~ Program
~
Igor Stravinsky:
"Suite italienne" for Cello and Piano (or Violin and
Piano)
Introduzione
Serenata
Aria
Tarantella
Minuetto e Finale
(about 18 to 20 min)
Ottorino Respighi:
Sonata in B minor for Violin and Piano, P. 110
Moderato
Andante espressivo
Passacaglia: Allegro moderato ma energico
(about 30 min)
~
Intermission
~
Arvo Pärt:
"Fratres" for Violin and Piano
(arranged in 1977)
(about 12 min)
César Franck:
Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano
Allegretto
ben moderato
Allegro
Recitativo-Fantasia: Ben moderato
Allegretto poco mosso
(about 30 min)

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Nancy Zhou
周穎,
violin
nancyzhouviolin.com
Known
for her probing musical voice and searing virtuosity, Nancy Zhou
seeks to invigorate appreciation for the art and science of the
violin. Her thoughtful musicianship and robust online presence
resonate with a global audience in such a way that brings her on
stage with leading orchestras around the world.
More than 20 years since her orchestral debut, Nancy has
collaborated with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich
Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Naples
Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, among others. A passionate soloist
who cherishes chamber music collaborations and commits to the
responsibility of education, Nancy has performed at festivals
including the Verbier Festival, Tongyeong Music Festival, and Marvão
Festival; she is a regular guest educator at various international
summer festivals, holding not only masterclasses but also workshops
on fundamental training and wellbeing for musicians.
Over the years, the violinist's interest in cultural heritage and
the humanities manifested in a string of notable collaborations
across the US and in China. In collaboration with the New Jersey
Symphony and Xian Zhang, she presented Zhao Jiping's first violin
concerto at Alice Tully Hall; gave the US premieres of Unsuk Chin's
"Gran Cadenza" for two solo violins with Anne-Sophie Mutter;
performed Chen Qigang's "La joie de la souffrance" with the Rogue
Valley Symphony; and, in partnership with the La Jolla Symphony,
gave the West Coast premiere of Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto no. 1.
On the other side of the globe, the past season saw Nancy bringing
three cornerstone concerti to China in a five-city tour; her
collaborative partners included the Shanghai and Guangzhou Symphony
Orchestras, and the China and Hohhot Philharmonics.
In the summer of 2025, Nancy embarks on a research trip with
Canadian-born Chinese composer Vivian Fung to Zhexiang, China - the
hometown village of the violinist's mother, a former professional
folk dancer. The project culminates with a work for violin and
electronics that explores the intersection of music as a cultural
force and folk minority culture. In October 2024, Nancy recorded her
debut album, Stories (re)Traced, in response to these questions. The
album features four seminal and inextricably connected works for
solo violin, including Béla Bartók’s Sonata, and releases this
summer with Orchid Classics.
The 24/25 season brings a returning engagement with the New Jersey
Symphony, performances with Orquestra Vigo, Puerto Rico Symphony,
San Antonio Philharmonic, Hangzhou Philharmonic, and Guiyang
Symphony, as well as recital appearances in Boston, Mexico,
Portugal, Taiwan, and China.
Born in Texas to Chinese immigrant parents, Nancy began the violin
under the guidance of her father, who hails from a family of
traditional musicians. She went on to study with Miriam Fried at the
New England Conservatory while pursuing her interest in literature
at Harvard University.
Since 2019, she is an Associated Artist of the Queen Elisabeth
Chapel and was appointed Professor of Violin at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music in September 2023. Nancy plays on an 1815
Giovanni Battiste Ceruti.
For more information, please visit: nancyzhouviolin.com
Management: Earl Blackburn, Kanzen Arts LLC.
Weicong Zhang
張薇聰,
piano
Pianist
Weicong Zhang, a native of Shanghai, has shared the stage with many
distinguished artists, including violinists Pierre Amoyal, Ning Feng,
Bing Huang, Albert Markov, Ian Swensen, violists Nobuko Imai,
Dimitri Murrath, Lars Anders Tomter, Matthias Buchholz, Teng Li,
cellist Wen-Sinn Yang, Haiye Ni, Martti Rousi, Reinhard Latzko,
flutist Emmanuel Pahud, Henrik Wiese, clarinetist Thorsten Johanns,
trumpet player Matthias Höfs.
