Husband-and-wife piano duo make debut in pro series

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BRANDON, MB — The pro series continues with another first — a performance for two pianos and four-handed piano featuring the talents of Lucille Chung and Alessio Bax. Though soloists of great merit in their own right, the couple regularly team up to present keyboard works by composers spanning the centuries.

Noted for her “stylish and refined performances” by Gramophone magazine, and “combining vigor and suppleness with natural eloquence and elegance” by Le Soir, Chung has shared the stage as a soloist with orchestras around the world, like L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, with which she débuted at the age of ten. An award-winning performer who includes the Stravinsky International Piano Competition among her successes, Chung’s recitals have been heard by audiences in more than 30 countries. Along with her musical talents, the Montreal-born pianist is also fluent in French, English, Korean, Italian, German and Russian. Based in New York City, she and Bax, her husband and fellow pianist, are artistic co-directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation in Dallas.

Born in Bari, Italy, Bax won the the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan when he was 19 years old as well as the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 2000. In 2009, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. With a wide concerto repertoire, he has been a soloist with more than 80 noted orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Dallas Symphony, Rome Symphony, and the Tokyo Symphony. While the couple has made a recording of Ligeti’s compositions for two pianos and piano-for-four-hands, Bax also has half a dozen discs to his own credit.

The Bax-Chung duo’s programme will include Mozart’s Sonata KV 521 in C Major, Brahms’ 16 Waltzes Op.39, Schmidt’s Centaurus A, and their arrangement of Five Tangos by Piazzolla.

The pro series performance featuring the Alessio Bax-Lucille Chung duo will be held at 8 p.m., on March 1, 2011 in the Lorne Watson Recital Hall, in the Queen Elizabeth II School of Music at Brandon University.

Next up in this season’s pro series will be the School of Music’s own David Playfair in collaboration with tenor Blaine Hendsbee on March 15, in the same venue.

Tickets to all pro series concerts are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, alumni and students, and $8 for Conservatory students. Tickets can be bought at the door or in advance at the School of Music main office. Seating is limited and programmes are subject to change.

The pro series and the School of Music gratefully acknowledge the generous support of The Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and of the Province of Manitoba, through a Consolidated Arts Programming Grant from Culture, Heritage and Tourism.

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For more information, please contact:

School of Music

Brandon University

(204) 727-9631

or visit: www2.brandonu.ca/music/events/events.asp for updated events listings.

or

Joanne F. Villeneuve

Communications

Brandon University

270 – 18th Street

Brandon, MB R7A 6A9

Tel. 204-727-9762

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