Charles Yang + CCOHK

The two multi-talented artists will collaborate in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Piano and Violin in D minor in the original full orchestra version. Charles Yang will also perform Ravel’s Tzigane, a virtuoso masterpiece for solo violin and orchestra written in the style of a Hungarian rhapsody. On the second half of the programme, Vahan Mardirossian takes up the orchestral baton in Copland’s Appalachian Spring: Suite, a musical depiction of rural American life. Charles Yang’s electrifying vocal/instrumental arrangement of House of The Rising Sun shares a similar theme and brings the programme to a thrilling close.

Charles Yang is a highly versatile performer, crossover artist, improviser, composer and songwriter. Described by the Boston Globe as a musician who “plays classical violin with the charisma of a rock star,” he is not only confined to classical music but also highly proficient in popular music. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Charles Yang grew up in Texas where he began violin lessons with his mother Sha Zhu. He has given solo performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Walt Disney Concert Hall and has collaborated with Joshua Bell, Steve Miller, Savion Glover and Misty Copeland on a range of creative projects. He is also a member of Time for Three, a string trio that excels in performing an eclectic mix of Americana, modern pop and classical music. Time for Three’s CD, “Letters for the Future” with Xian Zhang and The Philadelphia Orchestra won the 2023 Grammy Award for “Best Classical Instrumental Solo.” As composer, Charles Yang co-wrote the score to Robin Wright’s 2021 film Land.

Born in Armenia and based in Paris, Vahan Mardirossian is currently the chief conductor of City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia in Belgium. Praised by Le Monde for his “phenomenal” piano playing, he performs as a soloist while conducting from the piano and appears as a recitalist throughout Europe and Japan. He has released several CDs as a piano soloist under the Intrada and Maestria Record labels. He is the president of the jury of the Istanbul International Piano Competition since 2015 and a conductor for the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium since 2023.