Media Advisory - Canadian musician says goodbye to $6-million violin with London Symphony Orchestra
Yi-Jia Susanne Hou to record one last piece of music with an historic Fritz Kreisler violin
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ARTIST IS NOW BOOKING PHONE OR IN-PERSON INTERVIEWS FOR MONDAY, NOV.25, NOON EST, IN ADVANCE OF NOV.27 MUSIC EVENT IN THE UK.
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Who: Yi-Jia Susanne Hou with the London Symphony Orchestra
What: Recording & TV documentary with 278-year-old Fritz Kreisler violin
Where: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, Hampstead, London, England
Interviews: Nov. 25, 11am - Noon EST in Canada (4pm - 5pm UK time)
Music event: Nov. 27, 8pm UK time
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LONDON, UK, Nov. 22, 2013 /CNW/ - World-class violinist, Canadian Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, will bid an emotional adieu to a nearly 300-year-old violin worth $6 million in a special musical tribute with the London Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday, Nov.27.
The Shanghai-born virtuoso, raised in Mississauga, Canada rushed the project forward in mere months in order to make one last recording with the rare violin before she is required to give it back to its philanthropic owner.
"I chose London for its deep cultural consciousness, its world-class symphony and its intertwined history with the violin," said Ms. Hou from Toronto on Friday.
The Stradivari Society of Chicago loaned Ms. Hou the instrument in 2009. The society links the world's most promising artists with superb and exceptionally rare Italian instruments.
The Guarneri violin was crafted in 1735 in Italy, and was much later discovered by Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler (born: 1865, died: 1962), who played it in the early 20th century.
Kreisler is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of all time.
Lady Mary Portman of England then acquired the violin in 1924 -- hence the violin's lengthy name: the "1735 ex Mary Portman, Fritz Kreisler Guarneri del Gesu."
On Wednesday evening, Ms. Hou will record Beethoven's Violin Concerto from 1806 (D Major, Op 61). She chose this music for deeply symbolic reasons.
She says her father Alec Hou - a virtuoso violinist from Shanghai - was the first person in China in the 1970s to be permitted to perform western classical music after it had been banned in the Cultural Revolution.
"He chose Beethoven for the people because it's beautiful and tormenting, yet full of hope."
"On that night, in the middle of his performance in the second movement, I was born into this world," said Ms. Hou.
"My mother didn't even tell my father she went to the hospital that day because she knew this was too important of a moment in history."
Both her proud parents, Yvonne and Alec, will attend the London event Wednesday evening.
The Beethoven concerto from 1806 that Ms. Hou will record is monumental - one of the greatest works ever written. But Kreisler contributed another a dimension - original and dynamic improvisations called cadenzas.
"He added something truly magical that have stood the test of time," said Ms. Hou.
The private recording event is being billed as "a melding of beautiful artistic creations spread over 300 years."
A TV documentary, produced by Toronto's Know Rules Media in association with HiBROW, is being filmed about the London recording, the Hou family, and the violin's rich history including how the violin ended up in Ms. Hou's talented hands.
In 2009, she picked the violin 'blind' from a large collection of famed instruments, that included numerous Stradivari and Guarneri violins, in a parlour in Chicago put on by the Stradivari Society.
Ms. Hou says she was heart-broken when she was initially told it was "not available."
But days later, she got a surprise call to audition for the instrument. She immediately returned, performed, and was granted it on the spot.
"I was floored when they told me it was an 'ex-Kreisler' violin," said Ms. Hou.
A live CD album and DVD is being created from the event with Grammy-nominated producer Anna Barry and Classic Sound. Conducting the symphony will be Andreas Delfs -- a distinguished conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Fashion designers are also supporting Ms.Hou's productions with tailored dresses: Ana Quasoar - Haute Couture of Paris, and Elena Fantini's Save the Queen.
SOURCE: Sustainability Story Inc.
MEDIA CONTACT (CANADA):
Mychaylo Prystupa, Media Relations
Vancouver: +1 778-999-3546 (from UK: 00 + 1 + 778-999-3546)
[email protected]
Interviews before the recording:
Nov.25 - 4pm - 5pm UK time (11am - Noon EST in Canada) by phone or in
person in the UK.
Interviews after the recording:
Nov. 27 - 10pm - 11pm UK time (or Nov.28, 3am - 4am EST in Canada) after the
recording.
Nov.28, 29, 30 - widely available for interviews
MEDIA CONTACTS (UK):
Lorenz Ehrsam, Project Manager
For arranging access to the hall. Photography / videography must be absolutely silent.
+1 212 757-1578 (U.S. mobile in UK)
[email protected]
Caroline Fischer, Coordinator
For requesting attendance at Nov.27, 8pm recording with London Symphony at
Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, Hampstead, London
[email protected]
07770 471 822
(+44 7770 471 822)
PHOTOS OF KREISLER, THE VIOLIN, AND SUSANNE HOU:
1) Susanne Hou with Kreisler violin
Photo credit: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
http://bit.ly/I7YebZ
2) Fritz Kreisler (photographed with a different Kreisler violin).
Photo credit: U.S. Library of Congress, which says there is no restrictions on use of
photo. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Fritz_Kreisler.jpg
3) Kreisler violin -- the "ex-Mary Portman, Fritz Kreisler Guarneri del Gesu,
Cremona" c. 1735.
Photo credit: Stradivari Society
http://bit.ly/1eldE7l
LINKS:
http://www.susannehou.com
http://www.stradivarisociety.com/
http://knowrulesmedia.com/
http://www.hazardchase.co.uk/artists/andreas-delfs
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