The School of Music joins with the Seattle Flute Society (SFS) for its Flute Celebration Day, featuring Professor Zhao Rong “Peter" Chen, School of Music alumnus and faculty member at China Conservatory of Music and other highly regarded institutions throughout China. His performance is followed by additional performances from the Seattle Flute Society Flute Choir and other SFS members. With pianists Robin McCabe, Yue Li, and October Chen.
Program
W.A. Mozart: Rondo in D Major
Robin McCabe, piano
Chinese Music
Songs on Fishing Boats at Dusk
On the Prairies of Inner Mongolia
Yue Li, piano
W.A. Mozart - Piano Sonata in C, K. 545, Allegro
October Chen, piano
Vladamir Tsybin - Concert Allegro No. 3
Yue Li, piano
Tan Mizi: Flute And Drum Under The Setting Sun
unaccompanied flute solo
Georges Hüe - Fantaisie
with Seattle Flute Society Flute Ensemble (Sandra Saathoff, conductor)
Artist Biography
Zhao-Rong Chen
Zhao-Rong Chen currently serves as Professor of flute at the China Conservatory of Music. He also teaches at Tianjin Conservatory of Music and the School of Arts of Renmin University of China. He is the first mainland Chinese flutist to receive a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in the USA. After graduating from the University of Bridgeport, he received a Master of Music degree from Yale University and a Doctor of Music Arts from the University of Washington. He is Guest Flute Professor at Yunnan Arts University and serves as deputy Secretary General of the China Flute Association. While pursuing his dream as a flutist in the USA, Chen studied with Yale University's renowned Ransom Wilson, American flute soloist Robert Stallman, the Hartt School flute professor John Wion, the University of Washington’s flute professor Donna Shin and Dr. Zart Dombourian-Ebay, University of Bridgeport flute professor Barbara Siesel, and others. Chen has performed in the world's most prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall in New York, Woolsey Hall and Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University, and Musical Hall at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.
Yue Li
Yue Li is a member of the piano faculty at the Conducting Department of the China Conservatory of Music. In 2008 she entered the undergraduate program of the Central Conservatory of Music as a student of Professor Qifang Li ultimately receiving a master's degree in piano performance. Yue Li has won several competitions including first place in the Jilin Province Youth Piano Competition in 2000, the gold medal in the China Art New Star Selection Competition in 2001, and the Outstanding Performance Award at the Milan International Piano Art Festival in 2009. In 2013, she won the gold medal and the Outstanding Art Instructor Award in the Nanning International Flute Competition. She also performed a solo piece at the Chopin Birthday Concert at the Zhongshan Concert Hall in 2010 as well as a solo piece at the Liszt Birthday Concert at the Zhongshan Concert Hall in 2011. Since 2013, she has been a full-time piano accompanist for the flute teaching and research department of Professor Tongde Zhu of the Central Conservatory of Music. She is widely sought after as a piano accompanist. In 2014, she served as accompanist at the Beijing International Flute Art Festival. In 2017, she was invited to participate in the Singapore International Flute Art Festival as a piano accompanist. She performed as piano accompanist at the Osaka and Kobe Music Art Festivals in Japan in 2023. In January 2024, she served as piano accompanist at the 3rd International Flute Art Festival in South Korea. Yue Li has served as a full-time piano instructor at the Conducting Department of the China Conservatory of Music since 2018.
October Chen
October Chen, age 7, is a first-grade student at the Beijing Zhong-Guan-Cun Primary School. She began piano lessons at the age of four under the tutelage of her mother Yue Li. She won first place at the 3rd Vancouver International Piano Competition & Vancouver International Piano Festival 2024 and first place at the 30th Johannes Brahms International Music Competition Children's Competition 2024 in Beijing.