Wei Luo performs in Quad City Symphony Orchestra Masterworks V: “Fierce Females" at the Adler Theatre and Augustana College -- March 4 and 5.
Saturday, March 4, 7:30 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m.
Augustana College's Centennial Hall, 3703 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island IL
A celebration of brilliant musicianship both on the stage and on the page will take place when the Quad City Symphony Orchestra continues their 2022-23 Masterworks season with Fierce Females, the concert's March 4 and 5 performances at Davenport's Adler Theatre and Augustana College's Centennial Hall boasting a repertoire of works by women composers and the eagerly awaited area return of piano virtuoso Wei Luo, who last performed with the ensemble in 2018.
Born in Shenzhen, a southern part of China, and the recipient of 2018's Gilmore Young Artist citation, Wei Luo showed an interest in music and began piano lessons around age five, giving her debut recital in Hong Kong at age six. Winner of numerous competitions in China, Wei claimed first prize in the 11th Chopin International Competition for Young Pianists in Poland and the Second Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Frankfurt, both in 2010. She made her orchestra debut at age 10 with the Shanghai Philharmonic, and along with the ensemble's artistic director Muhai Tang, they opened the 2011 season by performing Prokofiev's “Concerto No. 3” in ShangHai Oriental Art Center. Over the years, her piano recitals have been broadcast worldwide on classical radio channels such as WWFM (New Jersey) and WQXR (NYC), and two years ago, Wei was the receiptent of the esteemed “Salon de Virtuosi” Carrer Grant in New York.
Wei Luo is recognized as one of the most significant pianists of her generation, and already in her young career, she has performed on many of the world’s leading stages. In 2019, her self-titled debut album was released and described by Gramophone Magazine as one of the most exciting new works, with the San Diego Union Tribune adding: “This recording reveals a dazzling artist with an astonishing range of colors at her disposal, put to the service of a confident young soul whose musicality suggests the experience of someone two decades older." This past year, Wei gave a 13-concert recital tour throughout China’s major cities and venues including Shanghai Concert Hall, Beijing National Center of Performing Art, Guangzhou Opera House, Harbin, Chongqing and Guiyang, among others. She also performed with leading orchestras including Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and the National Center of Performing Arts Orchestra, while for World Sleep Day 2021, Wei participated in a campaign by Universal Music Group in which she recorded “Nocturne” by Grammy Award-winning composer Christopher Tin.
For her return engagements to the Quad Cities, Luo will close the program with Sergei Prokofiev’s fiercely virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2. The concerts' celebration of women in music, however, commences with composer Joan Tower’s bold and dramatic Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, after which audiences will be swept up by the 19th-century contrapuntal master Louise Farrenc’s energetic and restless Symphony No. 3, as well as an excerpt from Florence Price’s flowing yet turbulent Mississippi River Suite.
Masterworks V: Fierce Females performances will be held at Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 4 at 7:30 p.m., and, in Rock Island, at Augustana College's Centennial Hall on March 5 at 2 p.m. One hour prior to each performance, concert-goers are invited to attend informational "Concert Conversations" to learn about the works on the program, and admission to the concert events is $10-65. For more information and tickets, call (563)322-0931 and visit QCSO.org.
