Violinist Chuanyun Li returns to Auckland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Exceptional Violinist Chuanyun Li returns to Auckland Recital with Rosemary Barnes at the TelstraClear Pacfic Centre, 28 May 2008

[10 April 2008, Auckland] One of the world’s foremost violinists, Chinese-born Chuanyun Li, returns to New Zealand and will appear in recital one night only on Wednesday, 28 May at 8 pm at the Genesis Energy Theatre, TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in Manukau. Li will be accompanied by one of New Zealand’s most respected resident pianists, Rosemary Barnes.

“If China wants to have a great violinist, they have one. All they have to do is look after him,” said violin virtuoso Ruggiero Ricci in March 2004 after listening to Chuanyun Li play. “This boy should have a great career. He has a fantastic violinist capability…. He’s got all the requisites.”

Hailed by The Daily Camera as “a massive talent with astonishing dynamic and expressive range…,” Chuanyun Li is one of the foremost violinists of his generation from China and internationally. He studied with Professor Yaoji Lin at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and with Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman and Hyo Kang at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Li has toured extensively in China, Japan and the US and has collaborated with such orchestras as the Rotterdam Philharmonic (Valery Gergiev), Detroit Symphony (Neemi Järvi), Hong Kong Philharmonic (Edo de Waart), Queensland Symphony Orchestra (Michael Christie), China National Symphony (Xincao Li) and Singapore Symphony (Lan Shui), among many others.

In September 2003, at 5 days notice, Li replaced Maxim Vengerov to perform Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and Ravel’s Tzigane with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Rumon Gamba. In the same year, he braved the threat of SARS and returned to Hong Kong to replace an international soloist who could not come and performed with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta under Wing-sie Yip to great critical and public acclaim. When he toured the United States with the China National Symphony in 2006, the New York Times referred to Li as “a first-rate violinist” and remarked that “the chance to hear Mr Li’s violin playing made the evening all worthwhile.” Since returning in 1993 from almost three decades in London, Rosemary Barnes has appeared in recital with singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Donald McIntyre, Dame Malvina Major, Sally Burgess, Helen Medlyn, Patricia Wright, Carmel Carroll, Grant Dickson and David Griffiths, and with numerous instrumentalists. Rosemary tutors chamber music and voice students at the University of Auckland, as well as coaching Emerging Artists for NBR New Zealand Opera. She is music director of Opera Factory, and adjudicates voice and piano. In the 2000 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Rosemary received an MNZM for services to music.

The 28 May recital will feature Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2 in D Major, op. 94b, Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy, a number of virtuoso pieces by Kreisler, Glazunov, Saint-Saëns and others, and a short, evocative piece, “Sunshine over Tashkurgan” by Chinese composer Chen Gang.

The concert is sponsored by the World TV Charitable Trust, Telstra Clear Pacific Centre, and The Langham Auckland and is made possible with support from the Ministry of Culture, Peoples Republic of China – Oriental Express Music Project.

Chuanyun Li first appeared in Auckland in October 2005, performing the Butterfly Lover’s Concerto with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as part of their “Mid-winter Masterpieces” series conducted by Marc Taddei. His 28 May 2008 recital is part of a New Zealand concert tour, which includes appearances in Dunedin and in Wellington. Li will also give a special workshop and presentation to students at Farm Cove Intermediate School in Pakuranga while in Auckland.

Tickets for the concert can be obtained via TicketDirect website www.ticketdirect.co.nz or 0800 224 224 (Internet purchase recommended, otherwise booking fee may apply); or through World TV (09) 571 2288 (no booking fees). Reserved seating ticket prices are $40 and $20; $10 for students.

ENDS

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