Monday, February 3, 2025 at 7:30pm PST
CSULB Faculty Recital “Transformation” with Sheng-Ching Hsu, violin
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2025 Concert Tour with Sheng-Ching Hsu
I first met violinist Sheng-Ching Hsu six years ago at a coffee shop in NYC. Eventually we would play together on a Lincoln Center Stage contract in the Mediterranean Sea, and since then we’ve developed a deep bond as both musicians and friends.
This February, we will be embarking on a concert tour of Taiwan, performing in Taipei, Chiayi, and Kaohsiung, with a special preview performance in Long Beach, California on February 3, 2025. The California concert will be live-streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/live/i4K3fJ8XIfs?si=Lv8JeMfmwVZTBzF_
The program, titled “Transformation”, takes us on Sheng-Ching’s life journey as an artist. Each of the pieces holds personal significance for Sheng-Ching, and the tour itinerary allows us to experience the program through the context of homecoming, as it is one of the first times she has performed in her home country since moving to the U.S. in her youth.
We’ve had the luxury to rehearse the music at our own pace over the past year, and I can confidently say that this will be a truly emotional experience—one that draws from the culmination of Sheng-Ching’s unique and remarkable life experience. The program also features the premiere of a newly commissioned work by my NYU Steinhardt classmate Apple Hung-Ping Chang titled “Danse de Ballet en Solo”—a beautifully poetic work that takes its inspiration from the challenging life of a ballet dancer.
Program:
J.S. Bach: Partita no. 3 for solo violin
Erwin Schulhoff: Sonata for violin and piano no. 2
Michiru Oshima: Memories
Amy Beach: Romance for violin and piano
Adam Andrzejowski: Romance for violin and piano
Apple Hung-Ping Chang: “Danse de Ballet en Solo” for violin and piano
Concert Dates:
February 3, 2025 at 7:30pm: Daniel Recital Hall @ California State University, Long Beach (free admission; live-stream link to come)
February 7, 2025 at 7:30pm: National Recital Hall, Taipei, Taiwan (tickets here)
February 13, 2025 at 7:00pm: Luke Hall, Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
February 16, 2025 at 3:00pm: Recital Hall, Weiwuying Performing Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
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“An absolutely lovely disc... [Cullen] believes in this music and plays it with finesse, flair, and conviction.”
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About Josh
Josh Tatsuo Cullen (he/him) is acclaimed for his “astounding mixture of coolness and intensity" (Stuttgart Zeitung) and has been praised for his “delicious” collaboration by The New York Times. He has performed as solo and collaborative pianist at venues throughout the world.
His recordings include Beethoven’s piano concertos nos. 1, 2 and 3, and Mozart’s concerto for two pianos in E-flat major with his mentor, Paul Badura-Skoda, all with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra led by Paul Freeman. At age nine he performed Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488 with the Moscow Philharmonic at Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, recording the work in studio the same week.
Josh holds a master’s degree in piano from The Juilliard School, and a master’s degree in collaborative piano from New York University. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan at age 16.
Born in Hawaii and raised outside of Detroit, Josh proudly served in the United States Army for over a decade as an interpreter and interrogator.
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