Michelle Xiao You
Michelle Xiao You, violinist, a native of Shanghai, China, began her studies with her father and continued studying with professors Situ and Z.L. Wang at the Central Conservatory of music in Beijing. After coming to the U.S., Ms. You furthered her studies with the legendary Dorothy Delay and Kurt Sassmanshaus at the University of Cincinnati. A multiple competition winner, Ms. You has been featured as a guest soloist with the Houston Symphony, the BBC Northern Symphony (England), and the Central Philharmonic of China. Last season she performed the Mendelssohn Concerto for Violin with the Apollo and Merced Symphonies as well as the Sacramento Philharmonic. Of the latter performance The Sacramento Bee proclaimed. ”The biggest artistic statement of the evening was made by violinist Michelle Xiao You, whose fiery approach enlivened a long concert evening. . . . You played brashly, with a clear tone. In the first movement, she sparkled on Mendelssohn’s cadenzas, and she gave the arpeggios and sliding notes a colorful, three-dimensional air. . . . throughout there was an enticing interplay between soloist and woodwinds.”
Steven Vanhauwert
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times for his "impressive clarity, sense of structure and monster technique", Steven Vanhauwaert has garnered a wide array of accolades, amongst which the Maurice Lefranc award, the Rotary Prize, the Galiot Prize and the USC Concerto Competition. In October 2004 he won the Grand Prize at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, which enabled him to tour through the US and Hungary. Steven performs frequently throughout Europe and the US, both solo as in chamber music groups. His performances are broadcast regularly on K-MZT, K-CSN, K-USC, WHKB, W-UOT, K-UAT and KLARA. Mr. Vanhauwaert studied in Brussels at the Royal Conservatory with Boyan Vodenitcharov. He continued his musical development in Los Angeles with professors Kevin Fitz-Gerald, James Bonn and John Perry at the USC Thornton School of Music.
He has appeared in major venues with orchestras such as the Pacific Symphony, the Flemish Symphony, the USC Symphony, Collegium Instrumentale, the Concord Jazz Ensemble, the Auburn Symphony, the Eastern Sierra Chamber Orchestra and Prima la Musica, amongst others. His China solo debut tour in June 2010 was received with great critical acclaim and lead to an immediate reinvitation for the next season.
Richard Cionco
The January 1997 artist/educator:
Richard Cionco, Professor of Piano, California State University, Sacramento, CA USA
Pianist Richard Cionco, praised by Donal Henahan of the New York Times for his "sensitive pianism", first performed as soloist with orchestra at age nine, and has since performed with many orchestras including the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, the Oakland Civic Symphony, and with the Seijo Symphony of Tokyo in a Washington, D.C. concert that commemorated Japan's admission to the United Nations. A New Mexico native, he has returned to New Mexico many times to perform as soloist with the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra and was featured with the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra in Oklahoma as a winner in the Louise D. McMahon International Music Competition. In Europe he has performed concerti with the Czech State Chamber Orchestra and in Prague's Smetana Hall with the North Bohemian Philharmonic Orchestra as a winner in the Prague Spring International Music Competition. Most recently, he performed Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 on a seven-concert tour of Japan and Taiwan with the California Youth Symphony; the performance in Osaka is presently being produced for a LIVE and unedited CD recording which will be released in the Fall of 1996.
He has performed in recital in nearly every major U.S. city. His recent performances of Liszt's 12 Transcendental Etudes have brought him rave reviews. Ed Roberts of the Washington Post wrote: "I have rarely heard as fine a piano recital as the one Richard Cionco gave on Sunday. The program was difficult and unusual. Cionco's virtuosity was impressive and he drew beautifully varied tone colors from the instrument."
