In anticipation of Hong-Mei Xiao’s CD release of English Works for Viola and Orchestra with the Budapest Symphony, “Tucson Lifestyle” magazine featured her on the cover of their September issue. Her new album, which will be released by Delos in November, showcases three distinctive but somewhat related works by English composers. Each piece having been created during that fertile period between the World Wars. Anchoring the program is William Walton’s Viola Concerto, one of the most important concertos in the viola repertoire. This new release will feature the rarely performed and recorded 1929 version of the Concerto. Also on the recording will be Arnold Bax’s Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra, a rarely performed 1920 piece bears the imprint of the Emerald Isle. The CD will also include the virtuosic and delightful Suite for Viola and Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Hong-Mei Xiao is a Fred Fox School of Music Professor of Viola.
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