Violinist Joshua Hong and harpist Olivia Kim present a program of virtuosic solos and duets titled “Pas de deux: An Evening of Franco-Belgian Music for Few or Many Strings,” Friday September 23, at 8 p.m. Borrowing the French ballet term for a dance duet, the unusual pairing of violin and harp in this “Pas de deux” will explore the music developed for these instruments in fin de siècle, end of the 19th-century, France. The concert is part of the 4th Friday series at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis (UUCA), 333 Dubois Road. Tickets are $15 at the door. See www.tinyurl.com/UUCA-concerts or call 410-266-8044 (Monday through Thursday) for more information.
Hong and Kim’s Pas de deux will delve into a rich palette of French music for strings, from the Impressionist colors of Debussy and Cras to the lush Neo-Romanticism of Renié and the striking modernism of Milhaud. The program also presents two grand showpieces composed by legendary Belgian virtuosos with strong ties to the French musical world: the harpist Godefroid and the violinist Ysaÿe. A performance of Saint-Saëns’s masterful Fantasie for a duo of the two instruments closes the program.
The featured artists are graduates of Peabody Conservatory. Joshua Hong is an award-winning conductor and multi-instrumentalist and is in high demand as a chamber and orchestral violinist, collaborative pianist, educator, and guest conductor. He has made concerto appearances on piano and violin with, among others, the New West Symphony and Thousand Oaks Philharmonic, and currently serves as music director of the Innovative Occasional Symphony and assistant conductor of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. He has a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Conservatory and a degree in violin performance from the Juilliard School. Hong is a founding member of the Atlas Quartet, winners of Peabody Institute’s Yale Gordon Chamber Fellowship and semi-finalists in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Olivia Kim, an international harpist, has won in the ENKOR International Music Competition, the Great Composers Competition, and the Midwest Harp Competition. She was a featured soloist with the League of Astonishing Strings on a tour through the major cities of China in 2014 and has performed in Seoul, South Korea. Kim has served as principal harpist of the Peabody Wind Ensemble, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Concert Orchestra, and Occasional Symphony. She is currently on the faculty of Peabody’s HarpAdventures program.
The September 23 concert is part of the UUCA 4th Friday concert series, now in its third year. Individual tickets are $15, or a Friday Five Pack (five tickets for the price of four) is available for $60, at the door. The next concert in the series will take place Friday, October 28, and feature the Unified Jazz Ensemble. See www.tinyurl.com/UUCA-concerts or call 410-266-8044 Monday through Thursday for future programming.
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