We are Fusion String Ensemble!

Fusion String Ensemble was founded in 2007 by a group of musician friends interested in performing classical music alongside an array of different genres of music. Since then, we have shared works of Bach, Beethoven, Holst, Mozart, Shostakovich, Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Joel, Radiohead, Snarky Puppy, Dropkick Murphys and themes from "Game of Thrones" and "Downton Abbey".

We have performed in Symphony Hall Boston, Montreal, Washington D.C., Chicago and New York City. Fusion String Ensemble played the National Anthem at LaLacheur Park, home of the Boston Red Sox Short Season Single A Affiliate, the Lowell Spinners.

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Saturday, August 29, 2015

Fusion String Ensemble performs in the Greater Chicago area!

Fusion String Ensemble
Kadar Qian, Music Director

presents:

THE EUROPEAN COLLECTION

Taiwanese Community Fellowship Church
1420 S. Meyers Road
Lombard, IL 60148


Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 7:30pm
FREE

CONCERT PROGRAM

Salut d'Amour, Op.12 by Edward Elgar

Aurica Duca, violin & Kadar Qian, piano

Concertino pour Flûte, Op.107 by Cécile Chaminade

Viola Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G9 by Georg Philipp Telemann
I. Largo
II. Allegro
III. Andante
IV. Presto

Clinton Dewing, viola

~ INTERMISSION ~

Symphony for Strings Opus 118a from String Quartet No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich
I. Andante

Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV 1060R (performed with 2 Violins) by Johann Sebastian Bach
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro

FUSION STRING ENSEMBLE IS:

First Violins
Janet Martins
Flora Lee
John Lyneis

Second Violins
Miriam Raffeld
Abe Dewing

Viola
Kim Etingoff
Sarah 
Joanne Ostrander

Cello
Kevin Hedrick
Alex Revoal

Bass
Nate Haggett

Violin Soloists
Clinton Dewing
Aurica Duca

Viola Soloist
Clinton Dewing

Flute Soloist
Rebecca Arnold

Conductor, Pianist
Kadar Qian

SPECIAL THANKS

Ashley Sullivan, Craig, Kyle & Siena Dewing, Mom & Dad, Rev. Evrol Officer, Fritz Winegardner, UnityBoston, John W. Sears, Jane Chen, the fabulous soloists and our wonderful audience!

BENEFACTORS

Jane Chen
John W. Sears

SPONSORS

Taiwanese Association of America Greater Chicago Chapter (TAAGCC)
Formosan Association for Public Affairs - Illinois Chapter (FAPA-IC)
Global Education Fund (GEF)

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

THE EUROPEAN COLLECTION Digital Concert Program

Fusion String Ensemble 
Kadar Qian, Music Director
presents:

THE EUROPEAN COLLECTION

Christ's Church Longwood (UnityBoston)
70 Colchester Street
Brookline, Massachusetts

Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 7:30pm
Suggested Donation of $8

CONCERT PROGRAM

Salut d'Amour, Op.12 by Edward Elgar

Abe Dewing, violin & Kadar Qian, piano

Concertino pour Flûte, Op.107 by Cécile Chaminade
Viola Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G9 by Georg Philipp Telemann
I. Largo
II. Allegro
III. Andante
IV. Presto

Clinton Dewing, viola

~ INTERMISSION ~

Symphony for Strings Opus 118a from String Quartet No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich
I. Andante

Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV 1060R (performed with 2 Violins) by Johann Sebastian Bach
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro


FUSION STRING ENSEMBLE IS:

First Violins
Janet Martins
Flora Lee
John Lyneis
Jeff Bezanson

Second Violins
Miriam Raffeld
Abe Dewing
Klenda Martinez

Viola
Kim Etingoff
Joanne Ostrander

Cello
Kevin Hedrick
Katherine Miller
Amy Nolan

Bass
Nate Haggett

Violin Soloists
Clinton Dewing
Aurica Duca

Viola Soloist
Clinton Dewing

Flute Soloist
Rebecca Arnold

Conductor, Pianist
Kadar Qian

SPECIAL THANKS

Ashley Sullivan, Craig, Kyle & Siena Dewing, Mom & Dad, Rev. Evrol Officer, Fritz Winegardner, UnityBoston, John W. Sears, Jane Chen, the fabulous soloists and our wonderful audience!

BENEFACTORS

Jane Chen
John W. Sears

Saturday, August 1, 2015

PROGRAM NOTES

Salut D’Amour, Op. 12
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Elgar finished the piece in July 1888, when he was engaged to be married to Caroline Alice Roberts, and he called it "Liebesgruss" ('Love’s Greeting') because of her fluency in German. When he returned home to London on September 22 from a holiday at the house of his friend Dr. Charles Buck, in Settle, North Yorkshire, he presented it to her as an engagement present.

Concertino pour Flûte, Op.107
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
This piece was composed in 1902 for flute and orchestra and was commissioned by the Paris Conservatoire in 1902, presumably as an examination piece for flute students. Among flautists, legend has it that Chaminade wrote the Concertino to punish a flute-playing lover after he left her to marry someone else, wanting to make a piece so fiendishly difficult that he could not play it (though he supposedly did manage). However, Chaminade had married a music publisher the year before the piece was commissioned, which lessens the validity of the legend.

Viola Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G9
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681- 1767)
Of Georg Philipp Telemann's surviving concertos, this piece is among his most famous, and still regularly performed today. It is the first known concerto for viola, was written circa 1716–1721 and contains four movements.

