《Echoes of Destiny》Violin and Piano Duo Concert

Destiny always leaves echoing sounds when least expected.

From the profound contemplation of the Viennese Classical school to Taiwanese composers' exploration of cultural sounds; from the life will in dazzling virtuosity to the endless lyrical sentiment of the Romantic period, this concert will unfold a musical journey across time and culture through the works of four composers: Beethoven, Ma Shui-Lung, Paganini, and Schubert.

Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 10 is an important representative of his late chamber music, displaying balance and depth after life's trials. Ma Shui-Lung's Violin Sonata is based on sound thinking derived from the fixed tuning of the pipa, blending Eastern modal colors with Western sonata form, presenting the composer's early exploration of a personal musical language. Selected pieces from Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin showcase the limits of violin art with astonishing technique and boundless creativity. Schubert's Fantasy in C Major transforms music into a long and profound echo of life with its song-like melody and freely flowing structure.

This is a dialogue about sound, memory, and the course of life. Composers from different eras and cultural backgrounds, through their unique musical languages, leave their imprints of destiny. When these sounds converge on the same stage, they become a resonance spanning centuries, lingering long in the listeners' hearts.

Program｜
Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Violin, No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96

Ma Shui-Lung: Sonata for Violin and Piano

Paganini: 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1 #1,2,5,6

Schubert: Fantasy for Violin and Piano, in C Major, D. 934

Violin｜Chien Ming-yen (簡名彥)
He is the first modern Taiwanese violinist from Taiwan to be active on the international stage. As early as the 1960s, during the Juilliard String Quartet's visit to Taiwan, the late violist Raphael Hillyer discovered Chien Ming-yen's extraordinary potential. After graduating with outstanding results from the Juilliard School in New York in 1975, he obtained his Master's degree in violin performance from the same school the following year with astonishing efficiency. His performance style was highly regarded by the New York music scene at the time. He has collaborated with countless internationally renowned performers, such as David Finckle, Daniel Phillips, Mark Kaplan, Dong-Suk Kang, Lynn Chang, and Wu Han, truly a pioneer for Taiwanese violinists entering the international arena.

During his time in the United States, he studied under and was invited to serve as a teaching assistant for many years for two 20th-century American violin giants, Ivan Galamian and Albert Markov. He studied chamber music under the Juilliard String Quartet, Lenox String Quartet, Felix Galimier, Lilian Fuchs, William Lincer, and Josef Gingold. Born into a family of doctors, he could not forget medicine and entered the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in 1983 to complete basic medical science courses, fulfilling a long-cherished wish.

In 1986, at the invitation of Ma Shui-Lung, then Dean of Academic Affairs at the National Institute of the Arts (predecessor of the current National Taipei University of the Arts), he returned to Taiwan to teach, taking on the important task of nurturing a new generation of violinists. Many internationally renowned violinists or concertmasters and string players of major symphony orchestras have been deeply influenced by him.

In recent years, Professor Chien Ming-yen has often delved into the interrelationship between skeletal and muscular systems during violin playing from a medical perspective, and has dedicated himself to research on injuries caused by misuse and overuse of muscles. In February 1994, he was invited to give a featured lecture titled "A Study of Violin Shoulder" at the 1994 International Conference on Ergonomics and Health, organized by the Ergonomics Society of Taiwan, with the theme "Safety and Health." The lecture explained how, from the perspectives of kinesiology and sports medicine, he realized how to break through common blind spots in violin performance and practice, and clarified the traditional misconception often clung to by string players: "No pain, no gain!"

After returning to Taiwan following twenty years abroad, he tirelessly sought new breakthroughs and sought instruction from conductor and violinist Professor Lin Ke-chang (林克昌) and French violin master Gerard Poulet. His life's work, synthesizing his learning from various schools, Exploring Fingering and Left Thumb Usage through Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices, Op. 1, further confirms his insistence on "humanized performance," allowing music lovers to see how a performer extends and expands the life and scope of performance.

Piano｜Yamamoto Mika (山本彌香)
Started learning piano at age 3. Graduated from the famous Hyogo Prefectural Nishinomiya High School Music Department and Toho Gakuen University Faculty of Music in Japan, then went to Germany for further study, studying at the Nuremberg University of Music.