On Saturday, February 25, and Sunday, February 26, join the UW Taiwan Studies Arts & Culture Program and the Seattle Festival Orchestra for an in-person music concert, Triumph, at Town Hall Seattle. The concert will start with a bang, featuring the US Premiere of Taiwanese composer Ching-Mei Lin‘s Paean for Warrior and Love, inspired and adapted from songs of Taiwan’s Indigenous Rukai (Drekay). Moving to the old masters, you will hear Beethoven’s glorious Symphony No. 7 in A major. To finish out the concert, the young emerging Taiwanese American pianist Karina Tseng (鄭佳莉) will bring us Rachmaninoff’s powerful Piano Concerto No. 2. With this concert, the orchestra celebrates not only triumphant music but also some of the great gifts that Taiwan continues to offer classical music.
Bring the kids! A Family-friendly performance that welcomes the noises necessary for kids to enjoy music is scheduled on Saturday, February 25. The shortened program (100-min total) will feature selections from all three pieces, keeping the duration short enough for the young ones in your family. There will also be a chat/Q&A with the pianist at the conclusion of Saturday’s performance.
For the full impact of this marvelous music, join us on Sunday, February 26th for the 120-min full-length symphony production.
The UW Taiwan Studies F&F can purchase UW Educational Tickets at a discounted price through the links below. Share widely! We look forward to seeing you!
Saturday, February 25, at 2 pm PT – Family Friendly Concert (100 minutes including a 30-min Q&A)
- General Admission: https://ticketstripe.com/tickets/507085601
- Kids under 18 (under 5 – free!): https://ticketstripe.com/tickets/507085962
Sunday, February 26, at 2 pm PT – Full Program (120 minutes including intermission)
- General Admission: https://ticketstripe.com/tickets/507085606
- Kids under 18 (under 5 – free!): https://ticketstripe.com/tickets/507085963
Pianist｜Karina Tseng (鄭佳莉)
Taiwanese American pianist KARINA TSENG is a San Francisco Bay Area native currently studying in Rochester, New York at the Eastman School of Music. She has performed alongside orchestras such as the Palo Alto Philharmonic, New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, and the Golden State Youth Symphony, and played in venues including Weill-Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Leighton Hall, Merrill Auditorium, and the Mondavi Center. Karina is a top prizewinner of the Kaufman International, Arthur Fraser International, National YoungArts, Pacific Musical Society, Enkor International, Ross McKee, and Junior Steinway competitions, among others. Most recently, she was the youngest finalist at the 2023 Bösendorfer USASU International Competition and the winner of the 2022 Marian Garcia International Competition. In 2020, Karina was inducted into the distinguished MTAC (Music Teachers Association of California) Young Artist Guild, through which she is offered semi-professional recital opportunities throughout California.
Karina was chosen as an MTAC San Mateo Scholarship Winner for leadership and community service, recognized for her performances at various senior communities and benefit concerts. As an artist who cherishes connecting and engaging with her audience, she continues to build a diverse solo and chamber repertoire throughout her pianistic studies while concurrently studying business information systems with a minor in computer science as a dual degree student at the University of Rochester. She is currently a student of Alexander Kobrin and Kevin Lee Sun and previously studied with Olya Katsman and Sujeeva Hapugalle.
Composer｜LIN, Ching-Mei
Ching-Mei Lin is a Taiwanese-born composer and pianist. In her music Lin incorporates innovative and international techniques, combining small-scale dissonances with large-scale consonant structures and pentatonic modality within a chromatic pitch language. She has composed for soloists and ensembles in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Her works have been performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the YinQi Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen Orchestra, the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, the Eastman School of Music Symphony Orchestra, National Taipei University of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Contemporary Music Ensemble, the Ossia New Music Ensemble, Ju Percussion Group, the ProArt Ensemble and the Kaohsiung Chamber Chorus among others.
Lin holds a Masters of Music degree in Composition from the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY) and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). An active pianist, improviser and collaborator, Lin has composed and performed film music for two Taiwanese documentaries. She is currently Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan.
