Chopin 200
Speakers and Performers
| Xiaofeng Wu, piano |
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Xiaofeng Wu has been described by the Spanish newspaper Lanza as “in actuality one of the most prestigious pianists at an international scale.” His performances have been released and reviewed by numerous publications and media outlets including Radio Classica; Pravda; Politica; ABC; YAHOO; OpusMusica; El Mundo as well as many others. As seen from press releases and reviews worldwide, Xiaofeng Wu has established a successful career as a concert artist.
Origin of China, Xiaofeng Wu received his doctorate from University of Michigan, autumn of 2008. Among his many successes Wu won the Gold Medal at the 10th Guerrero Foundation International Piano Competition in Madrid and First Prize at the 82nd Society of American Musicians Piano Competition in Chicago. Most recently, Wu has been top laureate in the Russian Music International Piano Competition and Jose Iturbi International Music Competition, Los Angeles. Mu Phi Epsilon International Foundation has awarded him Mabel Henderson Memorial Prize and Annual District Scholarship from Gamma Chapter.
From 2007 to present, Xiaofeng Wu has taken several substantial roles simultaneously at Chopin Project (USA), Mu Phi Epsilon International Professional Music Fraternity (USA) and Fundacion Guerrero (Madrid, Spain). He has been invited to the judging panels by The 83rd Society of American Musicians Competition (2008, Chicago) and Michigan Taiwanese American Organization Music Festival (2009, Canton).
November 2008, Xiaofeng has been exclusively commissioned for a concert tour in Europe in conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of Fundacion Guerrero. Interpreting ten leading European composers, his World Premiere Concert at Reina Sofía National Art Center has received standing ovations from Madrid's enthusiastic audience. Meanwhile, Xiaofeng Wu has published several CD recordings in Europe and Chopin's solo pieces for iTune.
Xiaofeng's performance has been frequently heard in Europe and Asia. Fundacion Guerrero Madrid is arranging his performance in Europe. Currently Xiaofeng Wu is based in Manhattan, New York, USA.
| Dr. Chih-Long Hu, piano |
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A native a Taiwan, Chih-Long Hu‘s performance career began to take off after receiving honors including the Taipei National Concert Hall Arising Star, the Chi-Mei Artist Award, and prizes from the Mauro Monopoli International Piano Competition in Italy, Concurs Internacional De Piano D'Escaldes-Engordany in Andorra, Takamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, and the Russian Music International Piano Competition in San Jose, California.
An active pianist, Hu has performed extensively in Asia, Europe and throughout North America, appearing as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He has collaborated with conductors including Ann Krinitsky, Shunsaku Tsutsumi, Nicoletta Conti, Kenneth Kiesler, Nuvi Mehta, Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli, Cheng-Hsiung Chen, and Li-Ping Cheng.
Hu’s performances have been broadcast in "Performance Today" through NPR stations across the country, and televised in Taiwan, China and Japan. His recent CD album "Formosa Caprices" has received critical acclaims and was nominated as “Best Crossover Album” and Hu as “Best Performer” for the 2009 Golden Melody Award. Another CD of complete Etudes-tableaux by Rachmaninoff will be released under Blue Griffin Recordings label.
Hu received Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Michigan under the instruction of Arthur Greene. He also holds a Master's Degree in Piano Performance from the Taipei National University of the Arts, where he studied with Tai-Cheng Chen, and a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan University. Hu is currently on the faculty of East Tennessee State University.
| Benson, Hughes, & Wang, piano |
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Katherine Elise Benson, Jonesborough, TN, is a ninth grader at ETSU’s University School with a strong interest in science and math. She has been studying piano since age six, and is currently taking lessons with Jerilyn Paolini and Chih-Long Hu. Recently, Katherine was invited to perform at the Paramount Center for the Arts at the Young Artist’s Concert in Bristol and at the Knoxville Choral Arts Society. Besides piano, she studies violin and composition.
Zachary David Hughes, Abingdon, VA, started playing piano at the age of nine. Since moving to Virginia in 2004, he has studied with Chih-Long Hu. Zachary has been the recipient of awards in the Bristol Music Club Scholarship Competition, the TMTA State Competition, and the 2008 Lee University Piano Competition. He was selected to perform the past four years in the Young Artists Concert at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol. He also is the pianist for the Runaway Piano Trio, an award winning chamber group. After high school, he intends to pursue a career in music.
