Finding Home: A Kaleidoscope of Musical Journeys – Featuring Music of Tyzen Hsiao

Date: Sunday, October 17, 2010
Time: 2 pm
Location: Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA), Finn Center
Address: 230 San Antonio Circle, Mountain View, CA
Parking: Limited on-site and street parking
Cost: Suggested donation $10

The Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) is pleased to present, in partnership with the City of Mountain View’s Performing Arts Committee and Arts Action 21, a piano and chamber music concert – “Finding Home: A Kaleidoscope of Musical Journeys” – on Sunday, October 17 at 2 pm. The concert is the second event in Sunday Arts Live, a performance series celebrating National Arts and Humanities Month in October 2010.

In keeping with CSMA’s commitment to providing diverse, multi-cultural experiences to all, the concert will feature the music of artists in search of national identity, including Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao, Bedrich Smetana, Frederic Chopin, Edvard Grieg and Antonin Dvorak. The program will include two rarely performed works by Hsiao – “The Formosa Trio” for piano trio and “Memories of Home” for solo piano.

The event will feature Taiwanese-American pianist Patricia Cheng, joined by violinist Po-Wei Lai and cellist Amy Hsieh, both of whom are natives of Taiwan. Amy Hsieh is a CSMA faculty member.

The concert is a special project that Cheng designed as part of her experience in 1stACT Silicon Valley’s Multicultural Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) in 2009. MALI is an arts leadership training program that provides formal and informal learning and networking opportunities to participants who are selected in a regional competitive process.

Cheng earned a master’s degree in 2005 from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Paul Hersh. She is an active piano soloist and chamber musician who has performed in recitals and festivals throughout the United States and abroad. Her recent appearances in the San Francisco Bay Area include performances at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, Stanford University, the Palo Alto Art Center and Foothill College. She is also a recognized leader in arts advocacy, having served as a member of the City of Mountain View’s Performing Arts Committee since 2003 and as Chair since 2006.

Tyzen Hsiao was born in 1938, and currently resides in the Los Angeles area. During the course of his career, he has been instrumental in raising awareness of Taiwanese music and musicians in the United States. In 1989, he received the Humanities Award from the Taiwanese American Foundation for his contributions to Taiwanese music. He has also been awarded Taiwan’s National Art Prize (2004), the Wu Sam-lien Musical Contribution Award (2005) and the National Cultural Award (2009). Hsiao has been referred to as the “Taiwanese Rachmaninoff” due to the romantic nature of much of his work.

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