USC Symphony Concert March 26

Victor Zeyu
Zeyu Victor Li

 

At the age of 16, Zeyu Victor Li was already wowing Columbia patrons of the university’s premier symphony orchestra. A Free Times reviewer wrote a glowing review of that 2013 concert – “Thrilling, bright, incredibly precise, energetic and athletic. Zeyu’s technique, the precision, pitch accuracy and musical delivery were astonishing.”

The prodigy returns to the Koger stage on Thursday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. to play Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor with the USC Symphony Orchestra, led by Maestro Donald Portnoy. Back by popular demand, the now 18-year-old Chinese violin virtuoso is quickly building an international reputation as one of the most prodigiously gifted young concert soloists to emerge in recent years – praised for his technical mastery, exuberance and calm confidence. Violin virtuoso Pinchas Zukerman called him a genius with a bright future.

Born in Huaunan City, in China, Zeyu Victor Li is a student of respected pedagogue Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music – and is a recent prize winner at the Montreal International Violin Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, in New York.

He will play Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 on the March concert. The concerto is more conventional than the composer’s early bold compositions and begins with a melody related to traditional Russian folk music. About the work, Prokofiev wrote, “The number of places in which I wrote the Concerto shows the kind of nomadic concert-tour life I led then. The main theme of the 1st movement was written in Paris, the first theme of the 2nd movement at Voronezh, the orchestration was finished in Baku and the premiere was given in Madrid.”

This concert also features some of the University of South Carolina School of Music’s top students in solo roles – the winners of the 2014-2015 USC Concerto-Aria Competition. The USC Symphony Orchestra sponsors the annual competition for USC students studying applied music on the Columbia campus.

Levi Cull, timpani, plays Raise the Roof for Timpani and Orchestra by Michael Daugherty; Cera Finney, voice, will sing Donizetti’s “O mio Fernando” from La Favorita; John Siarris, voice, will sing  Wagner’s “O du mein holder Abendstern” from Tannhäuser; and Susan Zhang, piano, plays Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in Eb Flat Major.

 

Tickets on sale now

$30 general public; senior citizens, $25 USC faculty and staff; $8 students. Capitol Tickets 803-251-2222 capitoltickets.com or Koger Box Office, corner of Greene and Park Streets.

Coming up next on April 21 is the Berlioz Requiem with guest artist, tenor Christian Sebek.

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What Jasper Said is the blogging arm of Jasper – The Word on Columbia Arts, a new written-word oriented arts magazine that serves artists and arts lovers in the Columbia, SC area and its environs in four ways: Via Print Media – Jasper is a bi-monthly magazine, releasing in print six times per year in September, November, January, March, May & July, on the 15th of each month. Jasper covers the latest in theatre and dance, visual arts, literary arts, music, and film as well as arts events and happenings; Via Website – Jasper is an interactive website complete with a visual arts gallery, messages from Jasper, an arts events calendar that is updated several times daily, bite-sized stories on arts events, guest editorials, local music, dance & theatre videos, community surveys, and more; Via Blog – What Jasper Said -- you're reading this now -- is a daily blog featuring a rotating schedule of bloggers from the Jasper staff as well as guest bloggers from throughout the arts community; Via Twitter – Jasper Advises is a method of updating the arts community on arts events, as they happen, with more than a half dozen active tweeters who live, work, and play inside the arts community everyday ~ Jasper Advises keeps the arts community abreast of what not to miss, what is happening when it is happening, and where to be to experience it first hand.
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