She has toured in the United States and Canada, performing at the
Stern Auditorium at the Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Vancouver
Playhouse etc. Since she returned to China in 2008, she has
performed in almost every major venue such as China National Center
for the Performing Arts, Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert
Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall,
Jiangsu Grand Theater, Guangzhou Xinhai Concert Hall, Xian Concert
Hall, Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall, Hongkong
Cultural Center. Ms. Zhang has been guest artist in Morningside
Music Bridge, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Young Euro
Classic Festival Ensemble, Beijing International Music Festival,
Shanghai Conservatory of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of
Music International Chamber Music Festival and International Violin
Master classes and Sonata Competition of Shanghai Conservatory of
Music. She was also collaborative pianist for three Piatigorsky
Seminars in Los Angeles. She gave masterclasses in collaborative
piano and chamber music at Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco
Conservatory of Music, The Middle School affiliated with Shanghai
Conservatory of Music, Xian Conservatory of Music and Zhejiang
Conservatory of Music. Her recording with violinist Feng Ning “
French Violin Sonatas and Miniatures” was released in 2020.
Ms. Zhang received her bachelor degree at UT Austin and both master
degree and doctoral degree in collaborative piano from Manhattan
School of Music where she studied with Dr. Heasook Rhee. Ms. Zhang
taught piano solo and chamber music at the Shanghai Conservatory of
Music. Currently she is teaching chamber music at Tianjin Juilliard
School Precollege
Press Release
violinist Nancy Zhou and pianist Weicong Zhang
at NEC’s Jordan Hall
Saturday, March 1st, 2025, 8 pm
中華表演藝術基金會第36屆音樂季第3場音樂會,將於3月1日週六晚上八時,邀請小提琴家周穎(Nancy
Zhou),以及鋼琴家張薇聰(Weicong
Zhang),在新英格蘭音樂學院的喬丹音樂廳
(Jordan Hall)
同台聯合演出。
曲目包括:
斯特拉文斯基
(Stravinsky)-
《意大利組曲》
大提琴與鋼琴(或小提琴與鋼琴)
雷斯皮基
(Respighi) - B小調小提琴與鋼琴奏鳴曲,作品110
帕爾特
(Pärt) -
《兄弟》
小提琴與鋼琴(1977年)
弗朗克
(Franck) - A大調小提琴與鋼琴奏鳴曲
音樂會票價為
$20 (7-13
歲)、$40、$60。提供14歲以上學生免費票,及非學生贈送卷。需事前預訂。6歲以下兒童請勿入場。詳情請在中華表演藝術基金會的官網查詢.
線上售票3月1日下午3時將關閉。現場沒有免費票贈送。門票為10美元,僅限現金支付。
小提琴家周穎(Nancy
Zhou),
周穎是2018年上海艾萨克·斯特恩
(Isaac Stern)
小提琴大賽的獲獎者。她以深刻的音樂表達和熾熱的技藝聞名,並致力於激發人們對小提琴藝術與科學的欣賞。周女士曾與瑞典皇家斯德哥爾摩
(Stockholm)愛樂樂團、慕尼黑
(Munich)
交響樂團、香港管弦樂團、新澤西交響樂團等合作演出,並參加過包括維比耶
(Verbier)
音樂節、統營
(Tongyeong)
音樂節和馬爾瓦奧
(Marvão)音樂節等音樂節的演出。
2024/25音樂季,她將再次與新澤西交響樂團合作,並將與維哥
(Orquestra Vigo)
交響樂團、波多黎各交響樂團、聖安東尼奧愛樂、杭州愛樂和貴陽交響樂團等演出,此外還將在波士頓、墨西哥、葡萄牙、台灣和中國等地進行獨奏演出。自2019年以來,她是比利時伊麗莎白女王音樂學院的聯合藝術家,並於2023年9月被任命為舊金山音樂學院的小提琴教授。周穎使用的是1815年由喬凡尼·巴蒂斯塔·切魯蒂
(Giovanni Battiste Ceruti)
製作的小提琴。
鋼琴家張薇聰(Weicong
Zhang)
合作鋼琴家張薇聰曾與許多傑出的藝術家同台演出,包括小提琴家皮埃爾·阿摩雅
(Pierre Amoyal)、中提琴家
Nobuko Imai
和大提琴家
Wen-Sinn Yang
等。她曾在美國和加拿大巡演,並在卡內基音樂廳的斯特恩音樂廳
(Stern Auditorium)
、維爾
(Weill)
音樂廳、溫哥華劇院等地演出。自2008年回中國後,她已在幾乎所有主要音樂場所演出過,包括中國國家大劇院、北京音樂廳和上海音樂廳等。
張女士在德州大學奧斯汀
(Austin)
分校獲得學士學位,並在曼哈頓音樂學院獲得合作鋼琴家碩士學位及博士學位,並跟隨
Heasook Rhee
博士學習合作鋼琴。張女士曾在上海音樂學院任教,目前在天津茱莉亞學院預科教授室內樂。

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
By
Dr. Jannie Burdeti
Igor Stravinsky:
"Suite italienne" for Cello and Piano (or Violin and
Piano)
Introduzione
Serenata
Aria
Tarantella
Minuetto e Finale
“Pulcinella was my discovery of the past, the epiphany
through which the whole of my late works became possible.”
