By Matt Dine
ZIYU SHEN
Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m. — RUTLAND — Eighteen-year-old violist sensation, Ziyu Shen, one of the newest additions to the Young Concert Artists (NYC) roster, will be performing at the Paramount Theatre, Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m. This performance follows immediately after her New York City debut at the Merken Concert Hall, April 11 and just prior to her Washington D.C. premiere at the Kennedy Center on April 19.
Ziyu Shen began to play the violin at age four and switched to the viola at the age of 12 while studying with Li Sheng at the Music School affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. At the age of 14, Ms. Shen won first prize at the Johansen International Competition for Young String Players in Washington, D.C. and the next year, won first place in the Chamber Music Competition of Morningside Bridge Chamber Music Festival in Canada. At 15, she won first prize in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, setting a new record for the youngest winner ever. She won the 2014 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was awarded YCA’s Sander Buchman Prize, which provides major support for her New York debut; the Mortimer Levitt Career Development Award for Women Artists; and a recital appearance at the University of Florida Performing Arts.
Ms. Shen has appeared as soloist with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester in Vienna, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in Canada, and with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. She currently attends the Kronberg Academy in Germany where she studies with Nobuko Imai (YCA alumna).
Tickets are available at 802-775-0903, paramountvt.org or at the door.
