Date: 5 November 2018 (Monday)
Time: 8:00pm
Venue: CMA Lecture Theater (LTL), Cheng Yu Tung Building, HKUST
Andrew Simon, clarinet
Warren Lee, piano
Leonard Bernstein
Anniversaries
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Selections from “West Side Story”
Principal Clarinetist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Simon, and Steinway Artist and Hong Kong-born pianist, Warren Lee have been collaborating on stage for fifteen years, appearing in numerous recitals for universities, the Hong Kong Chamber Music Society, Buffet-Crampon, Radio Television Hong Kong in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Norway, Sweden and the United States. “Together, they produced a rich, vibrant and well-balanced sound, characterized by clear articulations, neat phrasing and a finely tuned sense of ensemble,” reviewed the Mercury Post of Australia. The Straits Times of Singapore described their recital as “an unrestrained flourish”. The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong portrayed the duo as “embody[ing] the solidarity and breadth of local talents.”
With the duo’s versatile and dynamic musicianship, their repertoire encompasses the standard piano-clarinet repertoire as well as the more popular and contemporary music. Their decade-long partnership has culminated in a CD release in 2013: “Ebony and Ivory | Works for Clarinet and Piano” on the Naxos label, which the composer Joseph Horovitz hails the recording of his works as one” that retains all [his] own ideas and display the artists’ individual technical brilliance and sensitivity to every detail.” Fanfare Magazine calls it as “a winner” and “…hard to imagine these works played with any more liquid tone, fluent technique, amazing breath control and expressive phrasing than that which is brought to them by Andrew Simon… and Lee proves himself Simon’s equal partner in every way.”
Andrew Michael Simon, clarinet
“…he is one of the finest players I’ve heard …competitive with the best of the best.”
– Jerry Dubins, Fanfare Magazine
Acclaimed clarinetist Andrew Simon has appeared as soloist and guest lecturer on four continents. As Principal Clarinetist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon has recorded solo works by Baermann and Stravinsky and has performed concerti over 60 times, including John Corigliano’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra which he studied with the Academy Award-winning composer.
Among his notable performances are those with the Mainly Mozart Orchestra (US), the Singapore Symphony, as well as giving the Australian and Asian premieres of the original, unpublished version of Copland’s Concerto. In addition, his recital CDs include “HOT” and his new release, “Ebony and Ivory,” for NAXOS Recordings. As guest lecturer, he frequents institutions such as Yale University, the Sydney Conservatorium, the Royal College of Music in London, and the Central Conservatory in Beijing. Having recently given his New Zealand and Sichuan Philharmonic concerto debuts, upcoming projects include concerto performances with Jaap Van Zweden and a recital/masterclass tour of Australia. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Simon is a Buffet-Crampon, Vandoren and Ishimori artist. He is also the first American-born musician to perform in North Korea. Away from music, his adventurous streak has taken him to an ashram in India, a bungy jump in New Zealand, and a tennis match against John McEnroe (he lost).
For more information, visit www.amsimon.com.
Warren Lee, piano
Hailed by The Straits Times as a musician with “a wonderful sense of colour and impeccably controlled articulation” and lauded by critics of his Carnegie Hall debut as having “thought through his approach to the finest of details and… executed with exact precision…”, Warren’s artistry has brought him to four continents, gracing stages of all sizes and forms and in collaboration with international artists and leading orchestras in Asia.
Warren made his televised début with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of six and was the first-prize winner of the 1995 Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition and the Grand Prix Ivo Pogorelich.
A Steinway Artist since 2009, Warren’s discography includes 8 acclaimed albums of solo and chamber music. The American Records Guide calls him a “first-rate artist”. His playing can also be heard on any Steinway Spirio.
Currently the Music Director of St. Paul’s Co-educational College, a recipient of the Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale School of Music, Warren is co-currently the Hong Kong Representative of Royal Academy of Music, as well as a visiting artist in various institutions around the world. Warren holds an MBA degree, and is an award-winning and internationally published composer as well as an entrepreneur who founded the +myelin app designed for guiding students to practice effectively.
In recognition of his significant contributions to the music profession, Warren received the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in Hong Kong in 2012, an Associateship from the Royal Academy of Music in 2015 and the Ian Mininberg Distinguished Alumni Award by the Yale School of Music in 2017.