"... Indeed, the First Sonata (a major masterpiece) seems even more expressive on clarinet -- at least as Neidich plays it. Besides sheer enjoyment, I found myself moved by this performance."Mr. Neidich has performed at numerous summer festivals and appears regularly at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Sarasota Summer Music Festival, the Orford and Domaine Forget Festivals in Canada, and the International Stichting Masterclass Apeldoorn in the Netherlands and the Kryzowa Music Festival in Poland.
I should not forget to mention that the last interior page of the program was a menu. Ayako Oshima, an outstanding clarinetist, is also a chef of high accomplishments. Both of the Wa Concerts I have mentioned ended with a feast ..., which unleashed a dash of joyous, appreciative conversation about the music we had just heard.
Born in Xi’an, China, Xiangyu Zhou began studying clarinet at age 10 with Yu Wang and Zheng Chi at the Xi’an Conservatory of Music. After winning first prize in the TOYAMA Asian Young Artist Competition in 2002, Zhou obtained his bachelor and master degrees from Juilliard, where he studied with Charles Neidich. He is also an alum of Interlochen Arts Academy.
Zhou co-founded PUFF! Woodwind Quintet, winner of the 2009 Arriaga Chamber Music Competition. PUFF! was a featured group at Juilliard’s annual Focus! Festival and made its Kennedy Center debut in May 2010. After relocating to Shanghai in 2011, Zhou co-founded the 1380 Woodwind Quintet, performing in the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series and Shanghai Music Hall Music Afternoon Series. Zhou collaborated with the Shanghai Quartet at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center in 2013.
Zhou served as associate principal clarinet in the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra from 2011 to 2015. Zhou toured Asia and Europe with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Zhou also served as guest assistant principal clarinet with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 2016, and E-flat clarinet with the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra in its 2016–2017 season.
Zhou was a guest faculty member at the Shanghai Conservatory Middle School and has also given master classes at the Manhattan School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy. Zhou is currently the resident faculty of the Tianjin Juilliard School.
ClicLorenzo Antonio Iosco holds the Bass Clarinet position at the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Previously, he was a member of the London Symphony Orchestra for eight years and of the Madrid Opera House (Teatro Real) in Spain for three years. Born in Potenza, Italy, in 1985, he studied at the Luigi Cherubini conservatory in Florence. As soloist Lorenzo has performed the most important repertoire for clarinet (Mozart, Weber, Rossini) several times in Europe and Asia, and made his London Wigmore Hall debut in collaboration with the London Conchord Ensemble. He studied orchestral conducting in Florence and Rome, and has been regularly invited to conduct ensembles at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Academy of Music of London, Royal Orchestra Society and Oxford University, Arezzo Youth Orchestra, Castelbuono Classica Symphony Orchestra and the Florence Sinfonietta.
Lorenzo is Founder and Music/Artistic Director of Ensemble Ubertini, a chamber orchestra based in Tuscany with guest musicians from Hong Kong, Europe and United Kingdom. The ensemble has participated to several classic festivals in Italy (Festival delle Musiche and Castelbuono Classica) and given concerts with the Italian pianist Gilda Buttà (official pianist of Ennio Morricone) playing the first version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F. Future engagements will see Lorenzo conducting and playing in California, Italy, China and Australia.