Event Detail
Hailed by the South China Morning Post of her “expressive singing in a difficult piece was impressive”, Joanne SHAO is an emerging young singer freshly graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under the guidance of Ms. Ella Kiang, Ms. Nancy Yuen and Ms. Jovita Leung. She has also studied with Mr. Gong Dongjian, Mr. Apollo Wong, Ms. Marisa Kwok and was instructed by Ms. Harolyn Blackwell at her stay in New York. She has performed in a number of master classes by renowned singers Mr. John Daniecki, Mr. Franz Lukasovsky, Mr. Kyu-Won Han and Ms. Catrin Aur, etc. She is the recipient of Ms Barbara Fei Vocal Scholarship, The Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir Scholarship and Michael Rippon Memorial Scholarship. She has won the First Prize of Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition and made her debut in Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall in 2013.
The major roles she has sung include “Sophie” in Massenet’s “Werther”, “Papagena” in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte”, “Despina” in Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”, “Susanna” in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro”, “Blonde” in Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”.
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Pianist/Coach Ming KWONG is very active in the world of opera. Companies he has worked with include Washington National Opera (Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program), Glimmerglass Opera, Portland Opera, Aspen Opera Theater, Metropolitan Opera Guild, Tanglewood Music Center (assisting Maestro James Levine on Don Giovanni), Florida Grand Opera and Music Academy of the West, where Marilyn Horne chairs the program. Faculty positions include Manhattan Opera Studio, CoOPERAtive program in New Jersey and Opera on the Avalon in Newfoundland, Canada.
He holds a Fellowship of Trinity College London (FTCL) as well as a Fellowship of Royal School of Music (FRSM) in solo piano with distinction.
Ming Kwong holds a Master’s degree in Piano Accompanying from Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Warren Jones, and a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory.
PROGRAM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Schon Lacht der holde Frühling, KV580
Gaetano Donizetti
Or che lanotte invita
Eva Dell’Acqua
Villanelle
Franz Lehár
“Vilja Song” from The Merry Widow
Luigi Arditi
Il Bacio
Frederick Loewe
“I Could have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady
Presented by
Piano sponsored by