New England Conservatory — Community Performances and Partnerships Concert with Piano 4 Hands
When:
Thursday, Apr 25, 2024 2:00p -
3:00p
Thursday, Apr 25, 2024 2:00p -
3:00p
Where:
Rabb Lecture Hall: Boston Public Libbrary
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
Admission:
FREE
Hosted by:
Categories:
Good for Groups, History, Music, Social Good
Event website:
https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/65e76d53638eb02f00f167d1
Join us for a performance by Piano 4 Hands, part of the Community Performances and Partnerships Department Community Fellowship. This recital will feature two pianists playing simultaneously on one piano and include discussion with the artists about themselves and their music. The total program time is about 45 minutes, with 15 minutes for audience Q&A.
Piano 4 Hands
- Yangfan Xu, piano
- Bairun Liu, piano
Yangfan Xu (b. 1998) holds a deep passion and love for cats. Whenever she hears a string player glissando in the upper registers, she can’t help but think of a cat's meow. In addition to her feline obsession, Xu is a Chinese born US-based composer who comes from a musical family in Lanzhou, Gansu province, with a spoiled cat who eats better than everyone else. Xu is the winner of the 2023 Boston New Music Initiative Commission Competition, the winner of Society for New Music's 2021 Israel/Pellman Award. Xu was awarded the 1st Prize of the 2020 Hausmann Quartet Quarantine Composition Competition. She won the 2021 New Juilliard Ensemble Composition Competition, and her commissioned work Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas premiered at the Lincoln Center in a concert by NJE in 2022. Xu has received major commissions from the Impulse New Music Festival, Boston New Music Initiative, saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky and the New York Choreographic Institute affiliated with the New York City Ballet. Her music has been enjoyed by audiences in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Sydney, Beijing, Paris and more. Her compositions have been performed by many professionals including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, New Juilliard Ensemble, Friction Quartet, Hausmann Quartet, SFCM New Music Ensemble, Choral Chameleon, Keyed Kontraptions and Ravel Virtual Studios. Her orchestral work Bya was premiered by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in July 2023, then Australian premiered by the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra in Australia in October 2023. The same work will be featured again by the New England Philharmonic in June 2024.
Xu studied musicology at the high school affiliated with the Central Conservatory of Music in China. She received a bachelor’s degree in composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music studying with Mason Bates. Xu earned her master’s degree in composition at the Juilliard School, studying under Robert Beaser. She is a current DMA student at the New England Conservatory of Music with studio teacher Kati Agócs.
Born in Kaifeng, China, in 2000, Bairun Liu began piano lessons with Henan University’s Professor Xiaoyu Gu at age 5. In 2009 he was accepted into the Central Conservatory of Music Elementary School in Beijing and studied with Prof. Yuanpei Lai, Le Li, and Jin Zhang. He has also gained wonderful opportunities for master classes with world-known musicians such as Matti Raekalio, Robert McDonald, and Ernest Barretta. In 2016, he moved to New York to continue studying piano in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School and studied under Victoria Mushkatkol while taking the academic school at Professional Children’s School where he received his high school diploma. In 2019 he went to New England Conservatory of Music in Boston for his Bachelor of Music degree under the tutelage of Mr. Meng-Chieh Liu. Currently, he is staying in NEC for his master's degree.
Liu has won several competitions, including second prize and outstanding performance in Chinese works for piano at the second China Cadenza Cup. He was also awarded the first prize at the twelfth China Xinghai Cup for Piano and the fourth Morly Piano Competition in New York. In February 2018, he won the first prize with his intramural trio at the Camerata Artists International Competition.
This program is presented by the Boston Public Library as part of our Never Too Late Group created with older adults in mind. Registration is not required; instead, seating is first come, first served. We plan to open doors 15 minutes in advance of the program.
Accessibility Notice: We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, please contact the Adult Programs Department at [email protected] or 617-859-2129. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange for accommodations.
