WSO Opens Classics Concert Series with Canadian Prodigy Avan Yu

(Windsor, ON – October 2, 2007)  The Windsor Symphony Orchestra opens its 60th Anniversary Premier Classics Series on Saturday October 13th, with Tchaikovsky Spectacular, at the Chrysler Theatre. Pianist Avan Yu will join the long list of young Canadian artists, including Laura St. John, Stewart Goodyear, and Darret Zusko, that have performed with the WSO early in their careers. Seattle, Paris, Warsaw, Morocco, China – the 19-year-old prodigy, now living in Vancouver, has been making a name for himself across the globe. Yu will be performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 1.

Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.

Premier Classics

BMO Financial Group
Tchaikovsky Spectacular
Chrysler Theatre
John Morris Russell, Conductor
Avan Yu, Piano

The Evening’s Programme:
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no.1
Tchaikovsky Symphony no.6, “Pathetique”
program subject to change

Tickets: $13 to $56 available at the Chrysler Theatre Box Office. Call 519-252-6579 or 1-800-387-9181 to order by phone. Box Office Hours: Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Discount tickets are available for Seniors, Students and Children.

BMO Financial Group is the Premier Classics Series sponsor. The evening’s concert sponsors are Ambassador Bridge and The Ambassador Duty Free Store.

Just nineteen, Canadian pianist Avan Yu made his debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the age of fourteen in a performance of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. According to Lloyd Dykk, writing in the Vancouver Sun, “He was astonishing, bringing out all the piano’s harmonic depths and especially the [Rhapsody’s] poetry.” Mr. Yu was then immediately re-engaged by Music Director Maestro Bramwell Tovey to perform the same work for a gala Summer Concert before an audience of 8,000 people, and again for their 2003-2004 subscription concert series. Most recently, he was engaged to play the Chopin F minor Concerto with the VSO in the spring of 2006.

Other past orchestral engagements include performances with the Victoria Symphony, Ottawa Symphony, Xiamen Philharmonic in China, Orchestre Philharmonique of Morocco, B.C. Chinese Orchestra, Seattle Northwest Philharmonia, and Seattle Youth Orchestra. Future engagements include appearances with the VSO, as well as a concert tour of Ontario and Quebec organized by Jeunesses Musicales.

In addition to appearances with orchestra, Mr. Yu has performed in recital for the CBC, the Chopin Club in Warsaw, UNESCO, Salle Cortot in Paris, Vancouver Women's Musical Society, Far East Broadcast Corporation, Canadian Vocal and Performing Arts Society, Vancouver Chopin Society, Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver and Jeunesses Musicales, and in September 2005, he performed ten all-Chopin recitals in British Columbia.

Avan Yu first came to national attention by winning the Canadian Chopin Competition at the age of seventeen, after taking first prize at the Canadian Music Competition in both 2001 and 2002. He also won the CBC Pacific Spotlight Competition in Vancouver and the Junior Division of the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition. He was also a prize winner at the International Radio Competition for Young Musicians in Prague, the Fourth Tchaikovsky International Music Competition for Young Musicians in Xiamen, China, and at the Fourth Concours International de Musique in Morocco where he was awarded the Grand Prix du Publique. For two consecutive years, he won the Festival Medal at the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival and was Grand Prize winner of many local festivals in Vancouver, including the Richmond Music Festival, the Coquitlam District Music Festival, the Vancouver Women’s Musical Society Scholarship Competition and the Kiwanis Music Festival.

Avan Yu began his musical studies in Hong Kong at the age of five. After moving to Vancouver in 1997 he studied with K.K. Sum, and since 2003 has been a student of Kenneth Broadway and Ralph Markham.

Maestro John Morris Russell has consistently won international praise for his gift to make extraordinary music and to make a difference. Since his appointment as Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in 2001, Mr. Russell has ushered in a new era of unprecedented artistic growth for the WSO and has invigorated the musical life of the Windsor-Essex region. The Windsor Star reported in 2006 that “the Windsor Symphony Orchestra is on a roll...Russell never shrinks from the most demanding works in the repertoire [and] his enthusiasm shows in virtually every aspect of the orchestra.” Now in his sixth season, Maestro Russell will conduct 17 weeks with the WSO, including symphonic and pops subscription programmes, concerts in the Bach and Mozart series, and the prestigious Windsor Canadian Music Festival.

As a guest conductor, Mr. Russell has led many of North America’s most distinguished ensembles, including the orchestras of Toronto, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Louisville, Miami’s New World Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, New York City Ballet, and the New York Philharmonic. 2007 marks his tenth anniversary with Carnegie Hall, where he conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the “LinkUP!” concert series, as well as Carnegie Hall’s family concert series. This season Mr. Russell makes debuts with the Edmonton Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, and the Erie Philharmonic.  Mr. Russell served as associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for eleven years, during which he regularly led concerts at the Music Hall and the Riverbend Music Center.

Founded in 1947, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra is a professional regional orchestra of 43 contracted musicians. It enjoys a national reputation for its innovative programming with a strong creative commitment to Canadian performers and composers. The WSO has established a national reputation for its musical excellence and wide-ranging Educational and Community Outreach programs. The WSO can be heard regularly on CBC national radio broadcasts, and made its Gemini-nominated national television debut on CBC Television's Opening Night in 2003. The WSO is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Ontario Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Arts (2001, 2003). Since 1998, the WSO has doubled its subscription sales, and in 2005 launched the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestra. Since 2000, the WSO has added five new concert series, and has commenced a ground-breaking Music Therapy programme, in partnership with the University of Windsor and Windsor Regional Hospitals. The WSO performs a 33-week concert season from September to May.

For more information, please contact:
Rob Gold, Director of Marketing
Tel: 519-973-1238, ext. 23
Email: rgold@windsorsymphony.com
URL:   www.windsorsymphony.com

This Concert Is Made Possible By Our Sponsors:

Series Sponsor:

Concert Sponsor:

Media Sponsors: