CONCERT: 3:00 pm Matinee Performance
February 26, 2012
ANITA CHEN

The Grant County Community Concert Association is pleased to bring Anita Chen to the stage at the Western New Mexico University Fine Arts Center Theatre - the best venue in Southwest - for a Matinee Performance on Sunday, February 26.

Ms. Chen, born in the USA to Taiwanese parents, is not yet 21 years of age, but is internationally acclaimed as a rare, "double-threat" in classical music performance. She is a multi-talented rising star, being equally proficient on both violin and piano!

Ms. Chen launched her solo career as a professional soloist at age 11 when she performed in 8 concerts on both violin and piano with St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble at the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in New York. This occurred after she began work at Julliard at the age of seven (7) , but she actually started playing piano at age four (4) and the violin at age five (5).
She made her recording depbut with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006 under the direction of Dmitry Yablonski, playing Grieg's Piano Concerto and J. Conus's Violin Concerto. Critics call her performances musically sensuous, alluring and confident. She was then 15 years old.
Ms. Chen has performed in music festivals in France and Spain; she's toured Italy and appeared as a recital soloist in Mexico at the Parnassos concert series, and she opened the 2008/09 season for the Bridgeport Symphony under the direction of Gustav Meier, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, followed by Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1. She was then 17.
Anita returned to Carnegie Hall in 2009, making her recital debut at Zankel Hall in a program featuring Cimarosa, Mozart, Schubert, Liszt, Prokofiev, and Markov, where she performed the first half of the concert on the piano and the second, on violin.
Ms. Chen has won numerous piano & violin competitions and most recently won the GBS Carlson-Horn Competition. She resides in New York City and currently studies piano with Oxana Yablonskaya in Italy and violin with Albert Markov.
Her audiences reward her with sell-out crowds, shouts of "Brava," and standing ovations. And recent critics are writing that she plays both instruments with extraordinary technique and a depth of feeling that goes well beyond her years. This concert should not be missed.
This concert project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

NOTE: Tickets may now be paid for at the door with credit cards and may be purchased before the concert at Alotta Gelatto and Western Stationer's/Thunder Creek.

Admission to this concert is $20.00. Season Tickets for the 2012-13 season will be on sale the night of this concert. Admission of children under 18 is $5.00. Under-18 children and grandchildren of members are admitted at no charge if accompanied by the parent or grandparent. For more information, call (575) 538-5862 or go to www.gcconcerts.org. All donations are tax deductible, very welcome and gratefully accepted.