STARLING CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ON VIOLINMASTERCLASS.COM
Hear and see them perform live at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, or Spring from Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusic, movement I and movement IV on the Violinmasterclass.com web site.

SONG OF NOSTALGIA
Song of Nostalgia is the debut recording from Yang Liu. A prize-winner in the Twelfth International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in Moscow, Yang is quickly becoming known as one of the most important Chinese violinists of his generation. A first-prize winner of China’s National Violin Competition, he was a Starling scholarship of Dorothy DeLay and Kurt Sassmannshaus at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Song of Nostalgia is also available at Amazon.com.

Mr. Liu was born in Qingdao, People’s Republic of China in 1976. At age nine he was accepted in the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a student of the renowned Professor Yao-Ji Lin. At age ten he received an invitation to play Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen with the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. Mr. Liu performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in a nationally televised live concert with the Central Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, and has performed as soloist with the Shanghai Philharmonic and the Orchester der Nationen in Germany. His concert tours have led him to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Poland, Russia, Greece and Egypt. Yang has also appeared frequently as soloist with the Starling Chamber Orchestra, most recently during the SCO's two tours to his homeland, China. Liu Yang's recording Song of Nostalgia was released in 2001 to critical acclaim. The disc represents the soloist's broad interests, including both traditional Chinese songs and some of the most difficult repertoire written for the violin. Yang's long-standing collaboration with Chinese composer and pianist Gao Ping continues on this disc which features a new work by the composer.  

THE FOUR SEASONS
 The Starling Chamber Orchestra's latest release was recorded in June 2000 in the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Colorado under the direction of the SCO's founder and director, Kurt Sassmannshaus. Each of "The Four Seasons" concerti-Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter-are interpreted by a young Starling soloist playing a rare Stradivarius or Guarneri violin. The soloists are Jessica Park (16), Tania Davison (22). Eun-Mee Jeong (17) and Timothy O'Neill (19). The four violins were loaned to the Starling Project Foundation by Machold Rare Violins, Ltd./USA. The violins are the Joseph Guarneri del Gesu, 1737, "ex-Goodman"; Antonio Stradivarius, 1732; Joseph Guarneri del Gesu, 1732 "ex-Ferni"; and Antonio Stradivarius, 1667 "Piet." The instruments are depicted in colorin the CD booklet. Janelle Gelfand of the Cincinnati Enquirer says "They range in age from 11-18, and their artistry is truly astonishing."

The Four Seasons is also available at Amazon.com.

Click here to read the full review.

ASPEN SERENADE
 
Under the direction of the Starling Chamber Orchestra's founder and director, Kurt Sassmannshaus, “Aspen Serenade” was recorded live at the Aspen Music Festival on June 20, 1997 in the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Colorado. The music on the CD includes Holst's St. Paul's Suite, Opus 29, No. 2 and Tchaikovsky's beloved masterpiece, Serenade for Strings in C Major, Opus 48. Featured in a performance of Wieniawski's Legend, Opus 17 is the young violinist Jessica Park, who was thirteen years old at the time of this recording.

Aspen Serenade is also available at Amazon.com.

The Starling Chamber Orchestra and “Aspen Serenade” have been highly acclaimedby American Record Guide for “superb string tone and remarkable discipline.” American Record Guide also hailed Jessica Park's performance of the Wieniawski Legend as “a delightful performance…Park does much more than play the notes: she knows what they mean.” The Cincinnati Enquirer called Miss Park “a sweet-toned soloist…a young artist to watch” and also praised the orchestra's energy and precision, calling them “spirited virtuosos.”

Listen to Clips from “Aspen Serenade”

Track 1 Track 2

Track 3 Track 4

 

Jessica Park, violinist, has been called “an exceptional talent” by the Frankfurter Neue Presse. She began violin studies at age four and since age seven has been a student of Kurt Sassmannshaus in the Starling Preparatory String Project. In 1993, at the age of nine, Jessica became the youngest soloist to perform with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra when she played under the baton of then associate conductor Keith Lockhart. She has been a soloist on all international tours of the Starling Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared at the Aspen Music Festival. Jessica lives in Villa Hills, Kentucky.

SIMPLY BRILLIANT

In June 1999 the Starling Project Foundation released its second compact disc by the Starling Chamber Orchestra. Called “Simply Brilliant!”, the recording includes performances of the Simple Symphony, Opus 4 by Benjamin Britten, the Holberg Suite, Opus 40 by Edvard Grieg, and the world premiere recording of Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer's Sinfonia Concertange for Four Violins In A Minor, Opus 55. The violin soloists for the Maurer are Tania Davison, Jessica Park, Eun-Mee Jeong and Timothy O'Neill.

Listen to Clips from “Simply Brilliant”

Track 1 Track 2

Track 10

OTHER RECORDINGS BY THE STARLING CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Giovanni Mane Giornovichi
Violin Concertos, Vols. 1, 2 and 3
Starling Chamber Orchestra, Kurt Sassmannshaus, director Tania Davison, Brittany Kotheimer, Sha Ye, Angela Satris, Paul Yeager, violins
Arte Nova Classics 97612 [3CD] 207 minutes
(Contact your local record store for availability)
"Another remarkable presentation by the Starling Chamber Orchestra." —American Record Guide
Click here to read the full review.