June 26, 2016
The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County Presents
"The French-Jewish Connection"
Featuring
The Bravura Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble
Chiu-Ling Lin, piano
Jo-Hwa Yao, piano
Ellen Fisher-Deerberg, flute
Courtney Lin Kaita, cello
Kyle & Mia Huang, piano duo
Program
Saint-Saens Danse Macabre, Op. 40
Milhaud Sonatine for Flute and Piano
Bizet Jeux d'Enfant for Piano, 4 Hands
Offenbach "Rachel" from Decameron Dramatique
Ravel "Kaddisch" from Deux Melodies Hebraiques
Saint-Saens "The Swan"
Borne Carmen Fantasy for flute and piano
Return to 2015-16 season
Chiu-Ling Lin is an internationally-renowned pianist, educator and former Artistic Ambassador who made extensive solo appearances in South America. Critics have written that she makes compositions “soar with her joyous and skilled interpretation.” Dr. Lin made her Carnegie Weill Recital Hall debut as the winner of the East and West Young Artist Auditions. She has soloed with orchestras such as the Atlanta Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Des Moines Symphony & Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra. Her appearances in New York, Boston, Chicago, England, Canada, and throughout the Far East have featured her unique mix of music by Chinese and Western composers. Her virtuosity is showcased in the CD, “Portraits of China.” As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Marina Piccinini, Marcos Granados, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn. Dr. Lin is committed educator who received her bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University. Chiu-Ling Lin has been a resident of West Windsor, NJ where she maintains a private piano student. She is past president of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association and the recipient of the 2014 Foundation Fellow and 2015 NJMTA Teacher of the Year Award. She is also the NJ-DE-PA tri-state representative of the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music and the Director of the Bravura Summer Music and Chamber Music.
Jo-Hwa Yao, born in Taiwan, is one of the most outstanding pianists of her generation. She has performed in Germany, France, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and the United States. She also has appeared in recitals in major concert halls such as Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, National Concert Hall in Taipei and Bunka Kaikan Hall in Tokyo. Ms. Yao is a well-known pianist who has numerous performances with orchestras including Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra, PCPA Orchestra, Linfair Chamber Orchestra and Manhattan Chamber Orchestra. She also appeared in many television/radio programs interviews as well as charity concerts. Ms. Yao began studying piano at the age of six. She studied with Shu-Mei Liu, Hsiao-Pei Yang, Su-Jen Chen, David Saidenberg and Susan Starr. She received her Master of Music in Piano from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. She won awards in many competitions such as the gold medal of the Taipei County Piano Competition from 1976 to 1978 and the silver medal of Taiwan National Piano Competition in 1978. She also won the Young Artist Award of the Ester Willburn Barnes America National Piano Competition in 1985. From 1986 to 1990, Ms. Yao was a faculty member of the Music Department of Fujen Catholic University in Taiwan. She made two recordings of Duo Piano with Taiwan/Linfair in 1989 and 1990.
Ellen Fisher-Deerberg is principal flutist with the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra. She is on the faculty of the Westminster Conservatory of Music, and also teaches privately at her home in Columbus, NJ. Ellen has been featured as a soloist with the Bravura Philharmonic and the Delaware Flute Orchestra. Ellen has a Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University. She is a founding member of the newly-formed Lyra Flute Ensemble. They feature flutists from the greater New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and launched their inaugural 2016-2017 concert season with a performance at the Marina Piccinini International Master Classes at the Peabody Institute on Memorial Day, 2016. Ellen is also a frequent guest artist with the San Diego based flute quartet, Flutes de Salon, which performed several concerts at the 2015 National Flute Association’s annual convention in Washington D.C. and the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair in Reston, Virginia. Ms. Deerberg has been a member of the Princeton-based Volanti Flute Quartet since 2007, with colleagues from the Westminster Conservatory.
Principal cellist of the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, Courtney Lin Kaita is a freelance musician from New York City. She graduated from the University of Michigan, where she received a double degree in cello performance as a student of Richard Aaron and mathematics. Courtney has soloed with the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, Edison Symphony, Manalapan Battleground Symphony, and High Mountain Symphony. Courtney is originally from Manalapan, New Jersey. She has won numerous state-wide competitions, and represented New Jersey twice in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) solo performance competitions. Courtney was featured as a Rising Star for the first Beijing Music Festival, performing in venues including Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and Ministry of Culture.
Winners of the Best Overall Performance at the 2016 Princeton Festival Piano Competition, the piano duet team of Kyle and Mia Huang have performed in prestigious venues in New Jersey and New York, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Concert Hall, and NJ-PAC. Mia and Kyle are 14-year-old twins from Cranbury, NJ. They have been studying piano with Chiu-Tze Lin for five years, and have been playing duets since they were nine years old. They have won many awards together, including prizes in the competitions of the Cecilian Music Club, National League of Performing Arts Chamber Music Competition, and Princeton Festival. Mia also plays the violin, and is a student of Yousun Kim. Kyle is a violist as well, and is a student of Hua-Yi Wang. Mia and Kyle have been members of the Bravura Youth Orchestra for the last five years, and where they have leadership positions. They have performed in Taiwan and China with the Bravura Youth Orchestra. Mia and Kyle looks forward to further musical adventures as a duet team.
