Sinds 1986 bezoeken elk jaar tienduizenden muziekliefhebbers Schleswig Holstein voor het het befaamde Muziekfestival. Het Festivalorkest (dat in 1987 door Leonard Bernstein werd gevormd) staat onder leiding van Christoph Eschenbach. Eschenbach – die een rol heeft gespeeld in het ontdekken van Renée Fleming en Lang Lang promootte – lanceert tijdens dit Festival bij voorkeur jonge musici. In 2013 introduceert Eschenbach, de van oorsprong Taiwanese violist Ray Chen (1989), met wie hij twee vioolconcerten van de toen negentienjarige Mozart speelt. Ray Chen – die zijn eigen cadansen uitvoert – zorgt voor een levendige lichte toon. Samen met Eschenbach aan de piano speelt Chen aansluitend Pianosonate nummer 22. Op 16 en 22 januari 2014 is Ray Chen in Eindhoven en Amsterdam te beluisteren.
Mozart Violin Concertos & Sonata
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K216
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K218
Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival Orchester, Christoph Eschenbach
Violin Sonata No. 22 in A major, K305
Christoph Eschenbach (piano)
Ray Chen (violin)
This is Ray’s first album of all Mozart repertoire. He’s joined by the renowned Mozart-interpreter Maestro Christoph Eschenbach, who conducts the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra for the concertos and accompanies Ray for the Violin Sonata. The festival orchestra, founded by Leonard Bernstein in 1987 consists of exceptional young instrumentalists who come together for the annual music festival in northern Germany. Ray composed his own cadenzas for both concertos on this recording.
Winner of the Queen Elisabeth (2009) and Yehudi Menuhin (2008) Competitions, Ray Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today. “Ray has proven himself to be a very pure musician with great qualities such as a beautiful youthful tone, vitality and lightness. He has all the skills of a truly musical interpreter,” said the great Maxim Vengerov.
Ray has released two critically acclaimed albums on Sony: a recital program ‘Virtuoso’ of works by Bach, Tartini, Franck and Wieniawski, and the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky concertos with Swedish Radio Orchestra and Daniel Harding. Following the success of these recordings, Ray was profiled by The Strad and Gramophone magazines as “the one to watch”. ‘Virtuoso’ was distinguished with the prestigious ECHO Klassik award. Ray continues to win the admiration of fans and fellow musicians worldwide. In 2012, he became the youngest soloist ever to perform in the televised Nobel Prize Concert for the Nobel Laureates and the Swedish Royal Family. His Carnegie Hall debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Sakari Oramo, as well as his sold-out Musikverein concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly were met with standing ovations.
Followed by over 200,000 people on SoundCloud, Ray Chen looks to expand the classical music audience by increasing its appeal to the young generation via all available social media platforms. He is the first ever classical musician to be invited to write a regular blog about his life as a touring soloist for the largest Italian publishing house, RCS Rizzoli. In his efforts to break down barriers between classical music, fashion and pop culture, he is supported by Giorgio Armani and was recently featured in Vogue magazine.
Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Ray was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age 15, where he studied with Aaron Rosand and was supported by Young Concert Artists. He plays the 1702 "Lord Newlands" Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
