Duchesne Trio

Featuring Shen Wen, Piano, Xiaoxiao Qiang, Violin, and Yin Xiong, cello

Program to include:

Violin Sonata no. 1 in a minor

 

Maurice Ravel (1875—1937)

Cello Sonata in a minor

I. Allegretto ben moderato

II. Allegro

III. Ben moderato: Recitativo-Fantasia

IV. Allegretto poco mosso

César Franck (1822–1890)/ Jules Delsart (1844–1900)

 

Intermission

 

 

Piano Trio in G major

I. Andantino con moto allegro

II. Scherzo: Moderato con allegro

III. Andante espressivo

IV. Finale: Appassionato

 

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Xiaoxiao Qiang has been a top prizewinner in many national and international competitions, including Second Prize in the 2011 Schmidbauer International Young Artist Competition, First Prize in the 2011 Ruth Burr String Competition, the Violin Performance Award in the 2009 Corpus Christi International String Competition, and the Third Prize of the Tuesday Musical Club String Competition in San Antonio. In 2008 she was the Grand Prize winner of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition in Singapore, and in 2010 was one of only 40 violinists invited to compete in the Eighth Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

Originally from China, Qiang began playing the violin at the age of four under her father’s instruction.  After attending the middle and high school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing from 1999 to 2005, she received a full scholarship with living stipend to study in the Bachelor of Music program at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, where she studied with the head of the string faculty, Qian Zhou. Qiang then completed a Master of Music degree in violin performance under Cho-Liang Lin at Rice University, where she received the Dr. Joseph A. and Ida Kirkland Mullen Scholarships, the University’s highest scholarship awarded to any student of the year.

Qiang has performed extensively as a chamber musician and soloist.  She has made her solo appearance with Saint Louis Symphony in 2012 playing Vivaldi Violin Concerto in F major and has returned again as soloist in 2014 playing Beethoven Romance No.2 Under baton of Jun Markl. She is the founding violinist of the Eon Trio, and with them toured throughout Asia. She represented the string quartet of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, which performed at the state banquet hosted in honor of H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in April 2007 and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in March 2006. She has collaborated as a chamber musician with renowned artists such as the Tokyo String Quartet, Cho-Liang Lin, Kyoko Takezawa, Robert McDuffie, Augustin Hadelich, and Jian Wang.  As a soloist, she recorded “La Rosée Fond” by Kawai Shui, which was released on Ablaze Records in 2008.

Qiang has also participated in many distinguished music festivals.  She was invited to perform at La Jolla Summerfest , Tongyeong International Music (Korea) , and was the chamber music artist at the Texas Piano Festival, and received a fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival and School for 2009-10 and 2012.  She has also performed in the Spoleto Festival and La Jolla Music Festival.

Along with her successes as a soloist, Xiaoxiao Qiang is also an experienced and accomplished orchestral musician. She has performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of Singapore Festival Orchestra during her studies in Singapore.  In 2011 she joined the First Violin Section of the St. Louis Symphony after winning an international audition from a field of over 100 candidates.

          Born in Shanghai, China, Yin Xiong has enjoyed being a musician for as long as she can remember. Her parents, cellists themselves, enrolled her in piano lesson at age 4 and cello at age 7. At the age of 9, she enrolled in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She was later admitted to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts as the youngest student, where she studied with Ray Wang on a full scholarship.
          Yin was awarded notable prestigious prizes from an early age, including the 4th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians at the age of 15 as well as top prizes at the 4th and 5th National Cello Competition of China. Yin won the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts concerto competition for an unprecedented consecutive five years and collaborated with conductors such as François-Xavier Roth, Alenxander Shelly. Yin made her formal debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra when she was 17 under conductor Edo de Waart; the concert was filmed and broadcast internationally on TVB Pearl Channel. A year later she was chosen out of more than 200 students as the winner of the concerto competition at the Canton International Summer Music Academy where she performed for Li Lanqing, the then-Vice Premier of China under conductor János Fürst. 

Influenced by her parents, Yin is an avid chamber and orchestral musician. As a member of the Academy String Quartet for 6 years, she served as a representative of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, gave concerts in Hong Kong, London, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium and Holland. As a member of the Hong Kong based cello ensemble, Cellistra, the ensemble presented concerts and community engagement activities in Asia.

Yin is the founding cellist of the Hsin Trio, with whom she gave concerts in the United States and China. The trio also gave the American debut of the Toshio Hosokawa’s Piano Trio on Juilliard’s FOCUS! Festival for contemporary music. Admitted to Juilliard’s chamber music honors program, the trio was featured in the Juilliard Open Studio app with a segment entitled “Internalizing Tchaikovsky.” Yin had the privilege of performing with artists such as Darrett Adkins, James Dunham, David Halen while she spent two summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School and also performed with faculty members of the Oberlin Conservatory while she was there pursuing the Artist Diploma degree. 

