about this event
Accompanied by Irena Radić on piano
Julia comments on her choice of programme:
We begin our recital with one of Mozart’s most popular sonatas for violin and piano, which was one of the first works he wrote when he arrived in Vienna in 1781.
This is followed by a set of short pieces by Debussy and Lili Boulanger.
The works by Debussy were all originally written for solo piano but have been arranged for violin and piano by various composers, with Debussy himself arranging Minstrels.
The influence of Debussy’s Impressionist style can also be heard in Lili Boulanger’s beautiful and delicately coloured Deux Morceaux.
In the second half, we have decided to pair two works by Prokofiev and Stravinsky, who both spent the early part of their career in Paris.
Prokofiev’s Five Melodies is an arrangement of his Songs Without Words, originally for voice and piano. He dedicates each movement to a violinist - No.1,3, 4 to Pawel Kochanski (for whom he made this arrangement), No.2 to Cecilia Hansen and No.5 to Joseph Szigeti.
The final piece in our programme is music arranged from Stravinsky's ballet ‘The Fairy’s Kiss’, which is in turn his arrangement of music by Tchaikovsky; many of which were songs and piano sketches. It is always a unique and exciting challenge to find all the nuances which bring an orchestral transcription to life.
Julia Liang currently holds the John E Mortimer 1st Violin fellowship with the Philharmonia Orchestra. She completed her Masters degree as a scholar at the Royal College of Music supported by a Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award, studying with Dr. Felix Andrievsky and Sasha Rozhdestvensky. In 2004, she commenced her studies at The Purcell School of Music on a full scholarship funded by the Government’s Music and Dance Scheme.
She has most recently performed at an MMSF Young Artists’ recital at the Royal Festival Hall. A keen orchestral player, Julia has enjoyed being a member of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival’s Orchestral Academy in 2018 where she appeared at many of Germany’s major venues. Julia has participated in masterclasses with internationally renowned artists such as Pavel Vernikov, Lewis Kaplan and Zvi Zeitlin.
Julia plays on a violin made for her by Patrick Robin.
British pianist Irena Radić is currently studying with Dina Parakhina for her Master of Performance degree as a scholar at the Royal College of Music, London. She is also generously supported by the St Marylebone Educational Foundation, and is a Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award Holder and a Philharmonia MMSF Piano Fellow. She holds a First Class Bachelor of Music degree from the RCM, having studied with Niel Immelman.
Programme:
W.A. Mozart Sonata for Violin & Piano No.24 in F major K376
Claude Debussy The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
La plus que lente
Clair de lune
Minstrels from Preludes Book 1
Lili Boulanger Deux Morceaux
i) Nocturne
ii) Cortège
Interval
Sergei Prokofiev Five Melodies
Igor Stravinsky Divertimento