opening concert
Bach&​ ​Beethoven
Bach&​ ​Beethoven

Germany : Baroque and Classical

We are kicking the festival off with a HUGE splash, performing in the Drill Hall of Base 31, featuring 3 internationally renowned soloists performing famous and beloved Bach concertos. BIGLAKE is especially pleased to be presenting pianist Tony Yike Yang, one of the world’s foremost pianists of the younger generation and youngest ever prize-winner (age 16!) of the Chopin International Piano Competition. This concert will end with a rarely performed string orchestra version of Beethoven’s revolutional Symphony No. 5. This concert is one musical firecracker after another, and we promise it will rock you out of the park!

AUGUST 12 | 6:00pm

Performers

BIGLAKE String Orchestra

Soloists
Elissa Lee, violin
Trey Lee, cello**
Tony Yike Yang, piano

Violin 1 Elissa Lee, Jeremy Lap Hei Hao*, Byung Chan Lee, Hee Min Choi, Douglas Kwon

Violin 2 Aaron Schwebel, Katya Poplyansky, Clara Lee, Hyojin Sarah Kim

Viola 1 Sheila Jaffé, Annis Ma*, Emily Eng Karen Duong

Viola 2 Carolyn Blackwell, Catherine Gray, Sam Choi, Clara Nguyen Tran

Cello Trey Lee**, Leana Rutt, Drew Comstock

Double Bass Nick Bobas, Victor Lee* 

programme

• J.S. Bach Violin Concerto in E major BWV 1042
• J.C. Bach/Henri Casadesus Cello Concerto in C minor
• J.S. Bach Piano Concerto in D minor BWV 1052
• Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (chamber version)

Concert length: 2 hrs with intermission

**The performance of Trey Lee is funded by Musicus Society, with financial support from Bank of China (Hong Kong) and The Tung Foundation.

*The performance of Jeremy Hao, Annis Ma and Victor Lee is funded by Musicus Society, with financial support from Bank of China (Hong Kong) and The Tung Foundation.

TICKETS

$47 adults
$42 seniors and students
$10 children under 12

Get Tickets

WHERE

Base 31 Drill Hall (formerly Loch Sloy)
26-343 County Road 22
Picton, ON K0K 2T0
base.pecon.ca

THIS EVENT SPONSORED BY

Robert Stalker
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

19-year-old Chinese-Canadian pianist TONY YIKE YANG is emerging as one of the foremost pianists of the younger generation. As a frequent prizewinner, Yang garnered 5th Prize at the  17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition at age 16, the youngest-ever laureate of the competition.

Recently, Yang was also awarded the Jury Discretionary Award at the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where he was the youngest competitor. In previous years, Yang has won top prizes at the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition (Oberlin, 2014), the Bosendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Junior Piano Competition (Phoenix, 2013), the Hilton Head International Young Artists Piano Competition (Hilton Head, 2013), the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition (Salt Lake City, 2012), and the Canadian National Chopin Competition (Toronto, 2014).

Yang has performed extensively in Canada and the United States, and has made numerous appearances in Europe and Asia. Aside from his appearances at festivals and gala events, a few highlights include performances for Her Royal Highness Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Yang has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Sinfonietta, Toronto Festival Orchestra, and the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Academy Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has also performed at the Chopin and His Europe International Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Oberlin-Lake Como Academy, Festival de Lanaudière, Stratford Summer Music Festival, Canadian Chopin Festival, Bravo Niagara, Wintergreen Music, and the International Niagara Music Festival, among others.

Yang’s debut album, Tony Yike Yang – Chopin: Sonata B-Moll / Ballada F-Moll / Mazurki, was released in August 2016 on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute’s Blue Series. The tracks are from Yang’s live performance in the second and third stages of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in October 2015. The album includes an editorial review by the Chopin Institute noting how Yang’s extraordinary account of the Barcarolle in F sharp minor, Op. 60 captivated audiences in Poland and across the world.

Yang has been featured on many television programs, including the “Inspiration Generation” series on Global TV, where he was selected as one of six outstanding Canadian young people. In 2016, Yang was named CBC Music’s Classical Young Artist.

Yang is currently pursuing a dual-degree in Economics and Piano Performance through the Harvard University-New England Conservatory of Music Joint-Degree Program, where he studies piano with Prof. Wha Kyung Byun. In the past, he was a full-scholarship student at the Juilliard Pre-College School with Julian Martin, as well as at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music with James Anagnoson.

