Piano Professor Robin McCabe produces this quarterly series highlighting music by composers affected by disaporas and migration. Each performance includes a pre-concert lecture by a UW faculty member. This performance features music by Martinu, Prokofiev, Varèse, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff, performed by top UW Music students, and a pre-concert lecture by Kathie Friedman, associate professor at the UW Jackson School of International Studies.
Pre-concert lecture, Kathie Friedman, UW Jackson School of International Studies:
“Love the Stranger in Your Land as Yourself: In Defense of Immigration”
Pre-Concert Lecture: 4 pm
Concert: 4:30 pm
Program
“Scenes from Romeo and Juliet,” Opus 75.................................................. Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
The Young Juliet
The Montagues and the Capulets
Romeo Bids Juliet Farewell
Colleen Kennedy, piano
“Density 21.5” for Solo Flute .......................................................................... Edgard Varèse (1883-1965)
Gemma Goday Diaz-Carralejo
Ballade No. 4, Opus 52 ................................................................................. Frèdèric Chopin (1810-1849)
Hexin Qiao, piano
I N T E RMI S S I ON
Preludes ..............................................................................................Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-)1943)
d minor, Opus 23, No. 3
B Major, Opus 32, No. 11
g# minor, Opus 32, No. 12
a minor, Opus 32, No. 8
Nicholas Tagab, piano
Sonata No. 1 for Flute and Piano ............................................................... Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
Allegro moderato
Adagio
Allegro poco moderato
Gemma Goday Diaz-Carralejo, flute; Li-Cheng Hung, piano
PERFORMER/LECTURER BIOS
KATHIE FRIEDMAN is Associate Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington. Her main area of study and research has been comparative forced migrations and immigration, particularly to the United States and the EU, with a focus on ethnic and political incorporation.
Publications include Memories of Migration: Gender, Ethnicity, and Work in the Lives of Jewish and Italian Women, New York 1870-1924; Creating and Transforming Households: the constraints of the world-economy (coauthored), “Performing Identities in the Classroom” (co-authored article); and “’On Halloween We Dressed Up Like KGB Agents’: Re-imagining Soviet Jewish Refugee Identities in America” (chapter).
Some of her research has been funded by the UW Simpson Center for the Humanities, the UW Royalty Research Fund, and the Mellon Foundation. Currently Friedman is working on two book projects tentatively titled: The Afterlife of Ethnic Cleansing: Memory, Identity, and Belonging in America’s Bosnian Refugee Diaspora; and “Becoming Political after Persecution: The Civic Engagement of Young Adults with Refugee Backgrounds.”
COLLEEN KENNEDY is a Doctoral student in the UW Piano program, where she studies with Dr. Robin McCabe. A frequent performer and collaborator, she holds an M.M. from the University of Washington.
Colleen has appeared as a soloist with the Honolulu Symphony, as well as locally with the Eastside Symphony and the Federal Way Philharmonic. In addition to performing, Colleen has a private piano studio and her students have won numerous awards in local festivals and competitions.
Previously, she served as director of the piano department at the Suzuki Institute of Seattle.
HEXIN QIAO began playing the piano at the age of 6 and gave her first solo recital at the age of ten. When she was eleven, Qiao moved from her home town Dunhua, China to Beijing, China to further her musical study. In 2004, she was accepted to Middle School Affiliated to China Conservatory of Music.
In 2010, Qiao moved to Boston, USA, where she completed her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music at New England Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Veronica Jochum. During her study at NEC, Qiao gave many solo and chamber music performances at Jordan Hall, Brown Hall and Williams Hall in Boston. She was also invited to perform annually at Goethe-Institut Boston.
As a contemporary music lover, Qiao has performed pieces by John Cage, Gyorry Ligeti and Steve Reich in Jordan Hall, Boston and Meany Hall, Seattle, among many others. Last year, Qiao won the first prize of the 2018 Bushell Concerto Competition and just performed Liszt Piano Concerto No.1 with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra in Benaroya Hall on April 6th, 2019. Qiao is currently a doctoral student at UW School of Music where she studies with Dr. Robin McCabe.
A native of Spain, now based in Seattle, flutist GEMMA GODAY is a celebrated performer specializing in both modern and historical flutes. She won both the Convention Performers and the Baroque flute masterclass competitions in connection with the 2017 National Flute Convention, and was awarded the Early Music America Summer Scholarship to attend the Berwick Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival.
