Concert Features Juilliard School Violist and Pianist
Award-winning Juilliard School violist Andrew Gonzalez will be joined by pianist Christine Wu “In Recital” on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in The University of Scranton’s Houlihan-McLean Center. Admission is free, and the performance is open to the public.
Performance Music at The University of Scranton will present violist Andrew Gonzalez and pianist Christine Wu “In Recital” on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center. Admission is free, and the performance is open to the public.
Both award-winning musicians are fourth-year students at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Gonzalez, a native of Virginia and a student of Heidi Castleman and Hsin Yun Huang, serves as a principal violist of the Juilliard Orchestra. He has performed in numerous orchestra halls and chamber music venues throughout the United States including Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, Peter J Sharp Theater, Carnegie Hall and The Sarasota Opera House. He is an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program, Heifetz International Music Program, Sarasota Music Festival, North American Viola Institute and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. He has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Nobuko Imai, Daniel Phillips, Shmuel Ashkenasi and Amit Peled.
As a member of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, a Detroit-based organization whose mission is to increase diversity in American Orchestras, Gonzalez performed on the 2009 US Tour. A 2009 semi-finalist and achievement award winner of the junior division of the Sphinx Strings Competition, he returned to compete in 2010 and was named the second place laureate of the junior division competition.
An avid chamber musician, Gonzalez has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America. Last season he performed with Itzhak Perlman and alumni of the Perlman Music Program in several chamber music concerts in New York, Mexico, Canada and Virginia. Other recent performances include the Masterwork Concert Series at Barge Music in NYC with the Vela Trio, performing Mozart Piano Quartet in G Minor, Clara Schumann Piano trio in G minor and Robert Schumann Piano quarter in Eb Major; the Heifetz Celebrity Concert Series at Black Friars Play House in Staunton, Va., performing Sinfonia Concertante with Daniel Philips; and the Sundays at Four Concert Series in Smithfield, Va. For the past two seasons, he has taken part in the Perlman Music Program’s Stowe, VT residency, which is a community outreach endeavor to mentor young musicians. During his studies at the Sarasota Music Festival, he performed with the faculty at the Sarasota Opera House. Recent performances include Brahms String Sextet No. 2 with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Nobuko Imai, Amit Peled and colleagues of the Heifetz Institute. In May of this year, he had the honor of soloing with the Juilliard Orchestra in Don Quixote under the direction of Leonard Slatkin.
Wu, a native of Michigan, studies with Choong-Mo Kang at The Juilliard School. Recently, she was a finalist in the 2013 American Paderewski Piano Competition held at the Colburn School, where she was awarded Best American Pianist in the Final Round. She was a finalist in the 2012 New York International Piano Competition, and was a winner in the 2012 NFAA Young Arts in Classical Piano. In 2009, she was an award winner in the International Institute of Young Musicians Piano Competition, and was featured on a live public radio broadcast. She won second prize in the 2009 Fite Family Piano Competition held in Missouri, and has been a semifinalist in the 2010 Cooper International Piano Competition and the 2008 Eastman Young Artist's International Piano Competition.
Wu has been a featured soloist with orchestras including the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra and Rochester Symphony Orchestra of Michigan. In January of 2011, she was invited to perform in the Liszt Festival at Juilliard, commemorating the 200th anniversary of Liszt’s birth. She performs frequently in solo and chamber recitals in Lincoln Center and various other venues in New York.
Wu has participated in several international music festivals, including the Music Academy of the West (2013), where she received a full tuition fellowship; the Aspen Music Festival (2012); the Bowdoin International Music Festival (2011); and the International Institute of Young Musicians (2009). She has worked with numerous noteworthy artists including Richard Goode, Menahem Pressler, Jeremy Denk, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Yong-Hi Moon, Matti Raekallio, Jerome Lowenthal, Sylvia Rosenberg, Heidi Castleman, Hsin-Yun Huang and Karen Dreyfus.
For additional information, email music@scranton.edu or visit www.scranton.edu/music.
