Violinist Yi-Ja Susanne Hou to open School of the Arts’ Celebrity Concert Series
[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/hou.jpg” caption=”Yi-Jia Susanne Hou “]Yi-Jia Susanne Hou is a Canadian violinist garnering much attention on the international music scene today. Among many other awards and prizes, she has left her mark in music history by capturing three gold medals with unanimous decisions at international competitions in France, Italy and Spain. Most recently, Hou won the Canada Council for the Arts Instrument Bank Competition, and was awarded the loan of the 1729 Guarneri del Jesu violin, which she uses with a bow made by her father, Alec Hou.
Hou began study with her father at age four, and at nine was invited by the Royal Conservatory of Music as a scholarship student. At 17, Hou performed the most challenging pieces ever writing for the violin: Paganini's Twenty-four Caprices for Solo Violin, in live recitals in Toronto and Aspen. Hou has also performed all 10 of Beethoven's piano and violin sonatas in New York as well as the complete collection of Brahms violin and piano sonatas and piano trios. Hou has performed and toured in USA, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, China, Japan, Hong Kong. Her appearances as soloist with orchestras include performances with the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Mississauga Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Radio-France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart, WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, Czech National Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Osaka-Kansai Philharmonic, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and Shanghai Broadcasting Orchestra. She has been heard on NPR, CBC Radio, CJRT 96.3, CHCH, CTV, FUJI TV JAPAN, FRANCE 2, and SLOVENIA RTV.
Wrapped in ivy, spacious, dignified and acoustically glorious, Convocation Hall on the campus of Hamilton's McMaster University is once again the setting for the star-studded Celebrity Concert Series, adding eight more brilliant Friday 8 p.m. performances to those that have echoed there since the series began in 1971. Here is unforgettable music at its very finest, spanning ages, ideas, styles: and offering delights for every taste.
All performances in the Celebrity Concert Series are at 8 p.m. on Friday evenings. Tickets are $17 general, $12 senior and $5 student. Subscribers enjoy substantial savings (eight concerts for the price of six). The Celebrity Concert Series is presented by the McMaster University School of the Arts, which also presents a seven-concert free lunchtime concert series on Tuesdays at 12:30 p.m., and 10 ensemble concerts annually by the McMaster Chamber Orchestra, McMaster Concert Band, McMaster University Choir and McMaster University Jazz Band.
For the School of the Arts concert series brochure or for more information visit http://sota.humanities.mcmaster.ca. Call: 905-525-9140 ext. 24246. Mail: School of the Arts, Togo Salmon Hall 414, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M2.
