Season of the Maestros: Holiday Concert

Tuesday, December 11, 7:30 pm
Community Arts Center, Williamsport

Conducted by Cheung Chau. Seasonal favorites featuring the Williamsport Area High School Choir and Chorale. Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. Gary Boerckel, 7:00 pm in CAC Capitol Lounge. Sponsor: Sovereign Bank. Guest Artist Sponsor: Physicians for Music. Tickets can be ordered at the CAC box office by phone (570-326-2424 / 800-432-9382) or online through the CAC.

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FUM FUM FUM! Songs and dances of celebration, Christmas, and Hanukkah will be part of the WSO’s Holiday Concert on Tuesday, December 11, at the Community Arts Center. The WSO will be joined by the Williamsport Area High School Concert Choir and Chorale, under the direction of Kent Weaver and Anna Radspinner. Concertgoers will be treated to an evening of festive music by Leonard Bernstein, Antonin Dvorak, and Johann Strauss, with holiday standards and selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and much more.

The teenaged concert choir and chorale will merge with the WSO to perform The Many Moods of Christmas by Robert Shaw as well as Christmas songs by arranger-composers John Rutter and Mack Wilberg. Titles will include “Shepherds Pipe Carol,” “What Sweeter Music,” “For the Beauty of the Earth,” “I Saw Three Ships,” “Away in a Manger,” and “Fum Fum Fum,” a seasonal vamp on the Beach Boys hit, “Fun Fun Fun.”

For “Phase Two” of the WSO’s search for a new music director, the Holiday Concert will be conducted by Cheung Chau, who said he is “greatly looking forward to working with the WSO.” The Chinese-born cellist is an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University. He is currently the music director of the Georgia Southern Symphony and the Sinfonietta Polonia in Poznan, Poland, an orchestra he founded in 2004.

Sinfonietta Polonia has made numerous radio and television appearances, and its premiere of John Rutter’s Requiem in Ostrow was nominated for the best cultural event of 2005 for the city. The Polish Glos Wielkopolski described the orchestra as having “priceless enthusiasm,” and continued that “the talented and very capable conductor was able to get from the young zealots a lot of good symphonic playing and considerable ability of ensemble collaboration.” The Gazeta Wyborcza praised Chau for his “air of freshness and uniqueness” and for “his ability to create pastel landscapes of sound with very dynamic, poignant gestures.” His interpretations of Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture and Mozart’s Prague Symphony were “convincing, persuasive.”

Chau studied conducting at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm, Sweden, with world-renowned Finnish conductor and pedagogue, Jorma Panula. In 2003, Chau made his professional debut with the Sundsvall Symphony Orchestra, and has guest-conducted around the world. In Finland, he conducted the Sibelius Academy Orchestra in a concert at the home city of Sibelius, Jarvenpaa. Since 2004, he has been a regular guest conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and assistant to Edo de Waart. In China, Chau conducted the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, after which the Xiamen Business News wrote that “[Chau] performed with strong resolution and courage. He was full of enthusiasm, confidence, and determination, expressed his feelings and led the orchestra very efficiently, dedicating to the audience an exquisite performance.”
Since Chau’s tenure as music director of the Southern Georgia Symphony, the orchestra has doubled its number of concerts and become renowned for its performances, home and away. He is an avid music educator. Each year he leads the Hong Kong Philharmonic in educational concerts attended by over 70,000 students. He is active in visiting schools and giving master classes in helping classical music to reach more audiences.

As a cellist, Chau is a member of the Atma Piano Trio with violinist/wife Blanka Bednarz and pianist Slawomir Dobrzanski. Chau began cello lessons at age seven and received top prizes at the Hong Kong Schools’ Music Festival. At age twelve, he was the youngest musician ever to receive the Commercial Radio Prize. At fourteen, he performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococco Variations with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. The Sing Dao Daily described him as “a rare gem in the musical field.” He was a full scholarship recipient from the R.D. Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, the Harid Conservatory, and the Yale School of Music. He holds the first double doctorate ever awarded in the history of New England Conservatory (Boston) for conducting and cello performance. Chau’s cello teachers include Eleonore Schoenfeld, Aldo Parisot, Colin Carr, and Johanne Perron, and Chau participated in conducting master classes with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Valery Gergiev, Yo Yo Ma, David Zinman, and other notables.

“I’d imagine our cello section is going to love this guy,” said a WSO staffer. “However, the conductor search committee still has their work cut out. All of our conductor-nominees are of such high caliber. There’s plenty of excitement this season.”