Lin-Linder Piano Duo – Fanya Lin and Daniel Linder, piano
Daniel Asia and Yuanyuan (Kay) He, composers
Lin-Linder Piano Duo began performing together after a dynamic collaboration at the University of Arizona’s Faculty Showcase Concert “Dancing on the Keyboard: Piano Music for Two, Four, and Six Hands.” Currently, Dr. Lin and Dr. Linder both serve as Assistant Professors of Practice at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music in Tucson, Arizona.
As avid performers of contemporary works, Lin-Linder Piano Duo’s performance of Aaron Graham’s Old Voltage was featured in the 2020 Turn Up Multimedia Festival, and their premiere recording of Dan Asia’s Piano Set II is included on a newly released album, Ivory II, published by Summit Records. This concert will feature compositions by Dan Asia, Yuanyuan (Kay) He, Tania León, and Gabriela Lena Frank.
PROGRAM
Piano Set II (1976) Daniel Asia (b. 1953)
I. Aggressive and antagonistic
II. Askew
III. Playful
IV. Meditative
V. Askew
VI. Dominant-inferior
VII. Mutually combative-energetic
Lost in Colors (2020) Yuanyuan (Kay) He (b. 1985)
Yuanyuan (Kay) He, electronics
Satiné (1999) Tania León (b.1943)
I. Entrada
II. Satin
III. É
Intermission
Seis Cantos de los Campos (2013) Gabriela Lena Frank (b.1972)
I. Gigantes
II. Charangos
II. Arañas
IV. Karnavalito-tito
V. Canto Infantil
VI. Danza del Pueblo
Two Rags (2004) Daniel Asia (b. 1953)
No Time
Ragflections
Iris (2016) Daniel Asia (b. 1953)
I. Jauntily
II. Slow, almost lethargic
III. Impetuously
Performer Bios:
Described as a “striking interpreter” who gives a “committed and heartfelt performance” by Musical America and The New York Times, pianist Fanya Lin has captivated audiences worldwide with her charismatic and gripping performances. Her orchestral appearances include the Toruń Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Savannah Philharmonic, Grand Junction Symphony, the Aurora Symphony, and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra. Lin’s performance of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was depicted as “an ethereal woman whose ruffled dress made her resemble a delicate black swan,” while her “mesmerizing performance” of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini made it appear as though “a tornado had touched down through her body and lifted her, feathers fluttering, from the piano stool as she weighed into the keys” by the Hastings Times and Festival Flyer in the UK.
A native of Taipei, Taiwan, Fanya is a top prizewinner of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, Concours International de Piano France-Amériques, New York International Piano Competition, and Seattle International Piano Competition. Fanya earned her Doctoral Degree at the University of Minnesota under the guidance of Emerita Distinguished McKnight Professor Lydia Artymiw; her Master’s Degree at The Juilliard School with Professor Hung-Kuan Chen and Jerome Lowenthal; and her Bachelor’s Degree at Weber State University with Dr. Yu-Jane Yang. In Fall 2019, Dr. Fanya Lin joined the University of Arizona as Assistant Professor of Music in Piano.
For more information, please visit fanyalin.com.
Praised as a “pianistic chameleon” (Fanfare), Daniel Linder is a versatile pianist, chamber musician, and teaching artist. He has performed solo and collaborative recitals to high acclaim in venues across the United States and in France and Denmark, and recordings of his performances have aired on KUAT Classical Radio in Tucson, AZ. Recent accolades include the Fresno Musical Club Susan Torres Award, and prizes in the James Ramos International Competition, the Seattle International Piano Competition, and the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, among others.
Dr. Linder is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music, where he serves as keyboard area coordinator, and teaches applied lessons, piano literature, and honors seminars in music. He has presented lectures at state and national conferences of the Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA), and his article, A Multisensory Approach to Memorization was named 2018 ‘Article of the Year’ by CAPMT Connect, the e-Journal of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT).
Daniel was named Outstanding D.M.A. Graduate by the Keyboard Studies Department of USC’s Thornton School of Music. He holds a M.M in piano performance from the University of Arizona, and both a B.M. in piano performance and a B.A. in history from Northwestern University. His principal teachers are Bernadene Blaha, Dr. John Milbauer, Alan Chow, and Dr. Rose Chancler. Daniel grew up in the Adirondacks of northeastern New York.
Please visit www.drlpianist.com for more information.
