All new and existing ticketholders are required to show proof of Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate on entry to this event at glór. Children under 18 who are accompanying adults do not need proof of vaccination or recovery. Please note wearing of mask/face covering is compulsory at all times inside the building.
Bringing intelligence and sensitivity to anything they tackle, this charismatic violin and piano duo have a passion for discovering new music and reinvigorating the old.
Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin
George Fu piano
Widely praised for her expressive and strikingly individual performances, Tamsin Waley-Cohen has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in many of the world’s great concert halls. An adventurous and prolific recording artist, her recent recording of Beethoven Violin Sonatas on the Signum Classics label has received widespread critical acclaim.
Described by the Boston Music Intelligencer as a “heroic piano soloist” with “stunning virtuosity”, American pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu has established an international reputation as a captivating musician with distinctive intelligence and sensitivity. Passionate about the creation of new work, he is also a composer and an avid performer of contemporary music.
This phenomenal duo will present a programme that includes the F-A-E Sonata, uniquely co-authored by three great 19th century composers, Stravinsky’s exquisite Duo Concertant, Beethoven’s much loved ‘Kreutzer’ sonata and Release, a Music Network commission written by New York-based Irish composer Finola Merivale.
PROGRAMME:
Dietrich, Brahms & Schumann F-A-E Sonata
Stravinsky Duo Concertant (for Violin & Piano)
Finola Merivale Release (Music Network Commission)
Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’
A spiritually intense expressivo reminiscent of Yehudi Munuhin in his prime The Strad
Her sense of line and capacity to make things happen are both beautiful and strikingly individual BBC Music Magazine
George Xiaoyuan Fu impressively navigated the fierce demands of Messiaen’s ecstatically-charged piano writing Boston Globe
Please note that this concert replaces the previously scheduled Alena Baeve & Katia Skanavi.
Waley-Cohen’s achievement of pure legato is wondrous and her sound is tinged with golden frailty Gramophone
George Fu
Described by the Boston Music Intelligencer as a “heroic piano soloist” with “stunning virtuosity”, American pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu is establishing an international reputation as a captivating musician with distinctive intelligence and sensitivity. George has performed as a soloist with orchestras in the US such as the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and collaborated with conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Stefan Asbury, Kensho Watanabe, Vinay Parameswaran, and Jonathan Berman. He has appeared at international venues such as the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, the Phillips Collection, and Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, while his live performances and interviews have been featured on several public television and radio broadcasts around the world, such as In Tune on BBC Radio 3, Performance Today on National Public Radio, and On Stage At Curtis in Philadelphia.
Passionate about the creation of new work, George is a composer and an avid performer of contemporary music. He has collaborated with eminent composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Harrison Birtwistle, Tansy Davies, Philip Cashian, George Lewis, Unsuk Chin, Matthew Aucoin, and Freya Waley-Cohen. Interested in collaborative work, George is a conductor, an active chamber musician with duo partners and ensembles around the world, and collaborator with artists of many disciplines.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University, George studied at the Curtis Institute of Music under Jonathan Biss and Meng-Chieh Liu, and then at the Royal Academy of Music under Christopher Elton and Joanna MacGregor. He has also worked intensively with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, specifically on the music of Messiaen and Debussy. George receives career support as an artist of the Kirckman Concert Society, the City Music Foundation, and the Keyboard Charitable Trust.
Tamsin Waley-Cohen
Born in London, Tamsin Waley-Cohen enjoys an adventurous and varied career. In addition to concerts with the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Hallé, Liverpool Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Royal Northern Sinfonia and BBC orchestras, amongst others, she has twice been associate artist with the Orchestra of the Swan and works with conductors including Andrew Litton, Vasily Petrenko, Ben Gernon, Ryan Bancroft and Tamás Vásáry.
Her duo partners include James Baillieu and Huw Watkins. She gave the premiere of Watkins’ Concertino, and his Violin Sonata in 2020 at Wigmore Hall. She is thrilled to be a Signum Classics Artist, and has just released Volume 1 of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Huw, which was Editor’s choice in Gramophone Magazine and Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine. With her sister, composer Freya Waley-Cohen, and architects Finbarr O’Dempsey and Andrew Skulina, she held an Open Space residency at Aldeburgh, culminating in the 2017 premiere of Permutations at the Aldeburgh Festival, an interactive performance artwork synthesising music and architecture. Her love of chamber music led her to start the Honeymead Festival, now in its thirteenth year, from which all proceeds go to support local charities.
She is a founding member of the Albion string quartet, appearing regularly with them at venues including Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, and the Concertgebouw. The quartet are also committed to educational work in underprivileged and SEN schools around the UK. In 2016-2017 she was the UK recipient of the ECHO Rising Stars Awards, playing at all the major European concert halls and premiering Oliver Knussen’s Reflection, written especially for her and Huw Watkins. In the 2018-19 season she toured Japan and China and gave her New York Debut recital at the Frick.
She is Artistic Director of the Two Moors Festival, and has previously been Artistic Director of the Music Series at the Tricyle Theatre, London, and the Bargello festival in Florence. During Lockdown she co-founded Living Room Live with her sister composer Freya Waley-Cohen and pianist George Fu. She studied at the Royal College of Music and her teachers included Itzhak Rashkovsky, Ruggiero Ricci and András Keller.
