WQXR Celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
WQXR LIVE
Originally Aired: Wednesday, May 24, 2023
WQXR celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a concert in The Greene Space. Featured artists include violinist Anne Akiko Meyers who has been praised by the Los Angeles Times for her “vigorous mastery, unflinching technical skills and stylish elegance.” The evening will also feature Korean percussionist Ji Su Jung who is a 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and pianist David Fung. We’ll also have insights from comedian Ben X. Kim. The evening is hosted by two-time GRAMMY Award-winner and cellist Andrew Yee.
Credit: Photo provided by Artist
GRAMMY Award-winning cellist and composer Andrew Yee has been praised by Michael Kennedy of the London Telegraph as “spellbindingly virtuosic.” Trained at the Juilliard School, they are a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet who have released several albums to Critical acclaim including Andrew’s arrangement of Haydn’s “Seven Last Words” which thewholenote.com praised as “… easily the most satisfying string version of the work that I’ve heard.” They were the quartet-in-residence at the Met Museum in 2014, and have won the Osaka and Coleman international string quartet competitions. They co-composed a score to Wu Tsang’s film adaptation for Moby Dick; or, The Whale that was premiered with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and then in New York at the Shed by the New York Philharmonic. Both their recordings of the string quartets of Caroline Shaw, Evergreen and Orange each won a GRAMMY.
Credit: Photo provided by Guest
The Denver Post says, “Anne Akiko Meyers is the coolest thing to happen to the violin since Stradivari.” Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers performs around the world as a soloist with leading orchestras. She is also a prolific recording artists with more than 40 recordings. Meyers is a champion of contemporary composers, most recently she premiered and performed Fandango by Arturo Márquez with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at The Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall and the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City.
Credit: Photo provided by Guest
Born in South Korea, Ji Su Jung began studying marimba at age three. She has performed concertos with such leading orchestras and conductors as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with Marin Alsop, the Houston Symphony with Daniel Hege, the Aspen Festival Orchestra with Michael Stern, and many others. She is the first percussionist to receive the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Credit: Photo by Daniel Moody
Praised for his “ravishing and simply gorgeous” performances in The Washington Post, pianist David Fung is widely recognized for interpretations that are elegant and refined, yet intensely poetic and uncommonly expressive. Declared a Rising Star in BBC Music Magazine, Mr. Fung regularly appears with the world’s premier ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the San Diego Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony, as well as the major orchestras in his native country of Australia, including the Melbourne Symphony, the Queensland Symphony, and the Sydney Symphony. An incisive interpreter of Mozart and Bach, Mr. Fung has collaborated with the Israel, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Orpheus, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Credit: Photo provided by Artist
Ben X. Kim is a Brooklyn-based comedian, musician and writer. He studied improv and sketch at the Upright Citizens Brigade and has written, performed and filmed sketches for the People’s Improv Theater. He has performed in the Asian Comedy Fest and is a contributor to The Onion.
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