Formed by pianists Fanya Lin and Daniel Linder, the Lin-Linder Piano Duo has been praised for their “strong combination” and ability to “create a satisfying experience” (Fanfare). The Lin-Linder Piano Duo began performing together after a dynamic collaboration at the University of Arizona’s Faculty Showcase Concert “Dancing on the Keyboard: Piano Music for Two, Four, and Six Hands.” Currently, Dr. Lin and Dr. Linder both serve as Assistant Professors of Piano at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music in Tucson, Arizona.
As avid performers of 20th- and 21st-century works, Fanya Lin and Daniel Linder are dedicated to promoting contemporary piano repertoire. Fanya’s recent projects include a presentation on “How to Approach Contemporary Music” at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, performance of Stockhausen’s Refrain at Alice Tully Hall, and performance of Boulez Sur Incises for three harps, three pianos, and three percussionists at the Fred Fox School of Music. Daniel’s recent projects include the 2020 world premiere of Kay He’s multimedia work Lost in Colors, collaboration with the Russian String Orchestra in a performance of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 1, and lecture recitals on Maurice Ohana’s Douze Études d’interprétation. Lin-Linder Piano Duo’s performance of Aaron Graham’s Old Voltage was featured in the 2020 Turn Up Multimedia Festival, and their premiere recording of Dan Asia’s Piano Set II is included on a newly released album, Ivory II, published by Summit Records.
Composer Bios:
Daniel Asia, b. Seattle, WA 1953, has been an eclectic and unique composer from the start. Over his long career he has enjoyed grants from Meet the Composer, a UK Fulbright award, Guggeneheim Fellowship, DAAD, MacDowell and Tanglewood fellowships, ASCAP and BMI prizes, Copland Fund grants, a Barlow Award, and numerous others. In 2010 he was awarded an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. From 1991-1994 he was Meet the Composer Composer-in-Residence of the Phoenix Symphony.
Asia’s five symphonies have received wide acclaim from live performance and their international recordings. The Fifth Symphony was commissioned for the Tucson and Jerusalem symphony orchestras in celebration of Israel’s 60th anniversary.
His various orchestral works have been performed by the Cincinnati Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others.
In the chamber music arena, Mr. Asia has written for, and been championed by, the Dorian Wind Quintet, American Brass Quintet, Meadowmount Trio, Cypress Quartet, Andre-Michel Schub (piano), Carter Brey (cello), Alex Klein (oboe), Benjamin Verdery (guitar), John Shirley-Quirk and Sara Watkins (baritone and oboe), Jonathan Shames (piano), violinists Curtis Macomber, Gregory Fulkerson, Mark Rush and Zina Schiff, and Robert Dick (flute). Under a Barlow Endowment grant, he wrote a work for The Czech Nonet, the longest continuously performing chamber ensemble on the planet, founded in 1924.
The recorded works of Daniel Asia may be heard on the labels of Summit, New World, Attacca, Albany, Babel, Innova, and Mushkatweek. For further information, visit the Daniel Asia website at www.danielasia.net.
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Dr. Yuanyuan (Kay) He is a composer and video artist with roots in China. Her works often explore and intertwine various forms of media to create unique audiovisual experiences that engage the audience. Many of her works involve collaborations with choreographers, dancers, video artists, audio technicians, and stage lighting and design artists. As a multimedia composer, she is very active in the music community. Kay serves as the Creative Director for Electronic Music Midwest (EMM), which is an annual music festival dedicated to programming a wide variety of electroacoustic music and providing high quality electronic media performances. She is also the founder and Director of the Turn Up Multimedia Festival, which works to promote Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Culture-Connecting, and Equality. She is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, where she teaches composition, electro-acoustic music, and orchestration.
During her career, Kay has won many awards and been selected for many performances in the U.S. and abroad. Of note, her piano trio Imprint of the Spring Breeze won the grand prize at the 2nd ACC International Composition Competition in 2017 (Gwangju, South Korea). ISCM selected the flute and electronics piece On the Pivot of an Abandoned Carouselfor its 2016 World Music Days (Tongyeong, South Korea). Passeig de Grácia for orchestra was selected for the 2015 ACO Underwood New Music Readings (New York, NY). On the Threshold of a Drizzly Reality for cello and electronics was selected for 2014 performances at the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) in Athens, Greece and the Root Signals music festival (Jacksonville, Florida). Shadow of Dewdrops was selected as a finalist for TICF2015 (Bangkok, Thailand) and the 2014 installment of Gamma UT (Austin, TX). Legends of Old Peking won the 2012 Seattle Symphony Celebrate Asia Composition Competition. Dying Away won the 2011 DuoSolo Emerging Composer Competition (Cortona, Italy). And, Destiny of Sputnik was chosen for the 2011 Beijing Modern Music Festival Young Composers Project.
