Beijing Guitar Duo
Mar 16 & 17, 2024

Composed of guitarist Meng Su and Yameng Wang, the Beijing Guitar Duo has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. This past season took them to countries such as Germany, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, China, Panama, and the United States. The duo has toured extensively with their mentor Manuel Barrueco, appearing in such countries as Germany, Finland, Spain, Russia, as well as the United States.

The Beijing Guitar Duo’s performances and recordings have impressed the public with “an ability and artistry that exceeds their years.” Their debut CD Maracaípe, received a Latin-GRAMMY nomination for the titled piece, which was dedicated to them by renowned guitarist/composer Sergio Assad. Their second CD, Bach to Tan Dun, has been widely noted for the world-premiere recording of Tan Dun’s Eight Memories in Watercolor, specially arranged for the duo by Manuel Barrueco. A recording in trio, China West, with Maestro Barrueco was released in May 2014.

Meng Su and Yameng Wang were born in the coastal city of Qingdao, China. They came to the partnership with exceptional credentials, including a string of competition awards. Ms. Su’s honors include victories at the Vienna Youth Guitar Competition and the Christopher Parkening Young Guitarist Competition, while Ms. Wang was the youngest guitarist to win the Tokyo International Guitar Competition at the age of 12, and was invited by Radio France to perform at the prestigious Paris International Guitar Art Week at age 14. Both young artists had given solo recitals in China and abroad, and had made solo recordings before they formed the duo.

In addition to concertizing, the members of the duo share a love for teaching which brings them to major conservatories in the world for master classes and to judge competitions. Since 2011 they have been Artists-in-residence for the San Francisco Performances. This four-year residency program brings them to the Bay Area every year for community outreach, performances, and master classes in public schools as well as for the San Francisco Conservatory.

The Beijing Guitar Duo is proudly supported by the Maryland State Art Council’s Touring Artists Grant program since 2014.

MENG SU

Born in the coastal city of Qingdao, in the province of Shandong, China in 1988, Meng Su demonstrated her artistic gifts as an exceptionally talented guitarist from an early age.

Embarking on an exciting guitar career as one of the most outstanding guitarists of her generation, Meng Su began her training in classical guitar with renowned Professor Chen Zhi at the age of nine, where she quickly began attracting attention as a remarkable young talent. Before graduating from the High School of the Central Conservatory of Music of China in 2006, Ms. Su had already won many awards, including the 5th Vienna Youth Guitar Competition, the 48th Tokyo International Guitar Competition, the Christopher Parkening Young Guitarist Competition, and the 2nd Iserlohn International Guitar Competition in Germany.

As a performing artist, she has performed solo, duo, and quartet concerts across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Finland, Croatia, Korea, Japan, and China, in which she has impressed audiences with an ability and artistry that exceeds her years.

Ms. Su performs regularly in chamber music setting, both with orchestras as a soloist, this past season she performed the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo and Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre for a chamber music ensemble.

Meng Su obtained her Performer’s Certificate and the Graduate Performer’s Diploma from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, USA, and is currently continuing her studies with guitar virtuoso Manuel Barrueco in the chamber music program.

Ms. Su’s discography includes a live CD and DVD release of a 2005 guitar concert in Korea as well as a release of “Four Angels.”

YAMENG WANG

Born in Qingdao, China in 1981, Yameng Wang fell in love with the classical guitar at a young age and began studying with the leading guitar professor in China, Professor Chen Zhi, when she was 10 years old.

She became the youngest winner of the Tokyo International Guitar Competition at the age of 12. She went on to win second prize in the “Michele Pittaluga” International Guitar Competition in Italy at the age of 13, and at the age of 14 she was invited by Radio France to perform at the Paris International Guitar Art Week and won second prize in La Infanta Doña Cristina International Guitar Competition in Spain. Classical Guitar magazine noted that at the age of 14, she already played like a seasoned professional.

After graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music of China in 2006, Ms. Wang enrolled in the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. There, she finished her Masters of Music degree in 2008 and is currently in the Graduate Performance Diploma program, studying with Maestro Manuel Barrueco.

Ms. Wang has given acclaimed recitals across the US, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Croatia,, Britain, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Australia, Japan, and Malaysia both as a soloist and in chamber music setting.

Her first album, “Caprice” was recorded when she was 16 years old. “A Very Special Album” was released in 1999, and in 2003 she contributed GHA’s album, “The Best of Classical Guitar.” In 2005 she released “Classic Guitar – Aquarelle, Un Sueño en la Floresta.”

