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Young Concert Artists Series
Dalton
Series | Faculty Artist Series
Young Concert Artists, Inc.
was established in New York in 1961 to discover and launch
the careers of extraordinary young classical musicians.
Many of today's great performers started their careers in
this phenomenal and unprecedented program. Over the past
two decades at the series at Western Michigan University's
School of Music has consistently introduced the finest of
young classical musicians to our community just as they
are achieving national and international prominence. To
know that "We heard them first, right here in Kalamazoo"
is what we value in this series, and we know you will enjoy
hearing these recitals. Of particular interest in this series
are the pianists that accompany many of these artists, many
of whom have performing careers independent of these recital
and chamber music collaborations. The Young Concert Artists
Series supports three-day residencies by each of the four
musicians presented annually. These residencies include
along with their formal concerts, masterclasses, lecture
demonstrations, informal performances in retirement homes,
and in the public and private schools throughout the community.
Former Young Concert Artists include pianist Richard
Goode, soprano Dawn
Upshaw, cellist Carter
Brey, flutist Eugenia
Zukerman, and Eric
Ruske, horn.
Jose
Franch-Ballester, Clarinet
Sunday September 30, 2007 - 3:00 p.m.
Young Concert Artists Series
 “Be
the first to hear the best” is the tag line for Young
Concert Artist Series recitals, and you will not be disappointed.
The first concert in this season’s Young Concert
Artists Series was born in Moncofa, Spain into a family
of clarinetists and Zarzuela singers. JOSE FRANCH-BALLESTER*
has been called “that rare find, an artist whose
brilliant mastery of his instrument is matched by sound
and secure gifts as a musician,” by The News-Gazette
(Champaign-Urbana), and The New York Sun proclaimed, “Young
Concert Artists has a winner!” Mr. Franch-Ballester
began clarinet lessons at the age of nine with Venancio
Rius Marti. He gave his first recital in Valencia
at the age of sixteen, and graduated from the Joaquin Rodrigo
Music Conservatory in Valencia in 2000. He came to
the U.S. to study at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia,
where he studied clarinet with Donald Montanaro and Ricardo
Morales and chamber music with Pamela Frank and earned
a Bachelor of Music degree in 2005. When he is not
playing his clarinet, Mr. Franch-Ballester has a passion
for archaeology and is an avid photographer.
*[pronounced FrAHnk Bai-yess-TAIR]
Dorothy U. Dalton Center
Recital Hall
Sunday, September 30, 2007
3:00 p.m.
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Naoko
Takada, Marimba
Sunday October 28, 2007 - 3:00 p.m.
Young Concert Artists Series
 “Be
the first to hear the best” is the tag line for Young
Concert Artist Series recitals, and you will not be disappointed
as we present the second BPI Kalamazoo residency by the
first Marimba player to win this world famous competition.
Of marimbist NAOKO TAKADA, The Washington Post wrote, “If
you have any doubt that a solo mallet instrument can sustain
your attention throughout an entire concert, Takada just
might make you change your mind.” Ms. Takada is renowned
for her wide range of repertoire, from Bach to Piazzolla.
An arranger as well as a performer, Ms. Takada’s
transcriptions have been published by Studio 4 Music as
part of the Naoko Takada Series, which also includes works
written for her by composers including Yasutaki Inamori,
Paul Fowler, John Anthony Lennon and Hayato Hirose. Committed
to educational outreach, Takada participates in Adventure
Concerts, an educational concert series in New York City
public schools, run by Midori & Friends.
Naoko Takada was born in Tokyo and began to study the
marimba at the age of eight. She first appeared as
soloist with orchestra at the age of eleven, when she played
with the Tokyo Symphony and Tokyo Chamber Orchestra. In
Japan, she studied with Akiko Suzuki and Keiko Abe and
attended Waseda University in Tokyo, majoring in psychology. She
then decided to focus on her marimba studies and entered
California State University at Northridge as a student
of Karen Ervin-Pershing, where she earned a Bachelor of
Music degree. She then earned a Master of Music degree
from Ithaca College, working with Gordon Stout. She
has also studied at Boston Conservatory with Nancy Zeltsman.
