After a great public turnout and appreciation in February for the Quartetto Gelato, The Nassau Music Society is at it again.
Thanks to the continued support of their corporate sponsors, Société Générale Private Banking, Pictet, Royal Star Assurance and Colina and the generous donations of private individuals and members, they are able to continue to provide concerts featuring artists of international renown.
Alexander DaCosta, violinist and Wonny Song, pianist will hold two concerts for the Bahamian public on Tuesday, March 29 at 8 pm sharp at Government House and on Wednesday, March 30 at 8 pm sharp at St. Paul’s Church Hall, Lyford Cay. Both concerts are under the patronage of His Excellency, Sir Arthur Foulkes, Governor General of The Bahamas.
Alexandre DaCosta was born in Montréal, Canada in 1979 and showed an uncommon interest for both the violin and piano at a very early age. By the age of nine, he had the astounding ability to perform his first concerts with stunning virtuosity on both instruments, which brought him recognition as a musical prodigy. In 1998, at the age of 18, he received a Master’s degree in violin and a First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec.
Concurrently, he also received a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Interpretation from the faculty of music of the University of Montreal. From 1998 to 2001, he studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid with his mentor Zakhar Bron, teacher of violinists such as Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin. In 2002, he won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for best Canadian artist under 30 years old. Between 2003 and 2006, after winning the Musical Instrument Bank competition of the Canada Council for the Arts, he played the 1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius.
In addition to his concerts schedule, Alexandre is active as a teacher, giving workshops and Masterclasses in various universities and Conservatories around the world while traveling for concerts. He was also named Musical Development Director of the Canimex Foundation, an organization gathering an impressive collection of Fine Instruments for the benefit of talented artists.
All reviews are unanimous in saluting Alexandre’s faultless technique, inherited directly from the Russian School, his exceptional energy and musical talent. Alexandre da Costa now plays the 1727 “Di Barbaro” Stradivarius and a Sartory bow, courtesy of Canimex.
Wonny Song, a Canadian national, was born in South Korea and grew up in Montreal. He began piano studies at the age of eight and received a full scholarship to Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music in 1994. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Montreal University in 1998 and continued his studies with Anton Kuerti at the University of Toronto and at the Glenn Gould Professional School with Marc Durand. Awarded the first Elinor Bell Fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 2000, he completed his Doctoral studies there with Lydia Artymiw in 2004.
Wonny is also actively involved in grooming the next generation of concert pianists in Montreal. As associate director and director of artists-in-residence of Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts, Mr. Song offers Master Classes and workshops with the hope of inspiring young artists through innovative pedagogical approaches. On an academic level, Mr. Song is also co-developing a unique piano methodology series for group instruction with Angela Chan.
The Washington Post classes Wonny Song as “a versatile, intelligent, and deeply musical young pianist.” He has started an exciting international career with encore appearances in the Young Concert Artists Series in New York at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in Washington, DC as soloist with the Peoria Symphony (IL), the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa, and the EuroAsian Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea and Thailand, to name a few.
The Season will end on April 9th and 10th with two concerts by John O’Conor,
Irish pianist and Beethoven specialist.
Details and reservations are available at www.nassaumusicsociety.org or at the box offices: A.D. Hanna & Co. Deveaux Street, Tel: 322-8306, Logos Bookstore Harbour Bay Shopping Centre, Tel: 394-7040; Custom Computers Cable Beach, 396-1100, Moir and Co. Lyford Cay, 362-4895 and the Nassau Music Society, Tel: 302-5146.
