Virtual Vivaldi: Four Seasons
A Musical Celebration of Resilience & Hope
Our sold-out September 26th concert at Hollow Park was a celebration of our community. You can join us virtually on Saturday, October 24 for a YouTube Premiere broadcast of the event. The broadcast will include additional content not presented at the live event, including an appearance by Music Director & Conductor, Leif Bjaland.
This virtual event is our gift to the community, but registration is required. A $25 suggested donation will be gratefully accepted.
The Virtual Vivaldi broadcast is made possible by the Woodbury-Bethlehem Community Music Foundation.
Sirena Huang, Violin
Praised by The Baltimore Sun for her “impeccable technique…deeply expressive phrasing…and poetic weight," Sirena Huang is one of her generation’s most celebrated violinists. She brings not only technical brilliance and powerful artistry to the stage, but also a profound sense of connection to her audience.
Sirena has been the recipient of numerous accolades and awards. Most recently, in February of 2017, Sirena was awarded First Prize at the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition and in March, she was awarded the winner of the New York Concert Artist. In 2009, she won First Prize Gold Medalist of the 6th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. She won First Prize and the Audience Award at the Cooper International Competition in 2011. That same year, she was also named the first Artist-in-Residence of Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, she was awarded the Hannloser Prize for Violin at the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland. She is also a top prize winner at Singapore International Violin Competition as well as the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition.
Sirena made her solo debut with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in 2004 at the age of nine, and has performed in seventeen countries across three continents. She has been featured as a soloist with more than fifty prestigious ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Russian Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and the Staatskapelle Weimar in Germany. She has appeared as a guest artist at the Verbier Music Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Sarasota Arts Series, Albuquerque Chamber Music Festival, “The Great Music for a Great City” series in New York City, and many others.
Motivated by a deep wish to inspire peace and harmony with her music, Sirena has performed before world leaders, thinkers and humanitarians, including President Obama and Elie Wiesel. At age eleven, she gave a TED talk that garnered more than 2.5 million views. In 2006, she received the honor of playing for His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan and thirty Nobel Prize Laureates at the World Peace Conference held in Petra. In 2007, under the invitation of former Czech Republic President Havel, she played in the Opening Ceremony of the “Forum 2000 World Conference” in Prague. In 2008, she was invited to perform during the ceremony in which the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity presented its Humanitarian Award to President Sarkozy of France.
In addition to her TED Talk in 2006, Huang has been featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts, including WQXR’s McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase and NPR’s “From the Top" as well as several interviews with WNPR, CNBC, WTNH, WTIC, WB20 and Beethoven Radio.
Ryan Tani, Guest Conductor
A driven and versatile conductor, Ryan Tani has been praised for his compelling musicianship in a wide range of symphonic and choral repertoire. Ryan currently serves as the Orchestral Conducting Fellow for the Yale Philharmonia, where he studies under the guidance of Peter Oundjian. He also serves as the Music Director of the Occasional Symphony in Baltimore. In 2015, he was declared the winner of the ACDA Undergraduate Student Conducting Competition at their national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
An advocate of new and early music, Ryan has stayed active as conductor and performer for new compositions by emerging composers. He is resident conductor of the New Music New Haven series, where he collaborates, under guidance of Aaron Jay Kernis, with Yale University composition students and faculty.
During his time in Los Angeles, Ryan served as Co-Founder and Music Director of the Concerto Chamber Orchestra where he helped shape the orchestral scene in the Los Angeles area by providing high-level performance opportunities to student musicians of all majors. He has also served as Assistant Conductor of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra in Annapolis, where he was the principal conductor of the Preparatory Orchestra, and as Conducting Fellow for the Montgomery Philharmonic.
Ryan is a graduate of the Peabody Institute where he studied conducting with Marin Alsop and Markand Thakar, and of the University of Southern California, where he studied voice with Gary Glaze. Ryan remains an active tenor in New Haven, and plays violin, jazz piano, and viola da gamba for enjoyment.
Thanks to our sponsors!
Presenting Sponsor:
Media Sponsors:
Guest Artist Sponsors:
Isabelle Curtiss
