Stravinsky, Ravel, and Winners
8pm, Friday, February 29th, 2008
Paine Hall, Harvard University
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Featured Artists
Charlie Albright '11, piano
2007 BachSoc Concerto Competition Winner
Charlie Albright (19) is a native from Centralia, Washington, and has been playing the piano since the age of three and a half to critical acclaim. Already having been designated a “keyboard wizard” who “played like an angel…with a level of polish that pianists twice his age would envy” by Rochester, New York’s Democrat and Chronicle, he has performed throughout Washington, Oregon, Indiana, Montana, Kansas, Texas, and New York.
Charlie was the first place winner of the 2006 Eastman International Piano Competition at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music in July/August, 2006, and all other prizes therein, including for the Best Performance in a Master Class, the Best Performance of a 21st Century Work, and the Audience Prize; the first place winner of both the Solo and Ensemble Divisions of the 2006 Biennial New York Piano Competition at the Manhattan School of Music in June, 2006; the first place winner of the 2005 IIYM International Piano Competition at Kansas University in July, 2005; and the second place winner of the 2006 USASU Schimmel International Piano Competition at Arizona State University in January of 2006. In 2007, he was the youngest competitor of a group of pianists from an applicant pool from 18-30 years old to be selected to compete in the 2007 Hilton Head International Piano Competition. As one of four people representing the United States, Charlie won third place.
He was also the winner of Washington State’s MTNA Senior Piano Competition four times, and MTNA’s Northwest Division Senior Piano Competition in 2005; from there, he continued on to be one of 7 finalists, nationally, to compete in the 2005 National MTNA Senior Piano Competition; he was also selected as an Olympia WSMTA Chapter Representative five times. Charlie has been a prizewinner at numerous other local and regional piano competitions and festivals, as well, including at the NW Chopin Festival, the OMTA Concerto Competition, and the University of Puget Sound Concerto Competition.
The young pianist has performed as a soloist with the University of Puget Sound Symphony in 1998, the Olympia Symphony Orchestra in 2002 and 2006, the Seattle Philharmonic in 2002, the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra in 2004, and the Northwest Wind Symphony in 2005 and 2006…several of which to sold-out audiences.
Charlie has participated in many piano institutes, including the 2007 Paris Piano Institute in Paris, France and the 2005 International Institute for Young Musicians (IIYM) in Lawrence, KS. He was also the youngest participant accepted to the TCU/Cliburn Piano Institute in June, 2004 in Fort Worth, Texas.
He has been coached by several renowned instructors, including Mr. Randolph Hokanson, Dr. Leonard Richter, and Dr. Jack Winerock, and has been studying with Mrs. Nancy Adsit for the past eleven years. In addition, has received master classes from such pianists as Richard Goode, Abby Simon, and Christopher O’Riley.
Charlie performs around the United States regularly. The 2006-2007 season included concerts at the Trinity Church in New York City in commemoration for the World Trade Center attacks; with the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Ensemble in White Plains, NY; at the Temple Emmanuel in New York City; at the First United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.; and at Williams College in Williamstown, MA.
The 2007-2008 Season includes a performance with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra in Olympia, WA; at St. Bartholomew’s church in New York City; and as part of the Emerging Artists series in Philadelphia, PA.
In June of 2007, Charlie graduated high school and also received an Associate of Science degree from the Centralia College. He is currently the first pianist in the joint program between the New England Conservatory of Music and Harvard College.
Elizabeth Lim '08, composer
2007-08 BachSoc Composition Competition Winner
Elizabeth Lim (b. 1986) is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and began her musical studies at the age of four. Her first composition, “Imagine that I’m a Ballerina,” received honors at the National Parent Teachers Association Reflections Contest in 1992. Elizabeth continued to pursue her musical studies, entering the Preparatory Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to study piano, composition, and voice in 1997. While a junior in high school, Elizabeth was elected a member of the California Young Composers Guild, sponsored by the Music Teachers Association in California (MTAC). During her time as a member of the guild, Elizabeth received several honors for her compositions, notably from the MTAC, and the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.
More recently, Elizabeth was the 2006 recipient of the Harvard University Hugh F. MacColl Prize for composition for her string quartet, “The Dream,” which was also featured in the 2006 Society of Composers, Inc. National Student Conference. She was invited to attend the 2007 Nevada Encounters of New Music Festival, where her trio “Amaranth” was premiered by the East Coast New Music Ensemble. A participant of the 2005-2006 New York Youth Symphony Making Score Program, Elizabeth was commissioned to write a short work for chamber orchestra, which was performed at Symphony Space in New York City in May 2006. Last December, she was named the Emerging Composer-in-Residence of the Berkeley Symphony for their 2008 concert season, and as part of her residency, Elizabeth will compose several new works for the symphony, as well as receive a performance of her new work for orchestra, “Windfalls.” In addition, Elizabeth is the 2007-2008 Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra’s Peer-to-Peer Commissioning Project winner, as well as the winner of the 2007-2008 Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition.
Elizabeth attended the Bowdoin International Music Festival twice as a composition student, studying under the tutelage of Robert Beaser, Robert Rodriguez, Simone Fontanelli, and Bright Sheng. Other composers with whom she has studied include Robert Livingston Aldridge while a fellow at the Brevard Music Institute in 2006, and Samuel Adler during the summer of 2007. Her primary composition teachers at Harvard have been Elliott Gyger, Joshua Fineberg, Julian Anderson, and Chaya Czernowin.