TECRO

Press Release

12/01/2020

The National Museum of Asian Art Presents New Asia Chamber Music Society Online on Dec. 12, 2020

Taiwan Academy in Washington DC and the National Museum of Asian Art will co-organize an online concert by acclaimed New Asia Chamber Music Society at https://asia.si.edu/events-overview/performances/ or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-asia-chamber-music-society-tickets-123055986769 on Dec. 12, 2020. Beside showcasing Taiwanese musician’s works, TECRO also hopes to bring comfort to people during the covid-19 pandemic through this online concert.

The ensemble, which features violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin, violinist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, cellist Nan-Cheng Chen, and pianist Tzu-Yi Chen, will perform fresh arrangements of music by Taiwanese and Asian American composers for violin, cello, piano, and erhu (Chinese fiddle); Beethoven’s Quartet for Piano and Strings in E-flat in honor of the composer’s 250th birth year anniversary; and Japanese folk songs. Their recording is being made especially for the National Museum of Asian Art for this debut broadcast and includes commentary by the composers and performers.  

The program features  the Piano Trio by Tyzen Hsiao, whose Formosa Requiem received its North American premiere at Lincoln Center; Unwavering Light, for erhu, violin, and cello by Ke-Chia Chen, a frequent collaborator with the Philadelphia Orchestra; flashback moments for erhu, violin, cello, and piano by Shih-Hui Chen, a winner of the Rome Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship; and Japanese folksong arrangements by Yui Kitamura, director of Multicultural Sonic Evolution (MuSE), whose works have been heard at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Triphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. 

The ensemble’s director Wei-Yang Andy Lin was praised by The Strad as having “elicited some of the night’s most sensitive work,” and the New York Times called him “a virtuoso on the erhu . . . he gave a brilliant performance.” Violinist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, a veteran of the Marlboro Music Festival, was praised by the Seattle Times as “simply marvelous.” She has collaborated with artists such as Gary Graffman, Ida Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Yuja Wang, and members of the Berg, Guarneri, Orion, and Tokyo string quartets at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.  Joining them are cellist Nan-Cheng Chen and pianist Tzu-Yi Chen. 

New Asia Chamber Music Society gave its inaugural performance at a sold-out Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. They have since performed at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Concert Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and have toured Taiwan’s major concert halls.    

This program is made possible through support from the Taiwan Academy, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States and is part of the 28th season of the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series of the National Museum of Asian Art (E).

Performance Information:

Date: Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Website: https://asia.si.edu/events-overview/performances/ or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-asia-chamber-music-society-tickets-123055986769。