APRIL 12
Rachell Ellen Wong, International Prize-Winning Violinist
Rachell has quickly become one of the most sought after historical performers of her generation. She was most recently the Grand Prize winner of the inaugural Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition, and a prize winner in the XXI International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, held in Leipzig, Germany. She has performed Vivaldi with the American Bach Soloists, and toured with Bach Collegium Japan, The Academy of Ancient Music, Les Arts Florissants, among others. She is a founding member of New Amsterdam Consort, and was recently selected as a 2019/2020 Mercury Chamber Orchestra Juilliard Fellow, and an American Fellow of The English Concert. In 2020, she will tour China as a soloist with Opera Fuoco and David Stern.
Along with international prize-winning keyboardist David Belkovski, Rachell is a founding member of Dioscuri, a dynamic, versatile ensemble that focuses on music from all periods on historical instruments. Dioscuri are hosted by Valley of the Moon Music Festival this coming summer.
Equally accomplished on the modern violin, Rachell has performed as a soloist in the United States and abroad. Notable concerts include the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Orquesta Sinfónica UCR in Costa Rica, Bottesini’s Gran Duo Concertante with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Panamá, and recitals with world-renowned pianists Anton Nel and Byron Schenkman.
She won grand prizes in the 52nd Sorantin International String Competition, the International Crescendo Music Awards, and Seattle’s Gallery Concert’s Next Generation Competition. An avid chamber musician, Rachell toured with the New Zealand String Quartet, and regularly performs at Valley of the Moon Music Festival and on the chamber music series Byron Schenkman & Friends.
This year, Rachell received the Benzaquen Career Artist Grant from The Juilliard School, after completing an MM in Historical Performance with the coveted Kovner Fellowship. She holds a second MM from Indiana University and a BM from The University of Texas at Austin. Her previous teachers include Stanley Ritchie, Mark Kaplan, Brian Lewis, Cynthia Roberts, Rachel Podger, Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Kent Coleman.
Originally from Seattle, Washington, Rachell loves to explore her multi-racial heritage by studying diverse musical styles, including the Scottish fiddle. She performs on a violin made by Carlo de March, and on a baroque violin from the school of Joachim Tielke.
Fred Wong, Artist
I have always wanted to be an artist. As a child, I loved my grandfather’s Chinese ink paintings, his many art books, and Chinese art objects. I have found many ways to stay close to art. I apprenticed with a Chinese artist, and have painted landscapes in ink on paper since age 11. In 2011, I published “Brush, Ink, Mind”, a book about Chinese calligraphy and painting. I have worked as an arts educator and administrator at various arts organizations including the Seattle Art Museum. I have exhibited in Hong Kong and in the US, including the King County Arts Commission Gallery and San Diego Museum of Art.
I study Chinese art through painting, looking and reading. Chinese art often reflects ideas from philosophy and religion, and my work also. I consider my work here traditional Chinese art, even though the medium is unusual.
I love Chinese paintings of the 13th and 14th century for their directness and purity. I love art objects found in nature, like Chinese scholar’s rocks. I love Van Gogh’s landscape drawings, and Da Vinci’s nature studies.