Symphony for Strings Opus 118a from String Quartet No. 10 
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 10 in A-flat major, op. 118, was composed in 1964. It was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet and is dedicated to his close friend Mieczysław (Moisei) Weinberg. We are performing just the first movement of the string quartet arrangement.

Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV 1060 
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Neither the date of composition nor of the first performance is known. This concerto was originally written for solo violin and oboe, with string orchestra and continuo; the only surviving score, however, is of Bach’s own arrangement as a concerto for two harpsichords.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Kadar Qian, Music Director, Conductor, Pianist


KADAR QIAN

At the young age of four, Kadar Qian began to learn the piano, inspired by his older brother, Kevin. After starting lessons, his grandmother would reward him with chocolate every time he played well. Twelve years later, he has given over one hundred concerts in the U.S. and China in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, and Sanders Theatre. At the age of eleven, he debuted as a soloist with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra performing Chopin’s Concerto No. 2, and at the age of fifteen, he debuted with the Boston Pops performing Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3. All together, he has appeared as a soloist over 10 times with orchestras such as the Boston Civic Symphony, Boston Landmarks, Cape Ann Symphony, Melrose Symphony, Merrimack Valley Philharmonic, Metrowest Symphony, Lowell Philharmonic, Rivers Symphony, and the Salem Philharmonic.

Qian claimed first prize in the Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, receiving special prizes for the Best Bach Performance and the Best Chopin Performance. He was also a prizewinner at the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition as well as the MostArts International Piano Competition. In addition, he was also the first prize winner of the Harvard Musical Association High School Achievement Award and the Steinway Society of Massachusetts piano competition. For the past three years, he has been a recipient of the Chopin Foundation of the United States Scholarship. Qian has won many Young Artist Competitions, including the Boston Civic, Boston Pops, Lowell, Metrowest, Quincy, and Rivers Young Artist Competitions. He was heard performing on NPR’s From the Top , and in 2013, he released his first album for Naxos Records.

Kadar studies piano with Angel Ramón Rivera at the New England Conservatory Prep School and the Rivers School Conservatory. He also studies conducting with Yoichi Udagawa and is currently the Assistant Conductor of the Melrose Symphony Orchestra. Since June 2014, he has been the music director and conductor of the Fusion String Ensemble. A high honor roll student at Westford Academy, Kadar strives to make a difference in the community as the president of his class. A huge fan of Apple products, Kadar also enjoys programming and math.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Clinton Dewing, Violin & Viola Soloist

CLINTON DEWING

Clinton Dewing received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Joel Smirnoff. His summer festivals credits include the Spoleto Festival USA and Italy, Festival Mozaic, Pacific Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute and the Tanglewood Music Center. He has performed with the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Clinton is currently a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s violin section since 2006.



Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Aurica Duca, Violin Soloist

AURICA DUCA 

A native of the Republic of Moldova, Aurelia Duca began the violin at age of seven. She has taken First Prize in the Cornelia Bronzetti violin competition and the International Violin Competition of Brasov. Ms. Duca was the Grand Prize winner at the Paul Constantinescu International Competition in Romania. She was awarded the Mayor’s Scholarship of Chisinau, Moldova and the prestigious scholarship from the Foundation of Beneficence. Ms. Duca has performed in solo engagements with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the National Philharmonic of Chisinau and the National Youth Orchestra in Holland and studied at the A. Casella Conservatory in l’Aquilla, Italy. She has participated in The Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and she is featured in Festival Mozaic’s chamber music series in San Luis Obispo, California every summer. In 2006 Ms. Duca joined the violin section of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Rebecca Arnold, Flute Soloist

REBECCA ARNOLD

Rebecca Arnold is sixteen years old and is an incoming Senior at Westford Academy in Westford, Massachusetts. She has been playing flute since the age of nine. Currently, she takes private lessons with Shan Liu and also studies at the Boston Flute Academy. Rebecca is a member of the New England Conservatory Youth Symphony under the direction of Steven Karidoyanes. This summer, she traveled to Ireland and Northern Ireland with the orchestra and performed in the cities of Galway, Dublin and Derry. This is Rebecca’s second year as a member of the Westford Academy Theater Arts Pit, which was awarded best student pit orchestra by the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild in 2014. She has been accepted into the MA Eastern Senior Districts band and orchestra, as well as the Massachusetts All-State Orchestra. Rebecca is very excited to have been given the opportunity to perform with the Fusion String Ensemble.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Fusion String Ensemble Music Director, Kadar Qian is featured in an arrangement of FourFiveSeconds by Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney

So our music director, conductor and leader extraordinaire is featured on piano in this From The Top music video of Rhianna's song FourFiveSeconds. We look forward to our upcoming season with Kadar.


Sunday, May 3, 2015

Fusion String Ensemble performs at the Simon C. Fireman Community on Sunday, May 3, 2015

First Fusion String Ensemble gig of the year featuring the Ice Cream Quartet that consisted of Molly Shira & Abe Dewing, violins, Sarah Izen, viola and Amy Nolan, cello.

Performances of Bach, Beethoven, The Beatles & Albeniz at the Simon C. Fireman Community - Hebrew SeniorLife in Randolph.  After the concert, they went out for, of course, ice cream!

Monday, February 2, 2015

Fusion String Ensemble members perform at Symphony Hall on Saturday, January 31st

Abe/Alley (0:38), Natalie (1:09), and Kate/Kevin (2:38) of Fusion String Ensemble are all represented in this trailer for Boston Symphony Orchestra's Onstage at Symphony documentary about this past weekend.