Xiang Yu

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The Artist Diploma program of New England Conservatory is designed to offer a small number of especially gifted performers the opportunity to deepen and challenge their artistry, broaden their musical perspective, and explore areas of musical, personal, and professional growth, free from the typical responsibilities of academic and professional life.The two-year program distinguishes itself through a combination of mentorship, study, performance opportunities, and artist retreat, and takes advantage of the full breadth of educational and musical resources that NEC, and the extended NEC community, are uniquely able to provide.

Tonight violinist Xiang Yu '12, '14 A.D., a student of Donald Weilerstein, presents the first of two Artist Diploma recitals with the pianist Mei Rui. His program includes touchstones of the violinist's art including the Bach Chaconne, Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata, Chausson Poeme, and Sarasate Habanera.

In the video clip at the top of this page, Xiang Yu chats with radio host Cathy Fuller '82, '88 M.M., host of WGBH radio's "Drive Time Live," and performs Massenet's Meditation from Thaïs. Find the full, half-hour clip (audio only), including Xiang's performance of the Bach chaconne from his Jordan Hall program, here.

Biographies

Xiang Yu, violin

Winner of the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2010, violinist Xiang Yu is regarded as one of today’s most talented and creative young violinists.. His astonishing technique, distinctive sound, and exceptional musicality have won him consistent critical acclaim (the Strad, String magazine, Boston Globe,) and enthusiastic audience response worldwide for his solo recitals, orchestral engagements, and chamber music performances.

In addition to winning the Menuhin Competition, including the Bach Prize and Audience prize, Xiang also won Second Prize in the Wieniawski International Violin Competition (2006) as the youngest prize winner; Third Prize in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (2011); Second Prize and the Best Commissioned Work Prize in the 25th Irving M. Klein International String Competition;and First Prize and the Best Chamber Music Performance Prize of the Baden-Württemberg International Music Competition (2005).

Last season, Xiang made his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, captivating audiences with playing that combines passion and purity of interpretation. He also appeared as a soloist with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Young-Euro Classic Orchestra, and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

As an active recitalist, Xiang has performed more than 20 concerts in venues throughout the world, including Konzerthaus Berlin (Germany), Shanghai Grand Theatre, National Center For The Performing Arts (China), Wienawski Hall (Poland), the Grand Theatre of Calgary (Canada), Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), Oslo Opera House & Troldsalen Bergen (Norway), Auckland Town Hall (New Zealand), Louvre Museum Auditorium (France), Bennett-Gordon Hall, Heinz Hall, and Jordan Hall (USA).

Xiang is also an enthusiastic chamber musician. Since the age of fourteen, he has regularly performed in  chamber music concerts in China with repertoire ranging from Joseph Haydn to Alfred Schnittke. His Xiang Quartet not only won the First Prize in the  Bode Cup Chamber Music Competition, but also premiered many contemporary chamber music masterpieces in China, including Ullmann’s String Quartet No.3 and Hartmann’s String Quartet No.1.

Xiang has been invited to numerous world-renowned summer festivals such as Kronberg Academy (Germany), Verbier Academy(Switzerland), Yellow Barn Festival(USA), Bergen Festival (Norway), Perlman Chamber Music Program (USA), Morningside Music Bridge(Canada), and the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival(USA). He has collaborated with such artists as Walter Levin, Zakhar Bron, Ana Chumachenco, Mihaela Martin, Pamela Frank, Ida Kavafian, Igor Ozim, Frans Helmerson, and Christian Tetzlaff.

In 2012/13 season, Xiang will also be giving chamber music concert tours with Miriam Fried in New York, Chicago, New England, and Florida.

Born in Inner Mongolia, Xiang moved to Shanghai at the age of 11 and received his early training from violinist Qing Zheng at the Shanghai Conservatory. A recipient of NEC's Irene M. Stare Scholarship in Violin, Xiang is a candidate for NEC’s Artist Diploma as the only instrumentalist in the prestigious program. He is studying with Donald Weilerstein and Kim Kashkashian.

Mei Rui, piano

Born in Shanghai, pianist Mei Rui began her piano studies at the age of three, received her earliest training at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and gave her first solo recital in the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna with the Austrian president in attendance.  She has soloed with the Beijing Radio Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven No.3), the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestras (Mozart No.23), the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra (Rachmaninoff No.1), the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra (Brahms No.2), and Yale Symphony Orchestra (Rachmaninoff No.3), and has played solo recitals in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, New Haven, New York, San Antonio, San Francisco, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Southampton, Taiwan, Fort Worth, and Vienna.  Prior to immigrating to the U.S. at age 14, she won top prizes in numerous competitions in China, and has appeared many times on Chinese national television.  At age 12, her first piano trio was invited to tour Taiwan and Hong Kong with both Mendelssohn Trios and three Beethoven Trios, and performed at distinguished venues including the National Concert Hall in Taipei.

A magna cum laude graduate from Yale, Mei turned down a full scholarship offers from the Juilliard School in 2001 in order to pursue her passion for the sciences.  She was admitted to the highly selective 5-year BS/MM joint program at Yale College and Yale School of Music, and received degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (2005), followed by a Masters degree (2006) and an Artist Diploma (2007) with Claude Frank and Peter Frankl. Additionally, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (2011) in Piano Performance from Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Gil Kalish. Her other influential mentors include Phillip Kawin, Jerome Lowenthal, and Robert McDonald.  Equally active as a soloist and a chamber musician, she has been invited to perform at the Ravinia Steans Institute, Van Cliburn Institute, Music Academy of the West, The Perlman Festival, Taos, and Yellowbarn.

A passionate educator, Mei taught as a teaching fellow at Yale College and Yale School of Music from 2005 to 2007 in piano, music theory, ear training, and organic chemistry lab. Since September 2008, she was a visiting assistant professor at the City University of New York, where she lectured in both organic and general chemistry to large classes of premed freshmen and sophomores at the Sophie Davis Biomedical School. She is also dedicated piano teacher to over 40 private students, many of whom have performed in Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall (Weill) as competition winners.

Scholarships and prizes include the Van Gelder Memorial Award, the McDermett Scholarship, the Lowenthal Fellowship, top prizes in the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition in 2001, the William Waite Concerto Competition in 2003, the Yale Friends of Music Recital Competition, the Yale Chamber Music Celebration, the Kingsville International Competition, the Kosciusko Chopin International Competition, the San Antonio International Piano Competition, and the Stony Brook Concerto Competition. She was also the recipient of the prestigious Joseph Selden Memorial Award for excellence in the Arts, the Sheffield Scientific Scholarship, the Bruce Simonds Scholarship, and the George W. Miles Scholarship as a student at Yale.