroit and Cincinnati. Abroad, she has been heard with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the London Symphony, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestra National de Radio France, Lyon and also Nice, the NHK Symphony, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and the New Japan Philharmonic. She has collaborated with many distinguished conductors, including Seiji Ozawa, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Sir Neville Marriner, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowski and Sir Andrew Davis. She has performed at major venues around the world, notably Carnegie Hall in New York; the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; London’s BBC Proms; Musikverain in Vienna and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
In recent season, Ms. Takezawa has made her debut appearance with Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, Mito Chamber Orchestra in Japan, Spring Festival in Korea, Music in the Vineyard Festival, Santa Fe Festival, Music @ Menlo Festival and Saratoga Spring Festival in USA. Also she was the jury member of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Concours international Marguerite-Long-Jacques-Thibaud, Sendai International Competition and the International Wieniawski Violin Competition, Menuhin Violin Competition.
In past seasons, she has performed with the Vancouver Symphony , the West Australian Symphony , the Amarillo Symphony and in Finland with the Kymi Sinfonietta, in Japan with the Kanagawa Philharmonic, Osaka Century Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, in North America with the St. Louis, Tucson and Jacksonville, Charlotte, Toronto and Seattle Symphonies. She also performed with the China Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, the Japan Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, NHK Symphony. Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Tokyo City Philharmonic in Asia, Denmark’s Aarhus Symphony, France’s Orchestre National de Lille, and Manchester’s Halle Orchestra. She also appeared as the feature soloist on the Hamburg NDR Symphony tour of Japan.
A highly accomplished chamber music performer, Ms. Takezawa has participated in the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival , the La Jolla Chamber Music Festival and the Casals Festival in Prades., Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Also she has been a regular guest for the La Folle Journee Festival in Japan. Ms. Takezawa’s chamber music performances have drawn high praise, and as co-director of the Suntory Festival Soloists of Suntory Hall in Tokyo, she has collaborated with the late Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Joseph Suk and many other distinguished artists.
A prolific recording artist, she has just released her most recent CD which she performed all Brahms’s Violin Sonatas with pianist Itamar Golan by Sony Music Japan. Other recordings are heard on BMG’s RCA Victor Red Seal label, a recital CD titled Romanza which she performed short pieces, performances of the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14, by Samuel Barber with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Brahms Violin Concerto and the Elgar Violin Concerto with Sir Colin Davis and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Barto´k with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony; and the Mendelssohn Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 with Klaus Peter Flor and the Bamberg Symphony. Ms. Takezawa’s CD of French violin sonatas was selected as one of the best recordings of 1993 by Stereo Review.
Ms. Takezawa has numerous television credits includes Concerto! the programme which she performed Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto guided by Dudley Moor by BBC channel 4, morning show by A&E and two hour documentary programme by TV Aichi in Japan.
Ms. Takezawa began violin studies at the age of three and at seven toured the United States, Canada and Switzerland as a member of the Suzuki Method Association. In 1982 she placed first in the 51st Annual Japan Music Competition, and at 17 she entered the Aspen Music School to study with Dorothy DeLay, with whom Ms. Takezawa continued to study at The Juilliard School until graduating in 1989. In 1986 she was awarded the Gold Medal at the Second Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. As a educator she is on the faculty of Toho Music School in Japan. Most recently, she received the prestigious Idemitsu Award for outstanding musicianship and Aichi Art Cultural Award.