She holds bachelor degrees from the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Zaragoza (Spain), the Koninklijk Conservatorium (The Hague, Netherlands), and the Universidad de Alicante (Spain), with specializations in flute performance, Baroque flute performance, and French Philology, respectively.
She holds a Master of Early Music in Baroque flute performance from the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona (Spain). Gemma has studied with Kate Clark, Wilbert Hazelzet, Marc Hantaï, Kersten McCall, and Janet See. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in woodwind performance as a student of Professor Donna Shin at the University of Washington.
A native of Taiwan, LI-CHENG HUNG is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in piano performance at the University of Washington School of Music, under the tutelage of Dr. Robin McCabe.
She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the National Taipei University of Education, and her Master of Music degree from the National Taiwan Normal University. Her past principal teachers include Chia-Chi Hsu, Ming-Hui Lin and Miyoko Lotto.
The recipient of numerous awards, Li-Cheng has been the 1st prize of the 2014 Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, which led to a solo performance in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; a top prize winner at the University of Washington Concerto Competition, and performed with the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra. She has also been invited to perform with the Burmese Orchestra at National Concert Hall in Taiwan, and received a scholarship from American Taiwanese Charity and Education Association, which also made her solo debut in Washington, D.C..
Her recent performance highlight includes a solo performance with the Seattle Chinese Orchestra. In addition to her solo repertoire achievements, Li-Cheng enjoys collaborating and is an active chamber musician. She has been the member of Trio Andromeda, and currently a teaching artist and pianist at Seattle Opera.
Seattle native NICHOLAS TAGAB began playing the piano since the age of eight, and has enjoyed it ever since. Mr. Tagab received his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Washington under the tutelage of Dr. Robin McCabe. He completed his Masters degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy in 2017 at the University of Miami, Frost School of Music, studying piano with Santiago Rodriguez, and piano pedagogy with Dr. Naoko Takao. While at UM, Mr. Tagab was a TA for the keyboard department, teaching both private and group piano lessons.
In addition to being an active piano soloist, Mr. Tagab also is an active piano collaborator. He has worked with top choral programs both at the high school and university level, including the Frost Chorale at UM. Currently, Mr. Tagab is the staff accompanist and vocal instructor at North Creek High School, helping both soloists and groups achieve high level success the past two years. This past fall, Mr. Tagab has returned to the University of Washington to study with Dr. McCabe and complete a DMA in piano performance.
Host ROBIN MCCABE has established herself as one of America’s most communicative and persuasive artists. McCabe’s musical sensibilities have delighted audiences across the United States, Europe, Canada and in ten concert tours of the Far East. The United States Department of State sponsored her two South American tours, which were triumphs both artistically and diplomatically. As noted by the New York Times, “What Ms. McCabe has that raises her playing to such a special level is a strong lyric instinct and confidence in its ability to reach and touch the listener.”
McCabe earned her bachelor of music degree summa cum laude at the University of Washington School of Music, where she studied with Béla Siki, and her master’s and doctorate degrees at the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied with Rudolf Firkusny. Seattle teacher Willard Schultz is an important mentor from her high school years. McCabe joined the Juilliard faculty in 1978, then returned to the UW in 1987 to accept a position on the piano faculty. In 1994 McCabe was appointed Director of the School of Music, a position she held until 2009.
With colleague Craig Sheppard, she launched the highly successful Seattle Piano Institute, an intense summer “immersion experience” for gifted classical pianists. The winner of numerous prizes and awards, including the International Concert Artists Guild Competition and a Rockefeller Foundation grant, McCabe was the subject of a New Yorker magazine profile, “Pianist’s Progress,” later expanded into a book of the same title.
In 1995 McCabe presented the annual faculty lecture — a concert with commentary — at the University of Washington. She is the first professor of music in the history of the University to be awarded this lectureship. Seattle magazine selected McCabe as one of seventeen current and past University of Washington professors who have had an impact on life in the Pacific Northwest. In 2005, to celebrate its 100th year as an institution, The Juilliard School selected McCabe as one of 100 alumni from 20,000 currently living to be profiled in its centenary publication recognizing distinction and accomplishments in the international world of music, dance, and theater. Today she is a highly- sought teacher, with students from around the world seeking admission to her studio.
McCabe performs regularly throughout the United States. In October, 2018 she returned to China for recitals and master classes, including duo-piano recitals with her sister, Rachelle. McCabe appears often as an invited jurist for international piano competitions, most recently in New Orleans, San Antonio, New York City and Vancouver, Canada.