Classical musicians to perform at Hebron Academy

HEBRON - Hebron Academy will open the 2010-2011 Cohen Chamber Music Concert Series with a performance by classical musicians Ya-Fei Chuang, pianist, and Jan Muller-Szeraws, cellist, on Friday, November 5. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Androscoggin Theater in the Lepage Arts Center in Sargent Gymnasium, and is free and open to the public. Parking will be available in the Athletic Center lot, off Route 119 on the Hebron campus.

The music of Russian composers Sergei Prokofiev, Alfred Schnittke and Sergei Rachmaninoff will be featured.

Acclaimed by critics in the United States and abroad for performances of stunning virtuosity, refinement and communicative power, Ya-Fei Chuang has appeared at numerous international festivals. Her recent engagements include concerts and recordings in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic, appearances at the National Concert Hall Taipei, and performances in England, Germany, Austria, South America and throughout the US.

Prizewinner in the Cologne International Piano Competition at age 18, Ya-Fei Chuang first performed on television in her native Taiwan at the age of eight and gave her first public recital at age nine. She won first prize at the nationally televised “Genius vs. Genius” competition at age 10 and first prize at the National Competition (Taiwan) at age eleven. The following year she moved to Freiburg, Germany to pursue pre-college, undergraduate, and masters-level studies at the conservatory. She subsequently received a concert diploma (final degree) at the Cologne Conservatory, and earned a graduate diploma at the New England Conservatory in Boston, with Russell Sherman.

Ms. Chuang is on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory and teaches piano performance seminars at the New England Conservatory SCE. She gives master classes throughout the US, Europe and Asia, including at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, at Tanglewood, and annually at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum Salzburg.

Cellist Jan Müller-Szeraws' musical journey has taken him over three continents as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Since his early debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción, he has performed frequently as a soloist with orchestras in Chile, Germany and the United States. He has recorded Pedro Humberto Allende’s cello concerto with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, which has been released by the Chilean Academy of Fine Arts as part of the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of Chilean Independence.

He performs regularly with contemporary music ensemble Boston Musica Viva, and is a member of Mistral, the resident and touring ensemble of the Andover Chamber Music Series. He currently teaches at Phillips Academy Andover and College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.

Hebron Academy's concert series is sponsored by the Saul B. and Naomi R. Cohen Foundation. Committed to supporting education and the arts, the Foundation seeks to form institutional partnerships and to create performance opportunities for talented young musicians. Mr. Cohen graduated from Hebron Academy in 1951 and is a former member of the Board of Trustees.

For more information, please call Hebron Academy at 966-2100, or visit www.hebronacademy.org