JUNO award winning violinist Elissa Lee has appeared as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the Boris Brott Festival Orchestra, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, l‘Orchestre de Chambre de Montréal and the Royal Conservatory of Music Orchestra. Elissa is also the first prize winner of the 23rd Eckhardt-Gramatté Strings Competition.
 
Elissa Lee was born in Toronto, Canada where she studied with Victor Danchenko at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and with Lorand Fenyves at the University of Toronto where she received a masters degree in performance. As an undergraduate she was the recipient of the prestigious Eaton Scholarship. Elissa Lee then moved to Germany to study privately with Andreas Reiner in Munich and Thomas Brandis at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. There she won second prize in the Gyarfas Competition and her graduation recital was awarded with Excellence. These studies were made possible by two Chalmers Performing Arts Training Grants from the Ontario Arts Council and a Canada Council Grant.
 
Elissa Lee has held positions as second concertmaster in both the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the WDR Sinfonie Orchester. Elissa Lee is now enjoying a busy freelance career, frequently on tour performing in the greatest concerts halls and festivals in Europe. She has performed as Concertmaster with the Rundfunk Orchester München, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the KlangVerwaltung Orchestra in Munich, and Festival Strings Luzern, and in leading positions with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Luxembourg Philhamonic and the Canadian Opera Company. She has also been a guest of world renowned Chamber of Orchestra of Europe, and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and has worked under the baton of Claudio Abaddo, Simon Rattle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink and Daniel Harding.
 
Elissa Lee has had a busy chamber music life as first violinist of the Kamareli Quartet and the Bomari String Quartet. As a chamber musician she has performed with Louie Lortie, Augustin Dumay, Anton Kuerti, Pascal Devoyon, Kevin Fitzgerald, Lawrence Lesser, and Shauna Rolston amongst others and has been a frequent participant of Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, England. With pianist Jeanie Chung she won second prize at the 2001 Caltanisetta International Chamber Music Competition and received Honorable Mention at the Vittorio Due Competition in Florence.
 
Elissa Lee joined Ensemble Made in Canada in 2010, which created a project called “MOSAÏQUE”, a musical journey through Canada. The ensemble toured “MOSAÏQUE” in an ambitious cross-Canada tour, from capital cities to remote northern areas, captivating and inspiring Canadians of all ages and backgrounds. “MOSAÏQUE” won a JUNO award for best classical album 2021”.

Hailed “a marvelous protagonist…superb cellist” by the late Lorin Maazel, a “Miracle” by Gramophone and “the excellent cellist… with enveloping richness and lyrical sensitivity” by the New York Times, TREY LEE works with esteemed conductors, composers and orchestras worldwide, such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Leonard Slatkin, Mikko Franck, Vassily Sinaisky, Yuri Bashmet, Hannu Lintu, Bright Sheng; the Chamber Orchestras of Stuttgart, Munich, London and Romanian Radio; Moscow and Trondheim Soloists ensembles; Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra Radio France, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, and Tapiola Sinfonietta among others.

Lee appears often at major venues and festivals around the world, including the Carnegie Hall, United Nations, Teatro dal Verme Milan, Beijing National Centre for Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Kuhmo, Banff, Marlboro, Seoul Spring, and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. On stage, Lee partners with many of today’s most sought-after stars such as Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto, Alexander Sitkovetsky, and most recently became a member of Canada’s leading piano quartet, Ensemble Made in Canada.

As the first Asian winner of the prestigious International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition, Lee has been featured in Financial Times, on CNN and China’s national television CCTV, and Radio Television Hong Kong’s award-winning documentary series “Outstanding Young Chinese Musicians”. Italy’s Il Corriere Della Sera heralded Lee as one of China’s classical music “Golden Boys & Girls” alongside pianists Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.

Lee has released several albums under EMI which topped the classical charts. His recent albums include Bright Sheng’s The Blazing Mirage dedicated to Lee, and The Dream of the Red Chamber Capriccio under the direction of composer Wang Liping.

As the founding Artistic Director of Musicus Society, Trey established the groundbreaking Musicus Fest in 2013. As an ambassador of UNICEF HK, he was joined on stage at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in 2014 by Yoko Ono and Hugh Jackman among others to launch The IMAGINE Project. Other inspiring projects Trey has undertaken include performances at the indigenous First Nation communities of northern Canada and a fundraising concert for South African hero Denis Goldberg and his House of Hope Foundation in South Africa.

Lee plays on the 1703 “Comte de Gabriac” cello by Venetian master maker Matteo Goffriller.