A talented young pianist is coming to Squamish next week to entertain classical music lovers.Avan Yu, 18, will perform an evening of music by Frederic Chopin.
Yu is collecting prizes from music competitions around the world.
He was the winner in the CBC Pacific Spotlight Competition in Vancouver this February. Last year, he won first prize at the Second Canadian Chopin Competition and he was a finalist at the Fourth Concours International de Musique du Maroc in Morocco, where he was awarded the Grand Prix du Publique.
Recently, he attended the Tenth International Piano Academy in Hamamatsu, Japan.
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) has featured the young talent a number of times. An audience of 8,000 watched Yu when he was featured as guest soloist in the summer of 2002 at a VSO Summer Concert in Burnaby. Yu performed the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody with the VSO that summer at the age of 16. In May of 2004, he performed the same work with the VSO as part of its annual subscription concert series. The performance earned him an immediate reengagement with the VSO to play the Chopin F minor Concerto in the spring of 2006.
Yu has also played with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the B.C. Chinese Orchestra, the Seattle Northwest Philharmonia, the Seattle Youth Symphony Classical Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic in China and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc.
The Victoria Symphony is hitching onto his talent. In April of next year, he will also perform the Mozart D minor Concerto with the Symphony on the island.
The concert in Squamish is part of a ten-stop tour of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. The tour is preparing Yu for the Chopin International Piano Competition in September and October. The competition is set for Warsaw, Poland.
"I enjoy playing for smaller communities very much because they usually are an audience that is very receptive, very attentive and also they appreciate the work that I have put into the program," said Yu. "It doesn't matter how small or big my audience is I just enjoy playing for the public. For me performing in front of people is what I love to do."
Howe Sound Performing Arts director Joanna Schwarz said Yu is facing a significant challenge with the competition and in playing the gems he chose from the Chopin repertoire for the Squamish show.
"When I consider that Avan will perform all of these in one evening, I think of it as 'training for a musical marathon' which is what this competition will likely be," said Schwarz.
Yu said he has more to learn from his two piano teachers in Lions Bay. He hopes his learning will evolve into a career as a concert pianist entertaining around the world.
"Learning never stops, I think, especially in music because you evolve with time," he said.
There is so much left by the great composers, he said it would take more than a lifetime to learn it all.
Yu's concert is scheduled for next Friday (Sept. 9) at 8 p.m. at the Eagle Eye Theatre. A reception will follow the show.
Tickets for the event are available at Mostly Books, Billie's Bouquet, Highland Video and at the door on show night. All tickets are $10 each.
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