-Igor Stravinsky
Suite italienne
is one of several arrangements Igor Stravinsky derived from his
ballet Pulcinella. In 1917, Sergei Diaghilev,
impresario and founder of the famed Ballet Russes, travelled
to Italy, where he attended a commedia dell’arte
performance in Naples. Greatly inspired by what he heard, he
returned with music attributed to Giovanni Battista
Pergolesi (1710-1736), along with a proposal for his
long-time collaborator, Stravinsky. Diaghilev had already
played a major role in launching Stravinsky’s career through
their early collaborations, including Firebird,
Petrushka, and Rite of Spring, but
Stravinsky initially hesitated. Despite contractual
disputes, Stravinsky ultimately agreed to write music for
this new ballet, Pulcinella, with music based on
Pergolesi. Moreover, he was delighted at the opportunity to
work with Pablo Picasso, who would be designing the sets.
Premiered in Paris in 1920, Pulcinella was met with
great success.
While musicologists often consider Pulcinella a
colourful arrangement of the original eighteenth-century
music attributed to Pergolesi (especially the first two
movements), Stravinsky’s piquant harmonies and witty rhythms
are unmistakably his. This project ignited his creativity
and initiated Stravinsky’s second major compositional phase
in his life, a three-decade exploration of Neo-Classicism.
Diaghilev and Stravinsky, believing that all the music was
by Pergolesi, were unaware that publishers in the
eighteenth-century misattributed works for financial gain.
Current research reveals that only the Serenata,
Aria, and Menuetto were genuinely by Pergolesi,
while the
Introduzione,
Tarantella, and
Finale
were composed by the younger
Domenico Gallo
(1730-1768).
The Suite italienne opens with a bright and rousing
overture titled Introduzione, structured in an
orchestral ritornello style. Despite being written
for two instruments, the music conveys an orchestral texture
which alternates with solo instruments. The Serenata,
adapted from a tenor canzonetta in Pergolesi’s opera
buffa, Il Flaminio, features a lilting siciliano
rhythm that evokes both comfort and melancholy. The Aria,
the suite’s emotional core, comes from the same opera, where
the bass character Bastiano humorously declares his love. A
fast and virtuosic Tarantella follows, leading into
the Minuetto e Finale, which builds dramatically
before concluding with a striking passage reminiscent of
Petrushka.
The ballet’s plot, as summarized by Stravinsky, is as
follows: “All the local girls are in love with Pulcinella;
but the young men to whom they are betrothed are mad with
jealousy and plot to kill him. The minute they think they
have succeeded, they borrow costumes resembling Pulcinella’s
to present themselves to their sweethearts in disguise. But
Pulcinella—cunning fellow!—had changed places with a double,
who pretends to succumb to their blows. The real Pulcinella,
disguised as a magician, now resuscitates his double. At the
very moment when the young men, thinking they are rid of
their rival, come to claim their sweethearts, Pulcinella
appears and arranges all the marriages. He himself weds
Pimpinella, receiving the blessing of his double, who in his
turn has assumed the magician’s mantle.”
Although
Suite
italienne
is an abridged version, it preserves the essence of
Pulcinella’s joy, wit, and humor.
