Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra presents its season opening pops concert for all ages on Sunday, September 25, at 7 p.m. at Princeton Alliance Church at 20 Schalks Crossing Road in Plainsboro. The orchestra is conducted by its music director, Chiu-Tze Lin.
“Journey Into A Musical Fantasy” highlights works by Franz Liszt, the composer born 200 years ago in Budapest, Hungary. Two works by Liszt for piano and orchestra, the Hungarian Fantasy and the Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, will be performed on piano by Chiu-Ling Lin of West Windsor. Also in the program is the all-time classic and audience favorite “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel. To celebrate the last of the Harry Potter movie series, the orchestra will also perform the themes from the Harry Potter movie soundtrack.
Lin, making her return engagement with the orchestra, last appeared with Bravura in December, 2008. An internationally renowned pianist, educator, and former artistic ambassador, she has made extensive solo appearances in South America. An energetic and passionate performer, Lin has played before enthusiastic audiences around the world. As a chamber musician, Lin has collaborated with artists including Marina Piccinini, Marcos Granados, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn.
The oldest of three children, Lin was born in Taiwan and raised in Singapore. “I always appreciated music,” she says. “We lived in a duplex and a piano teacher lived in the other part. I saw students going in happy and coming out happier.” She requested piano lessons when she was only four years old but her parents asked her to wait six months.
“My parents always knew the quality of education and paved my educational path with quality teachers,” she says. “It was a financial sacrifice for them and I am forever grateful. “ She came to the United States to go to college when she was 17 — and stayed.
Lin received her bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University. She made her Carnegie Weill Recital Hall debut as the winner of the East and West Young Artist Auditions.
She is now a retired college professor from Case Western Reserve University. “With my sister in New Jersey and my brother in Connecticut, I knew I wanted to live on the East Coast,” says Lin, who moved to West Windsor in 2005.
“I’ve been teaching for more than 35 years and consider my students as my children,” she says. “I call myself a piano player, not a classical musician.” Her favorite program to present to young people in school is “Around the World in 88 Keys,” a multi-cultural event.
Lin is the immediate past president of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association, and is the representative of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
Her solo performances have included the Atlanta Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony, and the Des Moines Symphony. Her appearances in New York, Boston, Chicago, England, Canada, and throughout the Far East have featured her unique mix of music by Chinese and Western composers. Her virtuosity is showcased in the CD, “Portraits of China.”
Lin taught her sister, Chiu-Tze Lin, how to play the piano when she was very young. They played duo piano for a long time. This is the third time they are working together as a soloist and conductor. “It’s a privilege when you have siblings, you can read each other’s minds,” she says. “We have a long history and there’s an unspoken vibe.”
Her father, Shih-Tsun Lin, 94, lives with her. He was both a chemical engineer and a professor of chemistry in college. A ferocious reader, he reads two newspapers a day — one in Chinese and the New York Times. “He’s read all of the Chinese books in West Windsor and Plainsboro libraries and I’m happy to see the taxes go to things he likes,” says Lin.
Lin donated a grand piano to the new Plainsboro Library. “It’s a wonderful facility with great acoustics,” she says. “This area is so rich in culture and I’m very happy to call it home.”
— Lynn Miller
Journey Into a Musical Fantasy, Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, Princeton Alliance Church, 20 Schalks Crossing Road, Plainsboro. Sunday, September 25, 7 p.m. Season opening pops concert features Chiu-Ling Lin of West Windsor on piano. Program includes music by Liszt, Ravel, and themes from the Harry Potter movie soundtrack. Chiu-Tze Lin is music director and conductor. $12 to $25. 609-790-9559. www.bravuraphil.org.
