Inspired by The Huntington's Chinese Garden, the program promotes an understanding of Chinese culture through the arts.
SAN MARINO, Calif. — The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens has named internationally acclaimed violinist Cho-Liang Lin as its artist-in-residence for 2015. The musical residency is presented under the auspices of the Cheng Family Visiting Artist Program, established at The Huntington in 2014 to promote an understanding of Chinese culture through the visual and performing arts. Pipa virtuoso Wu Man was last year's inaugural visiting artist.
As part of his residency, Lin will present a series of public events at The Huntington designed to introduce Chinese music in the modern context, with a particular focus on how Chinese music is expressed through, or composed for, Western instruments.
The visiting artist program was inspired in part by The Huntington's Chinese Garden, Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance. The garden's beautiful lakeside performance space, the Clear and Transcendent pavilion, is designed for concerts and related programs.
"It will be a very great privilege to have Cho-Liang Lin join us here at The Huntington this year," said Duncan Campbell, the June and Simon K. C. Li Director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies at The Huntington and Curator of the Chinese Garden. "As a musician, Mr. Lin embodies the excitement and joy that results when the cultures and traditions of the world come into contact with each other, to then merge and enliven each other. We think of our garden here as serving something of the same purpose; how wonderful to think that we are soon to be able to listen to him playing for us here."
Born in Taiwan in 1960, Lin began playing violin when he was only five years old. He traveled alone to Australia at age 12 to continue his studies and then to the U.S., where he made his public debut at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City at the age of 19. With a concert career spanning nearly 30 years, Lin has performed as a soloist with major orchestras around the world, from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. As an advocate for contemporary music, Lin has enjoyed collaborations with composers such as Tan Dun, John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lalo Schifrin, Paul Schoenfield, Bright Sheng, and Joan Tower. His discography includes more than 20 recordings.
Lin is currently music director of the La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest and artistic director of the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. In addition, he is a member of the faculty at the Juilliard School and is professor of violin at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston.
Programs scheduled during Lin's Huntington residency include a free public lecture and performance on April 9, accompanied by pianist Ayke Agus, exploring the work of Chinese composers in Western orchestration. On May 1, Lin will give a concert highlighting contemporary Chinese composers, with a program featuring solo violin, string quartet, and traditional pipa. Wu Man will join him as guest artist on the pipa. The concert will be held in the Chinese Garden's Clear and Transcendent pavilion. Tickets and program details for both events are available at brownpapertickets.com or 800-838-3006.
Lin will also lead an outreach program for music students at Esteban Torres High School in Los Angeles, one of The Huntington's educational partners.
The visiting artist program is generously endowed by the Cheng Family Foundation based in Pasadena.
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Contacts
Lisa Blackburn, 626-405-2140, lblackburn@huntington.org
Thea M. Page, 626-405-2260, tpage@huntington.org
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