Ottorino Respighi:
Sonata in B minor for Violin and Piano, P. 110
Moderato
Andante espressivo
Passacaglia: Allegro moderato ma energico
Born in 1879 in Bologna, Italy, Ottorino Respighi is best known
for his orchestral compositions, particularly his triptych of
colorful tone poems celebrating Rome: Fountains of Rome,
Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals. Composed in
1917, alongside Fountains of Rome and Ancient Airs and
Dances for Lute (Suite No. 1), Respighi’s Violin Sonata
in B Minor is often overshadowed by his larger symphonic
works. However, it is gaining increasing popularity in both
concert halls and in musicological circles, especially following
Jascha Heifetz’s influential 1972 recording.
Born into a family of musicians, Respighi benefitted from a
broad musical upbringing—he received lessons in violin, viola,
piano, composition, and music history from an early age. During
his brief, yet formative studies in orchestration and
composition with Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, he worked as
the principal violist of the Russian Imperial Theatre Orchestra.
He would later become professor of composition at the
conservatory in Rome. As an excellent violinist and pianist,
Respighi took pride in his Violin Sonata in B minor,
which remains to this day his most frequently performed chamber
work.
Deeply infused with the spirit of late Romanticism, the sonata
is thought to reflect the emotional weight of his mother’s
passing a year prior—a loss that profoundly affected him. The
sonata opens with flowing triplets beneath a violin melody that
yearns, reaches, and soars into profoundly personal corners of
the human psyche. Thematic intervals of sevenths and ninths form
the structural backbone of the piece, while rapid modulations
and chromaticism intensify its expressive scope. Although the
score features seemingly complicated mixed meters and
polyrhythms, the music unfolds with effortless ease and
organicism.
The effect of Respighi’s use of unusual rhythmic notation and
meters in the second movement is a limpid lyricism that
continues to come across as improvised freedom, unhampered by
the shackles of ordinary notation. The music’s emotional expanse
gradually builds to a scope and intensity reminiscent of Italian
grand opera. A climax arrives when the violin is marked “come
una cadenza” (like a cadenza), after which the movement
gently subsides, recalling material from the opening.
The final movement is a passacaglia, a series of
variations built on a repeating bass line, a reference to the
composer’s expertise of early Italian music. Its theme is
rhythmically robust and spans an unusual ten-bar phrase,
undergoing varied transformations before ultimately reaching a
monumental conclusion, punctuated by a dramatic tremolo in the
lowest registers of the piano.
Written during World War I, the premiere was given in 1918 with
Respighi on the piano, along with his former violin teacher,
Federico Sarti.
Arvo Pärt:
"Fratres" for Violin and Piano
(arranged in 1977)
“I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is
beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment
of silence comforts me.” -Arvo Pärt
Crises often serve as a catalyst for new beginnings and
innovation. Such was the case for Arvo Pärt when he entered a
near eight-year hiatus from composing. Born in Estonia in 1935,
Arvo Pärt initially gained recognition as one of the leading
avant-garde composers in the USSR. He embraced many of the era’s
prevailing trends, including serialism, neoclassicism, collage
technique, and aleatoricism. Additionally, he was a tremendously
prolific film composer, writing for over fifty films.
A turning point came in 1968 when his Credo (for piano,
chorus, and orchestra) caused such a sensation that the audience
demanded an encore. Before he knew it, the USSR regime banned
the work because of its religious themes, which were thought to
be politically subversive. This event shocked him profoundly,
much like Dmitri Shostakovich’s public denunciation following
his opera, Lady Macbeth. Pärt later recounted, “in that
great desperation, [I was] ready to ask anyone how a composer
ought to write music… [I] once met a street-sweeper who gave me
a remarkable reply. ‘Oh,’ [the street-sweeper] said, ‘the
composer would probably need to love each and every sound.’”
This revelation proved transformative for Pärt. He later
referred to this stranger as a ‘true theologian.’ From 1968 to
1976, he dived into an intense study of Gregorian chant, the
Notre Dame School, and Renaissance polyphony. This period marked
a rebirth for Pärt’s creativity, culminating in an entirely new
method of composing, which he subsequently named tintinnabuli
(Latin for ‘sounding bells’). A true distillation of
material, it typically consists of only two musical lines: one
arpeggiating a chord (named the “tintinnabular voice”) and a
second which consists primarily of stepwise motion. The voices
interact in a mathematically exacting manner, producing a
meditative and transcendent effect. While deeply rooted in
Orthodox Christianity, the universal spiritual appeal of Pärt’s
music has been proven again and again. Indeed, his compositions
have created a watershed in the world of music, crossing genres
like none other; his works are performed by great classical
musicians and church choirs, as well as by famous popular
artists like Björk and Radiohead.