Program

Prelude, Fugue et Variation, Op.18
CÉSAR FRANCK  (1822-1890)
Prélude (Andantino)
Lento (arr. Ophee)
Fugue (Allegretto ma non troppo)
Variation (Andantino)

Petite Suite
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
En bateau
Cortège (arr. Meng Su)
Menuet
Ballet

Dolly Suite, Op. 56
GABRIEL FAURÉ  (1845-1924)
Berceuse
Mi-a-ou (arr. Meng Su)
Le Jardin de Dolly
Kitty-valse
Tendresse
Le pas espagnole

Intermission

Valses poéticos
ENRIQUE GRANADOS  (1867-1916)
Vivace molto
Melodico (arr. Duo Gruber-Maklar)
Tempo de vals noble
Tempo de vals lento
Allegro humoristico
Allegretto (elegante)
Quasi ad libitum (sentimental)
Vivo
Presto – Andante – Tempo del primer vals

Bajo la Palmera
ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909)
Castilla (arr. M. Llobet)

Tango Suite
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992)
Allegro
Andante
Allegro vivace

Manuel Barrueco
April 6 & 7, 2024

Manuel Barrueco is internationally recognized as one of the most important guitarists of our time. His unique artistry has been continually described as that of a superb instrumentalist and a superior and elegant musician, possessing a seductive sound and uncommon lyrical gifts.

His career has been dedicated to bringing the guitar to the main musical centers of the world. During three decades of concertizing, he has performed across the United Sates from the New World Symphony in Miami to the Seattle Symphony, and from the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to New York’s Lincoln Center.

He has appeared with such prestigious orchestras as the Philadelphia Orchestra and with the Boston Symphony under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, in the American Premiere of Toru’s Takemitsu’s To the Edge of Dream. In addition, he appears regularly with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and with San Francisco Performances.

His international tours have taken him to some of the most important musical centers in the world. Highlights include the Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Royal Albert Hall in London, Philharmonie in Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid, and Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. In Asia he has completed a dozen tours of Japan and made repeated appearances in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, and Hong Kong. Barrueco’s tours of Latin America have included performances in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Puerto Rico.

He has also performed as a guest soloist with other international orchestras, such as the Russian State Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Auckland Symphony in New Zealand, Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo (OSESP), in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the radio symphonies of Munich and Frankfurt.

This coming season 2016-2017 includes solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Italy, an appearance with the Puerto Rico Symphony and conductor Max Valdes, performances with the Cuarteto Casals in the United States, and the Beijing Guitar Duo in the United States and Europe. He will continue being an Artist-in-residence for the University of Alicante, Spain. In the 2017-2018 concert season, Mr. Barrueco will offer two solo tours in Europe (November 2017 and March 2018).

Barrueco’s commitment to contemporary music and to the expansion of the guitar repertoire has led him to collaborations with many distinguished composers such as Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, Roberto Sierra, Arvo Pärt, Jonathan Leshnoff, Gabriela Lena Frank, Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky, and Toru Takemitsu, whose last orchestral work Spectral Canticle was a double concerto written specifically for Manuel Barrueco and violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman.

Manuel Barrueco has appeared on a wide array of television programs including “CBS Sunday Morning”, A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts”, and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” on PBS. He was featured in a Lexus car commercial, and his work in music inspired Michael Lawrence’s biographical documentary: “Manuel Barrueco: A Gift and a Life” which has been aired by PBS stations around the United States. Barrueco’s performances have been broadcast by television stations around the world such as NHK in Japan, Bayerische Rundfunk in Germany, and RTVE in Spain.

Barrueco’s recording catalogue includes over a dozen recordings for the EMI label. His recording of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with conductor and tenor Plácido Domingo and the Philharmonia Orchestra was cited as the best recording of that piece in Classic CD Magazine. His Koch Classics release, Concierto Barroco, with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and conductor Víctor Pablo Pérez, received a Latin Grammy nomination for “Best Classical Recording.” His early recordings, available on VOX, have become a classic amongst guitar recordings.

In 2007 Manuel Barrueco received a Grammy nomination for the “Best Instrumental Soloist Performance” for his Solo Piazzolla, which was the first recording to be released on the exclusive Manuel Barrueco Collection on Tonar Music. Tango Sensations and Sounds of the Americas came out subsequently in collaboration with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the latter received a Latin Grammy Award for “Inca Dances” by Gabriela Lena Frank for “Best Classical Contemporary Composition.” Virtuoso Guitar Duos was released in 2009 and includes the most breathtaking guitar duos from the Spanish and Latin-American repertoire. In 2010 he released a solo recording, Tárrega!, which includes works and arrangements of the Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega and which received a Latin Grammy nomination for “Best Classical Album.” His latest release Chaconne–A Baroque Recital came out in 2012.

This past season he released two recordings: Medea, which includes Barrueco’s arrangement of the ballet by flamenco guitarist/composer Manolo Sanlúcar recorded with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and Víctor Pablo Pérez conducting, and China West, a recording of guitar trios in collaboration with his protégés, the Beijing Guitar Duo (Meng Su & Yameng Wang).

Manuel Barrueco began playing the guitar at the age of eight, and he attended the Esteban Salas Conservatory in his native Cuba. He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1967, as political refugees.  Later, he completed his advanced studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he now shares his love for music with a small number of exceptionally gifted young guitarists from all over the world.

In 2011, Manuel Barrueco received the United States Artist Fontanals Fellowship for Artistic Excellence.