Guitar Night Special

PART I GUITAR AND PIANO DUO

SEUNGYEON LEE AND GIN TZU

TREMOLO FANTASY - J.DOWLAND

FANTASIA PARA UN GENTILHOMBRE - J. RODRIGO

INTERVAL

PART II GUITAR ENSEMBLE

SUNGBIN CHO WITH R.A.M GUITAR ENSEMBLE:

DECLAN HICKEY, DIOGO CARLOS, JIANHAO ZHOU

CARMEN FANTASY - STEVE GOSS

PART III QUINTET FOR GUITAR AND STRING QUARTET

SUNGBIN CHO WITH ASAKA QUARTET:

IONA MCDONALD (VIOLIN), GUO YU (VIOLIN), INIS OIRR ASANO (VIOLA), HO MAN FONG (CELLO)

GUITAR QUINTET OP. 143 - MARIO TEDESCO-CASTELNUOVO

ARTIST BIOS

SEUNGYEON LEE / CLASSICAL GUITAR

A delicate and emotional performer, Seungyeon Lee was born in South Korea. Seungyeon studied as a full-time scholarship student under the guidance of Allan Neave and Matthew Mcallister at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and graduated with the honour of 1st class. Seungyeon won many competitions including Haneum Music Competition, Vienna International Music Competition, Germany Guitar Competition and National Youth Music Competition. Seungyeon actively participated in ensemble and chamber music as well as solo, therefore has been invited to many concerts such as Ullapool Guitar Festival, Leeds College of Music, and Manchester University. Seungyeon also has been volunteering for a long time as a performer for patients at Seoul National University Hospital, Hanyang University Hospital, and Asan Hospital, and has also been serving such as teaching or playing for children at orphanages and nursing homes. With great interests not only classical guitar, but also in film music, musical music, transcribing and arranging music, Seungyeon has worked as a performer and as an arranger in a music team for musicals. Ben-Hur, Frankenstein, We will rock you and participates in recording a number of musical and advertisement music. Seungyeon is currently studying as a scholarship student at Royal College of Music.

GIN TZU / PIANO

A zealous pianist, educator, and musician, Tsai Gin Tzu has been actively involved in the music scene. She started her musical journey at the age of 5 and is currently pursuing her Master of Music at the Royal College of Music under the artistic guidance of Nigel Clayton. In September 2021, she graduated Bachelor of Music (Honours) with Distinction and received the Best Graduate Award at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts under the tutelage of Lena Ching. She has also received numerous awards such as the Tan Chay Bing Merit Award in 2017; The Hokkien Huay Kuan Arts and Cultural Prize in 2018, the Lucien Wang Scholarship 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, The Hokkien Foundation Arts and Cultural Award 2021, and E.SUN Bank Scholarships for Outstanding Talents 2021. Gin Tzu is an active performer, both as a soloist and in chamber music. Besides premiering pieces for her contemporaries at The Composer Association in Singapore, she has also won many prestigious prizes in international competitions. Namely, Singapore International Classical Competition 2017, Bali International Open Piano Competition 2018, Singapore Asia Youth Piano Competition 2018, Nanyang Piano Academy Competition 2019, 10th Lucien Wang Piano Competition in 2019, Nanyang International Music Competition 2019, Nanyang International Piano Academy Competition 2020 and NAFA-Kris Foundation Fund Concerto Competition 2020. In addition, Gin Tzu had led many community projects such as performing at Tan Tock Seng Hospital: The Art of Healing 2015; St. Andrews Community Hospital: A Christmas Getaway 2019; and volunteering at Willing Hearts Singapore. Gin Tzu is privileged to be able to participate in masterclasses by recognized pianists and pedagogues – Claudius Tanski, Dina Parakhina, Foo Mei Yi, Mark Tanner, Murray McLachlan, Nigel Clayton, Ursala Oppenns, Vanessa Latarche.

SUNGBIN CHO/ CLASSICAL GUITAR

Classical guitarist Sungbin Cho is from Seoul, Korea. Graduating with a BMus from the Korea National University of Arts, he subsequently served in the Republic of Korea Air Force where he completed his two-year military service. He then entered the Royal Academy of Music to undertake an MA in Performance, with Michael Lewin. This year he is finishing his MA and starting Advanced Diploma with scholarship. He is a first Korean national to play classical guitar at the R.A.M. Sungbin was selected as a Young Artist by the Kumho Cultural Foundation, held a recital, and won first place at the Haneum Music Competition. Recently, he won the ‘2021 London International Guitar Competition (LIGC)’, the largest competition in the UK, and is scheduled to tour five European countries in 2022 to have his concerts as a ‘LIGC Winner’.

ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC GUITAR ENSEMBLE (R.A.M. GUITAR ENSEMBLE) / DECLAN HICKEY, DIOGO CARLOS, JIANHAO ZHOU

The RAM Guitar Ensemble is a chamber music group comprising four students from the Royal Academy of Music. Declan Hickey, Diogo Carlos, Jianhao Zhou and Sungbin Cho regularly collaborate with other instrumentalists and singers, exploring a wealth of historical and contemporary repertoire. For this concert, the ensemble will perform ‘Carmen Fantasy’ by Stephen Goss, Professor of Guitar at the Royal Academy of Music.

ASAKA QUARTET / IONA MCDONALD (VIOLIN), GUO YU (VIOLIN), INIS ASNO (VIOLA), HO MAN FONG (CELLO)

Asaka Quartet is an upcoming string quartet formed in 2021 by Iona McDonald, Guo Yu, Inis Oírr Asano and Ho Man Fong, current students studying with scholarships at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In October 2021, after playing for only a week, they were selected for the prestigious Frost Trust Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble Training Scheme (A.S.S.E.T.) at the Academy where they are mentored by Martin Outram. The four members receive lessons from Maureen Smith, Michael Foyle, Paul Silverthorne and Josephine Knight. In February 2022, Asaka was joined by fellow students in a performance of Schubert’s Octet in the Academy’s Bicentenary Chamber Festival upon invitation by Levon Chilingirian. They are also looking forward to upcoming concerts at St James's Picadilly, Regent Hall, Edenbridge (Kent), and in Moffat (Scotland).