Fratres
(‘Brothers’ in Latin), premiered in 1977, was originally written
“without fixed instrumentation.” It debuted with the early music
ensemble Hortus Musicus, performed by a string quintet and wind
quintet. In 1980, Pärt transcribed it for violin and piano, and
it was performed by Gidon Kremer and Elena Kremer. The piece
consists of variations introduced by an earth-shattering buildup
in the solo violin marked “ppp poco a poco crescendo sino al
fff.” A rhythmic motif, heard in the left hand of the piano
and plucked strings in the violin, serves as a bookmark between
variations. The violin, acting as the tintinnabuli voice,
arpeggiates chords, while the piano moves linearly, in a
chant-like manner. A constant drone heard throughout the work
evokes a sense of stillness and contemplation—reminiscent of a
monk (‘fratres’ or brother) remaining serene amidst the noise
and din of worldly turmoil.
César Franck:
Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano
Allegretto
ben moderato
Allegro
Recitativo-Fantasia: Ben moderato
Allegretto poco mosso
César
Franck was born in Liège
in 1822. When the young composer reached thirteen years of age,
his father moved the family to Paris in hopes of cultivating his
son’s musical career. Despite his father’s aspirations, Franck
led a largely quiet career as a church organist. Only in his
later years did he become an organ and composition professor at
the Paris Conservatoire. Franck’s
Violin Sonata
is without question his most celebrated work and has been
performed by nearly all of history’s
great violinists and pianists.
The
Violin Sonata’s
genesis is traced back to an 1858 letter addressed
to Hans von Bülow,
a pianist who championed
Franck’s
works. In the letter, Franck acknowledges Bülow’s
help and promises repayment in the form of a violin sonata
dedicated to Bülow’s wife, Cosima (daughter of Franz
Liszt and who later remarried
Richard Wagner). However,
no violin sonata with that dedication ever appeared. Nearly
three decades later in 1886, Franck dedicated his first and only
violin sonata to Eugene Ysaÿe as a wedding gift. Upon receiving
the package containing Franck’s
manuscript, Ysaÿe decided to immediately play it with his
sister-in-law,
Marie-Léontine
Bordes-Pène,
at the piano. It is speculated that the work Ysaÿe received is a
later draft of the sonata originally intended for Cosima.
As in common in Franck’s compositions, the sonata
employs a cyclic form, featuring a recurring theme appearing in
all four movements. The opening
Allegretto ben moderato
unfolds gently and poignantly in the piano, introducing a
rocking, iambic rhythm that the
violin
then continues. Twice, the piano surges into a lyrical
outpouring before returning to its subdued character. Franck
originally conceived this movement at a slow tempo while Ysaÿe
envisioned it faster and performed it as such at the premiere,
to the composer’s
approbation. Today’s
violinists follow Ysaÿe’s
faster
interpretation.
With its surging syncopations, the second movement brings the
listener on a wild and
tumultuous
ride. A brief moment of repose in the middle of the movement
allows the listener to enjoy the harmonies and textures before
being swept back into the throes of the storm.
The third movement, marked
Recitativo-Fantasia,
offers a stark contrast. Its earthy, rhapsodic nature recalls
Franck’s famed organ improvisations.
Later in the movement, a passage of measured triplets in the
piano underlying an ethereal violin melody creates yet another
layer of contrast. Near the end, sonorous low octaves evoke the
sound of tolling bells, foreshadowing the upcoming
finale.
The final movement opens with a flowing yet precise canon
between the violin and piano. The piano states a simple yet
captivating tune, which the violin imitates, as if symbolizing a
couple exchanging wedding vows. Eventually, the roles reverse:
the violin leads gracefully while the piano follows. The sound
of tolling chapel bells return in the piano part, which
completes the celebratory scene. Undoubtedly one of the most
beloved violin sonatas of the nineteenth century, Franck’s
Violin Sonata has been transcribed for various instruments,
including cello, flute, double-bass, and even organ with mixed
choir.
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