Gregory Wang, son of Dorothy and Bo Wang, is a freshman student at Oberlin Conservatory of Music . He has won various awards from the Tennessee MTA, including TMTA Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Grade Piano, and was also a four-year winner of the TMTA Elementary and Junior High Piano Concerto Competitions. Gregory was the winner in the 2008 MTNA Southern Division Junior Performance Competition. He also received second prize in Lee University’s Piano Competition. He is a winner of the Knoxville Choral Society’s Young Classical Musicians Competition and played in the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville. He has appeared three times at “Tunes at Noon” in the Paramount Theater in Bristol, and has performed with the Johnson City and Maryville Symphony Orchestras. Gregory began his piano studies in the second grade and since third grade has studied at East Tennessee State University with Dr. Benjamin Caton.
| Ning An, piano |  |
Ning An made his concerto debut at the age of sixteen, performing the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra. He has since appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Symphony, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and has worked with such conductors as Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Kasmierz Kord, Jajha Ling, Vladimir Fedosseyev, Jorg-Peter Weigle, Marc Soustrot, and Sergiu Comissiona. Mr. An has presented recitals at venues such as Salle Verdi (Milan, Italy), Salle Cortot(Paris), and the Palais de Beaux Arts in Antwerp. He has been invited to perform at numerous festivals, including the International Chopin Festival in Duszinski, Poland, the Gina Bachauer Piano Festival in Salt Lake City, New Hampshire's Monadnock Music Festival, the Bourglinster Festival in Luxembourg, and the Interlaken Music Festival in Switzerland. Mr. An was also a soloist with theWarsaw Philharmonic during their centennial world tour.
Pianist Ning An's recent Carnegie Hall debut, an all-Chopin program presented by the Chopin Foundation of the United States in Weill Recital Hall, was praised in the New York Concert Review for "the almost sculpted clarity of his playing, and his ability to maintain balance and tension in large-scale dramatic forms...Ning An impresses with his developed musicianship, his discerning sense of form and style, his penetrating and illuminating interpretation, and his perfect technical command. I have no doubt that he will join the ranks of the finest interpreters of Chopin.”
First Prize winner of the 2006 Tivoli International Piano Competition and 2003 William Kapell Piano Competition, Mr. An has also won top prizes from the American Piano Association and the American Chopin Competition. His other awards include third prizes from the Queen Elizabeth Competition, the Paloma O'Shea Santander Competition and the Cleveland International Piano Competition.
Ning An has studied with Russell Sherman and Olga Radosalvjevich. He is currently Artist in Residence at Lee University, Tennessee.
| Nathan Jasinski, cello |
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Nathan Jasinski serves as professor of cello at Eastern Kentucky University. A frequent recitalist, he has given solo performances in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, as well as throughout the U.S. He has recorded two CDs, Bachsche Abendmusik and Weihnachten in Dornheim, both in the historic St. Bartholomäus Kirche in Dornheim, Germany with organist Douglas Bush. An active and avid chamber musician, Nathan is currently cellist of the Eero Trio, giving frequent concerts across the country. The ensemble is dedicated to promoting the clarinet trio repertoire as well as commissioning new works. As cellist with the Iven Street Trio, he gave recitals in Australia and was invited to compete in the 4th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition from a worldwide audition.
Beginning his cello studies at age 10, Jasinski's influential teachers were Catherine Milligan of Brisbane, Australia and Cordelia Wiekarski-Miedel, later studying with the late Roger Drinkall at BYU. He earned his masters degree at Arizona State University, where he was teaching assistant for Thomas Landschoot. Doctoral studies at the University of Michigan allowed him to work with the legendary Danish cellist Erling Blondal Bengtsson, for whom he holds special admiration.
Dr. Jasinski joined the EKU faculty in 2006. Prior to this appointment, he taught at Bowling Green State University and Snow College in Ephraim, UT. His love of teaching has led to his working with young musicians at the Michigan All-state at Interlochen, Ann Arbor Festival for Young Artists, ASTA, Shell Lake, and Steven Collins Foster music camps.
| Miroslav Hristov, violin |
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Miroslav Hristov is Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Tennessee and the Associate Concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Hristov performs several chamber and solo recitals as First Violinist of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Principal Quartet. Previously, he was Professor of Violin in the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico where he served as Principal Second Violin of the Orquesta de Camara de Monterrey and the Orquesta Sinfonica de la Universidad de Nuevo Leon. In 1995, he was First Prize winner of the National Violin Competition "Dobrin Petkov" in Bulgaria, and was later invited as a soloist to perform with the Plovdiv Philharmonic. In 1998, he was a prize winner for the MTNA Collegiate String Performance Competition for the State of Louisiana and Southern Regional Division. He has also served on the juries of several string competitions. Dr. Hristov has been a member of numerous professional orchestras and has participated in notable orchestra and chamber music festivals. He has performed solo recitals and conducted master classes throughout Europe, Latin America, and the United States. He has recorded for Bulgarian National Radio and WUOT in Knoxville.
Dr. Hristov is in high demand as an instructor for advanced violin students. His private students have won numerous regional and statewide competitions, and several of his former students hold prestigious scholarships and professional appointments. In 2008, he was invited to join the faculty of the Interhamony International Music Festival in the Berkshires (Pittsfield, Mass.). He will continue his service with Interharmony at their 2009 annual festival in Germany. He has also been invited to give masterclasses, lectures, and recitals, throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. An advocate of contemporary Bulgarian music, he has premiered the works of Bulgaria's leading composers in Europe and the United States. He holds degrees in violin performance from the State Academy of Music "Pancho Vladigerov" in Bulgaria and a doctorate of musical arts in violin performance from the University of Kentucky. He was a student of the renowned violinist Elisaveta Kazakova, Yakov Voldman, Oleg Zukin, and Daniel Mason.