47th Annual President’s Concert – Arizona Symphony Orchestra
with 2019-2020 Concerto Competition winners
February 8, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
February 9, Sunday, 4:30 p.m.
Crowder Hall, $10, 7, 5
CONTACT: Fine Arts Box Office, (520) 621-1162 or tickets.arizona.edu
TICKETS: $10, $7, $5
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music presents the 4th annual President’s Concert on Saturday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 9 at 4:30 p.m.
The concert will feature the Arizona Symphony Orchestra and student soloists who won the highly competitive University of Arizona Concerto Competition.
Featured on this 47th annual President’s Concert are mezzo-soprano Diana Peralta, performing Jules Massenet’s “Letter scene” from Werther; pianist Yaowen Mei performing Paraphrase on Dies irae by Ferenc Liszt; Charles du Preez performing the first and fourth movements of Jean Françaix’s Clarinet Concerto; and Jaeook Lee will perform the first movement of the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius. The program will open with Engelbert Humperdinck’s Prelude to “Hänsel und Gretel.”
The students are selected from each area of the Fred Fox School of Music – strings, voice, wind and percussion, and keyboard. They represent the depth of talent at the school, shining in this performance with the Arizona Symphony Orchestra. Their performances will be conducted by doctoral students Sean Bresseman and Lorena Suárez, as well as Music Director and Condoctor, Dr. Thomas Cockrell.
About the soloists:
Charles du Preez
Charles du Preez hails from rural Nebraska, where he cultivated a love for classical music at an early age. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in music performance from the California Institute of the Arts, and is now pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in clarinet performance with an individualized minor in electro-acoustic music and multimedia at the University of Arizona. He is currently studying clarinet with Dr. Jackie Glazier and is a graduate teaching assistant for the clarinet studio. He currently serves as a substitute with the Tucson Symphony, the New Mexico Philharmonic, and the Southern Arizona Symphony. Recent endeavors include participating at the Pierre Monteux School and Festival for Conductors and Orchestral Musicians (Summer 2019), competing as a finalist in the International Clarinet Association Orchestral Audition Competition (Ostend, Belgium 2018), performing at the San Luis Potosí Opera Festival (Mexico 2018), and presenting at the American Single Reed Summit (2018). He has been selected as a Medici scholar for the past two years. Charles also enjoys practicing qi gong and yoga, running and triathlons, and is an ACSM certified personal trainer.
Jaeook Lee
Violinist Jaeook Lee has garnered international recognition for his performances as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. His rise in accolades began in South Korea where he received top prizes at numerous competitions, including the Strad, Kookmin, Elwha & Kyunghyang, and the Music Journal competitions. His early success included several appearances, including his prize-winning performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the Great Mountain Festival. Other engagements included solo appearances with Joy for Strings and the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra. Lee was given the special honor to represent the Kumho Cultural Foundation of Young Artists in Korea. His endeavors have continued internationally through his studies with Glenn Dicterow, Kyung-Wha Chung and Sylvia Rosenberg at the Juilliard School. He made his American debut in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center where he won the special prize at Concours International Yehudi Menuhin. Lee recently won the third prize at the Munetsugu Angel Violin competition, which generously awarded him the loan of the “Ex-Shultz” 1831 Giovanni Francesca Pressenda violin. Lee’s work as a chamber musician includes a broadcast appearance on “Good Day Chicago” as a participant in Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. Lee has also received invitations from the Verbier Festival Academy and concertizes through the Harvard Society. Lee earned his bachelor’s from the Juilliard School and master’s from the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Miriam Fried and Donald Weilerstein. He is currently pursuing doctoral degree in music at the Fred Fox School of Music under the direction of Timothy Kantor.
Yaowen Mei
Yaowen Mei is a freshman piano performance major at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music, where he studies with Dr. Daniel Linder and Dr. John Milbauer as a recipient of the Lotte C. Reyersbach Scholarship. Before moving to Tucson, he earned the Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Yoshikazu Nagai. Yaowen grew up in Huaihua, Hunan Province, China. He began piano studies at the age of eight and only two years later won first prize in the Golden Melody Piano competition in Huaihua City. Shortly thereafter, he entered the Wuhan Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Fang Kuang and Dr. Hong Xu. Among his numerous accolades are prizes in the Fulixi Piano Competition (2011), the Yamaha Music Scholarship Piano Competition at the Wuhan Conservatory (2013, 2014), the Eastman Young Artists Piano Competition (2016), and most recently, the University of Arizona Concerto Competition (2019).
