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Qin and Strings: A Century of Chinese Music

Sunday, February 8, 2026

12:30 AM

Plymouth Church UCC, Herr Chapel 

2860 Coventry Rd, Shaker Heights, OH 44120

Celebrate the Lunar New Year with a program of evocative and lyrical works for violin and piano rooted in Chinese musical traditions. Violinist Ann Yu and pianist Irwin Shung present a concert exploring themes of love, longing, and transformation through iconic works and lesser-known gems.


At the heart of the program is The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, one of the most beloved Chinese orchestral works, here performed in its virtuosic arrangement for violin and piano. Based on a centuries-old legend often called the “Chinese Romeo and Juliet,” the concerto weaves Chinese pentatonic melodies with romantic Western textures in a deeply moving narrative arc.


The program also includes selections inspired by traditional Chinese folk music, poetic miniatures, and contemporary works celebrating the richness of China’s musical heritage.


Join us in welcoming the New Year through music that bridges cultures and generations.

Celebrate the Lunar New Year with a program of evocative and lyrical works for violin and piano rooted in Chinese musical traditions. Violinist Ann Yu and pianist Irwin Shung present a concert exploring themes of love, longing, and transformation through iconic works and lesser-known gems.


At the heart of the program is The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, one of the most beloved Chinese orchestral works, here performed in its virtuosic arrangement for violin and piano. Based on a centuries-old legend often called the “Chinese Romeo and Juliet,” the concerto weaves Chinese pentatonic melodies with romantic Western textures in a deeply moving narrative arc.


The program also includes selections inspired by traditional Chinese folk music, poetic miniatures, and contemporary works celebrating the richness of China’s musical heritage.


Join us in welcoming the New Year through music that bridges cultures and generations.

Program

Artists

Ann Yu, violin

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Praised for her “full-bodied, rich, and warm tone” (Cleveland.com), violinist and educator Ann Yu draws endless inspiration from exploring multiple genres and musical styles in the historical and modern musical traditions, leading her to unique and groundbreaking projects with Apollo’s Fire, the Poiema Trio, the Caroga Arts Collective, Project: Music Heals Us, CLE Concierto, and the Resonance Master Series. Ann earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Jaime Laredo, Jan Sloman, and William Preucil, and was the 1st prize winner of the 26th Annual Darius Milhaud Competition and Concerto Competition and the recipient of the Fortnightly Musical Club Award. Her training also includes prestigious programs such as Thy Masterclass, Kneisel Hall, the Perlman Music Program, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the National Youth Orchestra-USA, and the Credo Festival, where she later served on faculty for four summers. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, the CIM Orchestra, and the National Repertory Orchestra. In Cleveland, Ann performs regularly with Apollo’s Fire, Forest City Strings (Candlelight Concerts), and in local chamber music settings. She teaches privately and through the Cleveland Orchestra’s Crescendo Program at the Cleveland School of the Arts and Campus International School. She also enjoys jamming with local bluegrass, old-time, blues, tango, and swing jazz musicians. In her free time, Ann loves sight reading chamber music, hiking in the national park, and dancing lindy hop and blues.

Irwin Shung, piano

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Dr. Irwin Shung, whose playing has been praised by State Magazine for its “ease, technique, and musicianship,” has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  Shung teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, in addition to serving as Artistic Director of The Resonance Project ever since its roots were originally put down in Seattle.  Shung maintains an active musical profile both on the West Coast and in Cleveland, where he was recently selected as Height Arts' Artist of the Month.  Currently in his third year as President of the Northeast Ohio Music Teachers Association, Shung's leadership over the organization has seen the development of dynamic new programs for hundreds of regional precollegiate music students in Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Lorain Counties.


Shung received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in January, 2015, where he studied with Dr. Daniel Shapiro. He has also received instruction on piano from distinguished teachers such as Marian Hahn (Peabody Conservatory), Leon Fleisher (Peabody Conservatory), Herbert Stessin (Julliard School), Gabriel Chodos (New England Conservatory), and Victoria Bogdashevskaya (Moscow Conservatory). Awards received include the Pauline Favin Memorial Award from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and prizes in the Darius Milhaud Competition as well as the Young Artist International Piano Competition.


Appearances in 2023-24 include workshops and concerts in Bellevue, WA; Victoria, British Columbia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Singapore, and numerous cities in Ohio.  His complete recording of the first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier is available online, with the second book and the Goldberg Variations currently in-progress.  Current projects include the construction of a chamber recording studio at the Artist House in South Euclid, as well Crescendo Cleveland, a music program for pre-college musicians.

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