The venerated Ivry Gitlis described Gian Paolo Peloso as “a true musician, of the highest quality as a soloist and chamber music performer, and a top-class violin teacher, whose practice honors our profession and its future.” Rachel Cheung was hailed by The Dallas Morning News as “a poet, but also a dramatist” displaying “the most sophisticated and compelling music-making.” These two musicians together on stage can only be described as magical. Featuring staples of the violin repertoire by Tartini, Respighi, Debussy, and Franck, this concert will delight and wow.
Co-organizer: Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong
Program
- Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770): Sonata for Violin in G Minor The Devil’s Trill (arr. Fritz Kreisler)
- Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Sonata for Violin and Piano in B minor, P. 110
– Intermission (15 minutes) –
- Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L. 140
- Cesar Franck (1822-1890): Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major
Bios
Gian Paolo Peloso is regarded as one of the most accomplished Italian violinists. He has studied with some of the finest pedagogues of the 20th century, including the legendary Ruggiero Ricci, Viktor Tretyakov, Ivry Gitlis, Igor Ozim, Viktor Pikaisen, and Pierre Amoyal. Peloso made his debut at the age of ten under the direction of composer Luciano Berio. He has performed internationally in Europe, Asia, and the US as a soloist with orchestras, in recitals, and in chamber music concerts. He has been regularly invited to participate in the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, the Martha Argerich Festival in Switzerland, and has made appearances at the Societa dei Concerti in Milan, the Moscow International House of Music, the Singapore Sun Festival, the Archipel Festival in Geneva, the Hong Kong Musicus Fest, the Cannes Festival in France, and the Weill Recital Hall in New York. He has toured extensively with the Camerata de Lausanne and performed chamber music with Sofia Gubaidulina, Mark Lubotsky, Vladimir Mendelssohn, and Bruno Canino. Appointed Violin Professor at the Conservatory of Music of Neuchatel in Switzerland, he has recorded sonatas by Saint-Saens and Poulenc for the National Swiss Radio. Peloso is a Sony Classical artist, and has recorded in New York Sonatas by Respighi Busoni, and Faure (complete Sonatas) with pianist Bruno Canino. Peloso is presently on faculty at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and plays a Matteo Goffriller violin of 1710.
Pianist Rachel Cheung has appeared with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Sydney Symphony, London Chamber, and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, collaborating with conductors including Edo de Waart, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jaap van Zweden, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Mark Elder, Christopher Warren-Green, and Nicholas McGegan. Rachel is also interested in play-conducting; following her Prix du Jury win at the 2017 Play-Direct Academy for her performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, she play-conducted the same concerto with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in March 2019. She was also invited to return to the Play-Direct Academy in 2019 as a member of the jury. She has performed in recital at the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Steinway Hall in London, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Richmond Hill Centre for Performing Arts in Toronto, the Philharmonie de Paris, and in other cities across the United States, Europe, and Asia. As an active chamber musician, Rachel has worked with world-renowned musicians including violinists Latica Honda-Rosenberg and Ning Feng, violist Vladimir Mendelssohn, cellists Jan-Erik Gustafasson and Trey Lee, mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänsen, clarinetist Michel Lethiec, the Brentano String Quartet, and Quatuor Leonis. She also enjoys community residencies and outreach events, which allow her to make a deeper connection with audiences and share her passion of storytelling through music.