Romance of the Violin

Romance of the Violin
January 18th, 2025
7:30 PM

Christ United Methodist Church

Featuring
David Leung, violinist
Tina Park, pianist

Program
TBD

Enjoy a romantic evening with a violin/piano duo from the Twin Cities playing beautiful melodies and passionate rhythms from Beethoven, C. Schumann, Piazzolla, Kreisler, and Feng.

David Leung

David Leung, is versatile and active in every aspect of performance as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, concertmaster and orchestral conductor. Leung performs and teaches extensively around the world, including masterclasses and concerts in France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Canada and the United States. Leung’s recent engagements consist of masterclasses and concerts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Mainland China, Germany, France, Colombia, and throughout the United States. Leung has collaborated with many of today’s best-known artists such as Arvine Arditti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Paul Badura-Skoda, Malcolm Bilson, Anthony Camden, Andrés Cárdenes, Anthony Dean Griffey, Warren Jones, Mikhail Kopelman, Gregory Kunde, Sir Neville Marriner and Pinchas Zukerman.

A strong advocate of chamber music and contemporary music, David Leung is a member of the Olean Chamber music society in upstate New York and he is the co-founder of Felix Piano Trio, Phoenix Trio and Helios String Quartet. Leung participates in many contemporary music festivals and ensembles. He is currently a member of Saint Mary’s Trio, Faculty Trio at the Saint Mary’s University, with critically acclaimed pianist Ned Kirk and cellist Derek Clark. Prior to joining the faculties of Minnehaha Academy and MacPhail Center for Music, Dr Leung was Assistant Professor of Violin at Saint Mary’s University, Associate Concertmaster of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra in Florida, and taught at the Florida State University, University at Buffalo and Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York.

Dr. Leung is the co-founder of the Saint Mary’s Summer String Workshop and UB Summer String Workshop, and visiting faculty of Soochow University and Tunghai University in Taiwan, Wah Yan College in Hong Kong, and Michigan Conducting Institute in Holland, Michigan. Leung teaches orchestral conducting and conducts the summer orchestras at the Michigan Conducting Institute and Csehy Summer School of Music. Leung’s recent conducting engagements include guest conducting in Minnesota, New York, Colombia, Africa, Hong Kong, California and the New Music festival in Tiffin, Ohio, where he conducted a choreographed production of Kamran Ince’s “Waves of Talya” with the composer’s presence. Prior to conducting the Saint Mary’s Chamber Orchestra, David Leung was the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the UB Symphony Orchestra at the State University of New York, Buffalo. In light of his outstanding achievements and accomplishments in performance, Leung is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Investec Music Prize, Guinness Flight Music Prize, St. David Lodge Music Award, the Ruggiero Ricci Violin Performance Merit Award and scholarships such as the Bloomberg Scholarship, Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship and Standard Chartered Community Foundation Scholarship. A native of Hong Kong, David Leung began his violin lessons at the age of six with Tong Lung and made his concerto debut at ten.

Tina Park

Born into a musical family Tina Park, previous known as Juan Li, started learning piano at the age of five, and at age seven won the First Young Artist Competition in her home state, Hubei, China. She spent 13 years at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance. In 1998 she immigrated to the United States on a full scholarship from the University of Notre Dame to pursue her master’s degree in piano performance. Later she earned her doctorate degree of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Professor Alexander Braginsky.

Dr. Parkʼs performing highlights include the Schumann Concerto performance with Bethel Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Chamber Music Society, BRAVO! festival at the University of Minnesota; the Cello: An American Experience (an international cello camp) at St. Olaf College, and a concert tour in the southern part of China. As a soloist, she has played with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in Shanghai, City Orchestra and Bethel Philharmonic Orchestra in St. Paul, Brentwood Symphony in St. Louis, Notre Dame Symphony in Indiana and Auburn Symphony in California. She has performed at many venues across the country such as Harris Hall at Aspen Music Festival, Benson Great Hall and Civic Center in St. Paul, Lloyd Ultan Recital Hall and Ted Mann Concert Hall in Minneapolis, Annenberg Auditorium at Snite Museum of Art in Indiana, Sapporo Art Hall and Shimizu Bunka Kaikan Hall in Japan. In April 2005, her performances of the Mozart Piano Concerto op.488 with the Auburn Symphony in California was acclaimed “exquisite and exhilarating.” Her performance of the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto with the City Orchestra in 2003 in St. Paul also received tremendous public admiration. She is also a frequent performing artist in the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series at the Landmark Center after winning the Schubert Club competition in 2002. In 2005, an interview and performance on Free Radio Asia from Washington, D.C was broadcasted throughout the US and in China. And from 2009 and 2012, she was selected as one of twelve teacher performers for the Piano Texas/Cliburn International Institute and Festival at Ford Worth Texas. A dedicated chamber musician, Dr. Park attended the Aspen Music Festival as a fellowship recipient and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan as one of the eight pianists selected from around the world. She has collaborated and performed with distinguished artists from around the world, such as John Perry, Paul Sperry, Margo Garrett, Irma Vallecillo as well as principal players from the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony and Juilliard Symphony.

In addition to being a versatile performing artist, Dr. Parkʼs passion for teaching has helped her build a successful private studio; her students have won top prizes in competitions. She is active as a teacher and adjudicator of young artists in various festivals and competitions in Minnesota. She has been on the piano faculty of Bethel University since 2005, and she is the music director and a founding member of the 2024 Bethel Summer Piano Academy.

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