As an experienced orchestral musician, Yin received her first job at the age of 20, joining the cello section of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and she also performed regularly with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Yin has also served as the principal cellist of the Hong Kong Academy Orchestra, the Oberlin Orchestra as well as the co-principal of the Juilliard Orchestra where she had the opportunity to work with conductors Edward Gardner, Alan Gilbert, Jeffery Milarsky, Itzhak Perlman, Larry Rachleff and Esa-Pekka Salonen. She was the principal cellist of the Pacific Music Festival from 2006-2009 where she had the privilege to work with conductors Valery Gergiev, Ricardo Muti, Christoph Eschenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas. While spending her summers in Aspen Music Festival and School in 2012 and 2014, Yin was a member of the Aspen Chamber Orchestra and the Aspen Festival Orchestra. 

Yin has participated in many distinguished music festivals. She attended the Kronberg Academy in Germany and received a fellowship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School where she attended the prestigious Finckel – Wu Han Chamber Music Studio Program. Other festivals include Kneisel, Hall, Banff Chamber Music Residency and the Taos School of Music.

As a dedicated music educator and advocator, Yin served as a faculty member of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Macau Youth Orchestra. She was also a teaching assistant for Professor Darrett Adkins at the Oberlin Conservatory. As a Gluck Community Service Fellow at the Juilliard School, she had the opportunity to perform for and interact with the residents of hospitals, hospices, and similar institutions in the New York metropolitan area. She also taught at P.A.L.S. (Passes an Lessons Scholarship Program) while she was attending the Aspen Music Festival and school. 

Yin holds a Professional Diploma With Merit from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and an Artist Diploma in cello performance from the Oberlin Conservatory. She recently graduated from the accelerated Bachelor and Master of Music degree program at the Juilliard School where she studies with Darrett Adkins and Joel Krosnick. Besides playing the cello, Yin also enjoys playing the baroque cello and viola da gamba. She took secondary lessons with Catharina Meints at the Oberlin Conservatory and Phoebe Carrai at the Juilliard School. Recently, she was appointed by Music Director David Robertson to join the cello section of the St. Louis Symphony.  

 

Pianist Shen Wen, a multifaceted performer, creator, thrives on making classical music fun and enjoyable to listeners. Born into an artistic family, Wen's childhood was filled with trips to theaters and galleries. This exposure quickly translated into an understanding of music in her playing. At age eight Wen performed on Chinese national television and radio after winning the First Children's Piano Competition in Beijing, China.

Since then, Wen has performed across the globe. She has concertized as soloist at Tchaikovsky Conservatory College, Shostakovitch Conservatory, Rachmaninov Hall, Powell Symphony Hall, Tsinghua University, Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Great Hall of People in China. Wen also continued to seize top prizes at various national and internal piano competitions. She is the first prize winner of the Kingsville International Piano Competition, Corpus Christi International Piano Competition, St. Louis Presentation Society, and Hellam Young Artist Competition. She was second prize winner at the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and Maurice Hinson Piano Competition. Her performance was also heard on radio in Chicago and in Saint Louis.

Wen is an avid New Music performer who has numerous pieces written and dedicated to her. At Jordan Hall in Boston she performed Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire without a conductor and worked with the late Milton Babbitt before performing A Solo Requiem for two pianos and soprano. Also at Jordan Hall, Wen premiered “Whitman 5 songs” for soprano and piano at the request of the composer, Robert Ceely. In 2013 she recorded and released Joseph Tyldesley's Sonata for Native American Flute and Piano; a piece which explored extended technique with Native American flute through traditional western musical forms.

Since moving to St. Louis in 2007, Wen has dedicated her time teaching young students to love music. Her students have served the community through giving recitals at nursing homes, organizing and performing fund-raising concerts for charities. Some of them competed and won top prizes at state, national, and international competitions such as the St. Louis Young Artist Competition, Missouri Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, American Protege International Competition, and Golden Key International Honour Society.

Passionate about introducing Chinese culture and music to St. Louis audiences, Wen is a founding member of the St. Louis Yangtze River Art Ensemble, a non-profit organization that promotes Chinese performing arts. Since the founding of the organization in 2015, the Art Ensemble performers have collaborated with renowned Chinese artists and provided performances for the 2016 Chinese New Year celebration at the Scheidegger Center for the Arts and Chinese Culture Days at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. In October, 2016, the Art Ensemble will hold its first instrumental competition for St. Louis area musicians with the mission to provide more opportunities for local talents.

Wen is a graduate of New England Conservatory where she studied with Wha Kyung Byun. She also studied with Jane Allen and attended the Preparatory School to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China under the tutilege of Huisu Chen.