Ms. Takada is a Yamaha performing artist. Her signature
line of mallets is available through Encore Mallets.
Dorothy U. Dalton Center
Recital Hall
Sunday, October 28, 2007
3:00 p.m.
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Emmanuel
Ceysson, Harp
Sunday January 27, 2008 - 3:00 p.m.
Young Concert Artists Series
 “Be
the first to hear the best” is the tag line for Young
Concert Artist Series recitals, and you will not be disappointed.
Rarely heard in recital the harp itself has a mystical
power to charm even the worst of the 21st century furies.
Praised by The Indianapolis Star for his "poetic
expressiveness," harpist EMMANUEL CEYSSON won the
2006 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and
gave his debut recitals in New York at Carnegie’s
Zankel Hall and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center
in November of 2006. At the Auditions, he was also
awarded the Peter P. Marino Prize, the Alice Rosner Foundation
Prize, the Victor Salvi Foundation Prize, the Summis Auspiciis
Prize, the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Prize, the Vancouver
Recital Society Prize, and the Orchestra New England Soloist
Prize.
Emmanuel Ceysson was born in 1984 in Oulins, France. He
attended the Conservatoire National de Région de
Lyon, where he studied harp with Jacqueline Defoulounoux
and Christophe Truant, trombone with Yvelise Girard, harmony
with Denis Magnon, and chamber music with Joel Nicod. Also
an accomplished transcriber and arranger, he received the
prestigious "Premier Prix" of Harmony from the
Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris
(CNSMDP). He received a Diplome de Formation Supérieure
(First Prize in Harp) from the CNSMDP, where he studied
with Isabelle Moretti, in 2005.
His debut CD, Divertissements à la française,
was released in 2005 on Egan Records.
Dorothy U. Dalton Center
Recital Hall
Sunday, January 27, 2008
3:00 p.m.
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Chu-Fang
Huang, Piano
Sunday March 9, 2008 - 3:00 p.m.
Young Concert Artists Series
 The
final concert of the 2007-08 Bullock Performance Institute
presents the “Clarity, poise and dead on technique” of
pianist Chu-Fang Huang. “Be the first to hear the
best” in Young Concert Artist Series recitals, and
you will not be disappointed. Chinese pianist CHU-FANG
HUANG’s extensive orchestral and recital appearances
throughout the U.S. and abroad have elicited enthusiastic
responses from audiences and critics alike, leading The
Birmingham News to declare, “Clarity, poise, lucid
phrasing and dead-on technique were in abundance at the
electrically charged recital.”
Pianist CHU-FANG HUANG won the 2006 Young Concert Artists
International Auditions, and was also awarded the Paul
A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Slomovic Orchestra Soloist
Prize, the Embassy Series Prize, the Lied Center of Kansas
Prize, the Mortimer Levitt Piano Chair of YCA, and the
Mortimer Levitt Career Development Award for Women Artists. She
performs Grieg’s Concerto in A minor in Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s Rose Theater with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s
in YCA’s gala Irene Diamond Concert on April 18,
2007, and makes her Kennedy Center debut in the Young Concert
Artists Series on April 24. She also performs a piano
work by Benjamin Boyle in a program featuring works by
YCA composers in March.
Ms. Huang began studying the piano at the age of seven
and received a full scholarship to the Shenyang Music Conservatory’s
pre-college division at the age of 12. She made her
U.S. recital debut at the age of 15 in the La Jolla Music
Society’s Prodigy Series. She received her Bachelor
of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where
she studied with Claude Frank, and her Master of Music
degree from the Juilliard School, as a student of Robert
McDonald. She is currently pursuing postgraduate
studies at Juilliard.
Dorothy U. Dalton Center
Recital Hall
Sunday, March 9, 2008
3:00 p.m.
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