International Concert Stars Combine at HSU

Renowned concert pianist and new HSU Music faculty member Daniela Mineva makes her Humboldt County debut, hosting a rising star of international standing, violinist Bin Huang.

“We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful artist perform here,” Mineva said of Bin Huang. The opportunity for Bin Huang and Mineva to perform together made this event possible.

Bin Huang comes to Humboldt during her U.S. tour, after concerts in Italy and in the “Ten Most Celebrated Violinists” series in China. She has appeared at Lincoln Center in New York, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in Russia, Opera City in Tokyo and China’s National Grand Theater. The Baltimore Sun called her “a talent that leaves a listener flabbergasted.”

Since winning her first international violin competition at the age of 14, Bin Huang has added many other prestigious prizes, and has performed with such top ranked ensembles as the Julliard String Quartet, the Guarneri String Quartet and the Beaux Arts Trio, as well as major symphony orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Last year in Canada, she performed the world premiere of Robert Gauldin’s violin concerto, which is dedicated to her.

Her partner in this concert, pianist Daniela Mineva has won numerous international competitions and played major venues in the U.S. and Europe. The New York Times called her a “vibrant and expressive performer who could steal the show in every concert.”

Born in Bulgaria, Daniela Mineva began piano lessons at the age of five, with her mother as her first teacher. She studied at the Sofia Music Academy before earning advanced degrees in the U.S., including her Doctorate at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She has taught at the Eastman School, among other institutions, where she won an award for teaching excellence. She began teaching at HSU as Assistant Professor of Music this fall.

Bin Huang began studying the violin at the age of four in China, and entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing at age nine. She came to the U.S., and earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, and her Masters at the Eastman School of Music. More information is available at her web site.

Together at Fulkerson Hall, Mineva and Bin Huang will play sonatas for violin and piano by 20th century French Impressionist composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, late 19th century Belgian Romantic composer Cesar Franck, and late 20th century French composer Olivier Messiaen.

Violinist Bin Huang and pianist Daniela Mineva perform on Friday, October 16 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8/$3 from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.

Media: Humboldt State Now, North Coast Journal.