Free Pipe Organ Concert by Shen Yuan

A young pipe organist and electronic organist from Beijing, Shen Yuan won in seven competitions held in China and other countries. She explored in her thesis the integration of conventional pipe organ and electronic organ and became the first Doctor of Electronic Organ. Shen studied with Japanese organist Professor Naomi Matsui and Professor Leo van Doeselaar of the Berlin University of the Arts. She also took lessons from maestros including Ton Koopmann, Louis Robillard, Zsigmond Szathmáry, Oliver Latry, Michael Radulescu, Wolfgang Zerer and Peter van Dijk.

Shen was selected for the Young Composers Masterclass held during the 50th International Organ Festival Haarlem in the Netherlands in 2014. Her work Waiting for Godot was premiered and warmly received at a festival recital.

As an organist active both at home and abroad, Shen performed in major cultural events in China including Heart to Heart Art Performance, the Spring Festival Party and the Olympic Cultural Festival and made frequent appearances in concerts when pursuing her doctoral degree in Japan. After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, Shen joined Chinese students in Japan in a charity concert in Tokyo. The activity drew much attention of the mainstream media like NHK, Yomiuri Shimbun, Kyodo News and Xinhua News Agency’s branch in Tokyo. In February 2012, she was invited by the Ministry of Culture of China and the China Artist Association to play Memories in Red, an excerpt from The Detachment of Women which brought her to fame, in a Chinese New Year concert as the first electric organ soloist at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna.

To support activities at home, she joined the organising committee and jury panel of the Musicacoustica-Beijing International Electronic Organ Competition in 2010 and 2011. She was also the artistic director and project executive of the International Organ and Electronic Organ Academic Forum held in Beijing.

Shen is currently a teacher of core subjects at the Central Conservatory of Music as well as a member of the Youth Council of Dongcheng District, Beijing. She has published The Art of Organ Performance (Volumes 1 and 2) and released a DVD featuring her homecoming concert. She was also the Chinese translator of A Complete Dictionary of Pipe Organ published in 23 languages.

 

Programme

Mozart	Andante for a Mechanical Organ, KV 616
Bach	Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532 Chorale Prelude Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654
Mendelssohn	Allegro, Chorale and Fugue in D minor
Franck	Cantabile from Troi Pièces
Messiaen	God among us from The Nativity of the Lord

 

Free tickets are distributed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Enquiries Counter (9am-9pm daily) from 19 December onwards. Each patron may get a maximum of 4 tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. Audiences aged 6 and above are welcome. Programme lasts around 40 minutes without intermission.


The presenter reserves the right to substitute artists and change programme without prior notice should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.

Enquiries: 2734 2009 / 2734 2819