Beethoven Sonata Reprised at Today’s Music Seminar
Posted on: Feb 24, 2020
Once again Concordia violin instructor Frank Ho, along with piano instructor Dr. Ping-Shan Liao, is going to present Beethoven’s 8th Sonata for Violin and Piano, which was composed during the period when Beethoven struggled with the fact that he was losing his hearing. We would like to invite you to come and enjoy this Sonata which, even though the composer was facing a time of crisis and trauma in his life, is full of delightful spirit.
The performance, part of the weekly School of Music seminar series, runs 4:00 to 4:50 pm in the Lynn and Stephen Mandel Music Room (Alumni Hall 314). Admission is free.
Violinist FRANK HO enjoys a multi-faceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, and pedagogue. His early training was at the Alberta College (now MacEwan University) Conservatory of Music. Further studies with Sidney Harth and Erick Friedman (Yale School of Music) and Yfrah Neaman (Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England) led to performance opportunities on three continents. Highlights include concerts at venues such the Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room in London; Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Hall in New York City; and numerous campuses and concert series in western Canada. Many of his concerts have been featured on the CBC.
Frank is currently a faculty member of the MacEwan University Conservatory of Music, where he also serves as their External Relations Consultant, and sessional violin instructor at King’s University and Concordia University of Edmonton. Frank is an active adjudicator nationally and internationally (most recently as a member of the international jury panel for the 2019 Hong Kong Music Schools Festival), as well as a member of the College of Examiners for the Royal Conservatory of Music. He is currently the concertmaster of the Concordia Symphony Orchestra. He is a sought-after teacher: many of his students are previous prizewinners of local, provincial, and national competitions. In 2017, two of his students were chosen to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City through the American Protégé International Competition.
Concordia piano instructor Ping-Shan Liao
Pianist Dr. PING-SHAN LIAO has presented numerous solo concerts and fascinated audiences worldwide with her musical talents. Throughout her career she has also collaborated as a chamber and concerto pianist, appearing with the International Chamber Ensemble De Rome, the Concordia Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton’s Festival City Winds, and the Prairie Jubilation Wind Ensemble.
Born and raised in Taiwan, Ping-Shan developed her passion for music at a very young age and won many competitions in Taiwan. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance & Literature from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester in New York. While studying at Eastman, Ping-Shan was invited to present a solo concert at the Alexander Goldenweiser Memorial Museum in Moscow. She was also selected to perform at the Taiwan National Recital Hall in 2001 as one of the “Young Artists Series” concerts, which recognizes the outstanding global achievements of Taiwanese musicians.
Ping-Shan is a clinician for many festivals and competitions. Before moving to Edmonton she served as a Professor of Piano at Prairie Bible College in Three Hills, Alberta. Ever since, she has been teaching piano and piano pedagogy at Concordia University of Edmonton.
