“Homecoming · Reunion” Cello Recital
Li-Wei Qin × Jiajia Shi
National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing · July 18, 2022 · 19:30
Overview
After nearly three years away from Chinese stages, world-renowned cellist Li-Wei Qin returned to the National Centre for the Performing Arts for his first recital in Beijing since the pandemic — “Homecoming · Reunion.”
Joined by pianist Jiajia Shi, Qin crafted a program that traversed centuries and cultures, from Schubert’s lyricism and Schumann’s Romantic ardor to Fang Dongqing’s dramatic modernism and Brahms’s monumental Sonata in F Major.
“Every concert at the NCPA brings me happiness and excitement.
After years apart, to share music again with audiences in Beijing — and across China — is itself a joyful reunion.”
Li-Wei Qin
Program
Franz Schubert — Arpeggione Sonata, D.821
I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio
III. Allegretto
Robert Schumann — Adagio and Allegro, Op.70
— Intermission —
Fang Dongqing — Lin Chong
I. Snow Tramping
II. Slaughter
III. Night Escape
Johannes Brahms — Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major, Op.99
Artists
Li-Wei Qin — Cello
Praised by The New York Times for his “ravishingly beautiful tone, flawless intonation, and ironclad technique,” Li-Wei Qin is one of the world’s foremost cellists. A laureate of the Tchaikovsky and Naumburg Competitions, he has appeared as soloist with the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, and Singapore Symphony, and records exclusively for Decca and Sony Classical.
Jiajia Shi — Piano
Associate Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Jiajia Shi is one of China’s leading chamber pianists.
A graduate of the Hochschule für Musik Trossingen in Germany, where she studied piano and chamber music, she has collaborated with leading musicians such as Lynn Harrell, Nobuko Imai, and Rainer Kussmaul, and performed across Europe and Asia.
As Deputy Head of the Chamber Music Department at CCOM, Shi has been instrumental in promoting chamber performance education in China, curating international masterclasses and serving as jury member for major competitions including the Shanghai Haydn Chamber Music Competition.
“The cello is the string instrument with the broadest emotional and tonal range — from the deep resonance of a baritone to the soaring brightness of a tenor.
That’s why composers across centuries have been drawn to it.”
Li-Wei Qin