Diana Peralta
Mezzo-soprano Diana Peralta was born in Mexico City and graduated from the National Conservatory of Music with a degree in opera and concert singing. She is currently working toward her Master of Music degree in voice performance at the University of Arizona. Recent performances include her 2018 debut in the title role of “Carmen” with San Luis Opera Festival (Mexico), a role she repeated with Opera de México in 2019. Also in 2019, Ms. Peralta performed Cherubino in “Le Nozze di Figaro” with the Jerusalem Opera Studio in Israel as well as the title role in the American première of “Rhondda Rips It Up” (University of Arizona.) Her other operatic roles also include Donna Elvira (“Don Giovanni”), Mercedes (“Carmen”), Mme de la Haltiére (“Cendrillon”), Charlotte (“Werther”), Zweite Dame and Dritte Dame (“Die Zauberflöte”). As a concert soloist, she has performed Handel’s “Messiah,” Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem and Rossini’s “Petite Messe Solennelle” (Choral Society Of The Hamptons in New York City). She is a winner of the 2019 University of Arizona Concerto Competition, second place in the Amelia Rieman Opera Competition and the Marguerite Ough Vocal Competition, and first place in the Opera Guild of Southern Arizona Quest for the Best opera competition, the Opera Panamá Award in the Linus Lerner Vocal Competition, Guanajuato winner of the Gertrude Brownlee Bitner Memorial Award, and first-place winner in the Vienna Summer Music Festival Vocal Competition. Upcoming performances for Diana Peralta include Hänsel in the UA Opera production of “Hänsel und Gretel” and the title role in “Carmen” with the Vienna Summer Music Festival.
Past winners of this competition include:
2019
Erika Burkhart, soprano
Ivo Shin, flute
Diana Yusupov, cello
Minjun Dong, piano
2018
Emily Garcia, soprano
Michael Pratt, vibraphone
Juan Mejía, cello
Tyler Ramos, piano
2017
Kyle DeGraff, tenor
Amy Shea, oboe
Stella Kim, violin
Melissa Radtke & Rachael Radtke, piano
2016
Caroline Crawford, soprano
Immanuel Abraham, violin
Daniel Becker, clarinet
Yi Qing Tang, piano
2015
Erin McMullen, mezzo-soprano
Tiezheng Shen, viola
Christine Yi, alto saxophone
Nino Bakradze, piano
2014
Humberto Borboa Beltrán, tenor
Natalia Duarte, viola
Trevor Barroero, percussion
Jinny Huh, piano
2013
Emily Spirk, mezzo-soprano
Evgeniya Belinskaya, violin
Matt Viesca, euphonium
Chien-I Yang, piano
2012
Kyongyun Park, soprano
Lauren Hayes, harp
Alex van Duuren, trombone
Chia-Chun Ko, piano
2011
Greg Guenther, baritone
Orquídea Guandique, viola
Brian Hicks, tenor saxophone
Elena Miraztchiyska, piano
2010
Robyn Rocklein, mezzo-soprano
Garrick Woods, violoncello
Jonathan Wintringham, saxophone
Kyung Lee, piano
2009
Seth Kershisnik, bass baritone
Amber Reed, viola
Tori Hauk, flute
Rouzbeh Tebyanian, piano
2008
Nathan Krueger, baritone
Yeon Jin Kim, violin
Daniel Puccio, saxophone
James Stopher, piano
2007
Christi Amonson, soprano
Heidi Tims, harp
Martin Patfield, trumpet
Miroslava Panayotova, piano
2006
Heather Ribblett, soprano
Wayne Shen, violin
Pablo Rosas Cabrera, flute
Thomas Azar, piano
2005
Maureen Papovich, soprano
Rebekah Butler, violin
Christopher Habeeb-Louks, marimba
Yelizaveta Beriyeva, piano
2004
Martina Chylikova, mezzo-soprano
Melissa Meléndez, viola
Kara Yeater, clarinet
Sarah Wu, piano
2003
Todd Strange, tenor
Jared Scott, cello
Matt Jacklin, marimba
Devin Wiley, piano
2002
Kimberly Hubartt, soprano
Erin Veale, violin
Lisa Timm, bassoon
Aryo Wicaksono, piano
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