Long time colleagues and performers John Fadial, violin, and Chi-Chen Wu, piano, will take the Buchanan Center recital hall stage at 7:30 p.m. tonight to perform “Sonatas for Violin and Piano” to kick off this semester’s Faculty Recital Series.
Over the centuries, Mozart, Beethoven and many other great composers have written duos for the violin and piano. Fadial and Wu are no stranger to the two instruments chemistry and have mastered their own crafts to make multiple beautiful recitals.
“Violin is a very lyrical singing instrument and it does go down in a low register, but our low register on the violin is right in the middle of the piano range,” Fadial said. “The piano can play a lot lower and play out a lot of filled out harmonies and beautiful textures, so the idea of having one instrument that can play out all of those textures and another one that can sing above it, I think makes that duo very cohesive and a nice thing to listen to.”
The violin-piano duo will be performing Gabriel Fauré’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A major, Op. 13” and César Franck’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major.” Fadial and Wu’s goal for the recital is to make the centuries-old music sound transparent with modern instruments while making the audience hear all possibilities in terms of color and tone through the two pieces.
Specializing in Western classical music, the duo’s heart lives in Europe where this music was created and perfected. Fadial even had the opportunity to play in the hall in France where these pieces were written.
“I personally really enjoy my performance experiences in Europe,” Wu said. “I feel the cultural atmosphere and the inspiration from seeing the artwork there really helps me make great music.”
Wu came to the United State for graduate school from Taiwan in 1999 to study with some of the nation’s most celebrated pianists. Receiving her fair share of medals and press from around the world, Wu has collaborated with such well-known chamber musicians as Takács String Quartet and the Juilliard String Quartet and has performed solo as well.
Wu teaches piano courses at the University of Wyoming and coordinates collaborative piano assignments for the Department of Music. Her students have been prizewinners in multiple competitions, including the northwest division of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) competition and have been accepted for graduate study to the Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, McGill University, Conservatoire de Paris and many other institutions.
UW professor of violin Fadial has toured internationally and performed as a chamber musician and soloist worldwide. He was a semifinalist for the Grammy Award for best Chamber Music Performance in 2007, and has earned numerous awards and prizes. Also, he has been the concertmaster of the North Carolina Opera, Colorado Festival, Menuhin Festival Orchestra of Saumur, Heidelberg Schloss-Spiele, Eastern Music Festival and Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.
Fadial’s students, including four MTNA national finalists, have taught master classes around the world and won competitions and positions around the United States.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at 307-766-2160 or email kirsik@uwyo.edu.
