Winners of the Tunnell Trust Award

Wednesday, 18th March, 2015

8:00 p.m.

Municipal Hall

YUKA ISHIZUKA

violin

JI LIU

piano

Winners of the Tunnell Trust Award

Yuka Ishizuka was born in 1988 in California and started playing the violin at the age of three. She then moved to Japan, and entered the Junior Toho Music School. In 2003, she entered the Junior Academy, Royal Academy of Music, and in 2006, was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy. She has participated in numerous competitions, winning many prizes, including the first prize at the International Young Musicians Competition in Italy (2004), Beethoven Chamber Music Competiton in London (2007), and Harold Craxton Chamber Music Prize (2009) at the Royal Academy of Music. Winning the Tunnell Trust Artist Award with her duo partner, Ji Liu, Yuka has also won Tillett Trust Young Artist Platform Award, Worshipful Company of Musicians Award, and the Philharmonia Orchestra Martyn Musical Scholarship.

Yuka was awarded Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts from Royal Academy of Music with first class honors and the highest violin exam mark ever at the Academy, where she studied with Maurice Hasson and Tomotada Soh.

She has attended many master classes, including Pierre Amoyal, Igor Oistrakh, Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, David Takeno, Thomas Brandis, Sylvia Rosenberg, Gerard Poulet and Gyorgy Pauk . In 2007, she was accepted to the Perlman Music Program in New York and performed with Itzhak Perlman.

Yuka Ishizuka has recently made her “stunning performance” (Stratford Herald) debut with London Mozart Players and been described as an “irresistible” artist (Music and Vision) and brought a “lyrical outpouring of purest joy”. Her performing highlights include Wigmore Hall London, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Kings Place London, St.Martin-in-the-Fields, Fairfield Halls, West Road Concert Hall Cambridge, Steinway Hall, and Osaka, and the Blue Rose Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan. As soloist, she played with the Academy Strings Orchestra at Royal Academy of Music, with the premier of the Mozart Concerto for Violin and Piano by Dr. Tim Jones in 2010. Being an active chamber musician, Yuka has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Robert Cohen as well as Maurice Hasson with whom she performed the Double Bach Violin Concerto. She currently is a member of Ianthe Ensemble – Horn Trio. Her festival appearances include Salzburg Mozarteum Summer Academy, Pablo Casals Festival, Perlman Music Program, and the Prussia Cove International Music Seminar.

Ji Liu, born in 1990, began his musical training at the age of 3 and made his Carnegie Hall Recital Début when he was 13. Since then, he has given recitals at some of the most prestigious venues and festivals across 5 continents. Ji has performed at the major concert halls in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Ji has also appeared at Gstaad Festival in Switzerland playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations; Tongyeong Music Festival in South Korea performing Isang Yun’s complete piano music; and the third International Music Festival of Asian-Pacific Region in Russia.

He initially studied piano and conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, after which he studied under Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. He is now completing Master of Music degree at the Royal Academy of Music focussing on Piano Performance with Christopher Elton and Composition with Ruth Byrchmore. In 2013, he graduated Master of Music with both a Distinction and a DipRAM for his extraordinary Final Recital from the Royal Academy of Music. He was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2013. Ji has received many awards, including the youngest ever first prize winner at Brant International Pianoforte Competition in Birmingham.

Following his youthful début in New York City, at the age of 14, he performed both of Ravel’s piano concertos with the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra in China. In 2008 he performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 with Academy Concert Orchestra and Tadaaki Otaka in London. In 2011, he performed Mozart and Beethoven piano concertos with Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in China and in 2014, Ji will make his début with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and appear as soloist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko at the Royal Albert Hall.

Ji has received invaluable guidance from Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Boris Berman, Paul Badura-Skoda, Imogen Cooper, Barry Douglas, Claude Frank, Richard Goode, Stephen Hough, Zoltán Kocsis, Fou Ts’ong, Lilya Zilberstein, Ida Kavafian, Pamela Frank, Yuri Bashmet and Salvatore Accardo among others.

PROGRAMME:

BEETHOVEN

Violin Sonata No.4 in A minor

BRAHMS

Violin Sonata No.2 in A major

WEBERN

Four Pieces for Violin and Piano

ELGAR

Violin Sonata in E minor

Yuka Ishizuka's website

Ji Liu's website's website