Kay earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and her Master of Music degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied under Dr. Russell Pinkston and Dr. Yevgeniy Sharlat.
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Tania León (b. Havana, Cuba) is highly regarded as a composer, conductor, educator and advisor to arts organizations. In 2021, her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music.
Recent commissions include works for New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Grossman Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, and pianist Ursula Oppens with Cassatt String Quartet. Appearances as guest conductor include Philharmonic Orchestra of Marseille, Gewandhausorchester, Orquesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuba.
Upcoming premieres feature commissions for the NewMusic USA Amplifying Voices Program, The Musical Fund Society in Philadelphia to celebrate their 200th anniversary, and for The Crossing chamber choir with Claire Chase, flutist, among others.
A founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, León instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series, co-founded the American Composers Orchestra’s Sonidos de las Américas Festivals, was New Music Advisor to the New York Philharmonic, and is the founder/Artistic Director of the nonprofit and festival Composers Now.
Her honors include the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement, awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the ASCAP Victor Herbert Award, among others. She also received a proclamation for Composers Now by New York City Mayor, and the MadWoman Festival Award in Music (Spain).
León has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Colgate University, Oberlin and SUNY Purchase College, and served as U.S. Artistic Ambassador of American Culture in Madrid, Spain. A CUNY Professor Emerita, she was awarded a 2018 United States Artists Fellowship.
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Currently serving as Composer-in-Residence with the storied Philadelphia Orchestra and included in the Washington Post’s list of the 35 most significant women composers in history (August, 2017), identity has always been at the center of composer/pianist Gabriela Lena Frank’s music. Born in Berkeley, California (September, 1972), to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Gabriela explores her multicultural heritage through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Gabriela has traveled extensively throughout South America in creative exploration. Her music often reflects not only her own personal experience as a multi-racial Latina, but also refract her studies of Latin American cultures, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own.
In 2020, Gabriela was a recipient of the prestigious 25th-anniversary Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanity category with an unrestricted cash prize of $250,000, a meaningful portion of which was donated by Gabriela to the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. The award recognized Gabriela for breaking gender, disability, and cultural barriers in the classical music industry, and for her work as an activist on behalf of emerging composers of all demographics and aesthetics.
Winner of a Latin Grammy and nominated for Grammys as both composer and pianist, Gabriela also holds a Guggenheim Fellowship and a USA Artist Fellowship given each year to fifty of the country’s finest artists. Her work has been described as “crafted with unself-conscious mastery” (Washington Post), “brilliantly effective” (New York Times), “a knockout” (Chicago Tribune) and “glorious” (Los Angeles Times). Gabriela is regularly commissioned by luminaries such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, soprano Dawn Upshaw, the King’s Singers, the Cuarteto Latinoamericano with guitarist Manuel Barrueco, Brooklyn Rider, and conductors Marin Alsop and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She has also received orchestral commissions and performances from leading American orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Before her current residency with the Philadelphia Orchestra for which she will compose the 45-minute Chronicles of the Picaflor (Hummingbird), in 2017 she completed her four-year tenure as composer-in-residence with the Detroit Symphony under maestro Leonard Slatkin, composing Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra, as well as a second residency with the Houston Symphony under Andrés Orozco-Estrada for whom she composed the Conquest Requiem, a large-scale choral/orchestral work in Spanish, Latin, and Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Gabriela’s most recent premieres have been Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered by the National Youth Orchestra of the United States under the baton of conductor Marin Alsop; and Suite Mestiza, a large-scale work for solo violin premiered by Movses Pogossian. In the season of 2021-22, San Diego Opera will premiere Frank’s first opera, The Last Dream of Frida, utilizing words by her frequent collaborator Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Nilo Cruz. In the 2018-19 school year, Gabriela also became visiting Artist-in-Residence at the Blair School of Music with Vanderbilt University, adding to her long list of residencies at universities and conservatories through the US.
In 2017, Gabriela founded the award-winning Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music.
Gabriela attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she earned a B.A. (1994) and M.A. (1996). She studied composition with Sam Jones, and piano with Jeanne Kierman Fischer. At the University of Michigan, where she received a D.M.A. in composition in 2001, Gabriela studied with William Albright, William Bolcom, Leslie Bassett, and Michael Daugherty, and piano with Logan Skelton. She currently resides in Boonville, a small rural town in the Anderson Valley, with her husband Jeremy on their mountain farm, has a second home in her native Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has traveled extensively in Andean South America.
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