by Bridget M. Rohrer
Editorial Assistant
The University of La Verne Chapel will host the Mei Duo, who will perform Masterworks by American Women, featuring works for violin and piano, on Sunday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m.
The evening will feature works of Amy Cheney Beach, Ruth Crawford and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Zwilich, a Pulitzer Prize winner wrote, masterworks pieces, “Liberamente – Tempo giusto,” “Lento e molto espressivo” and “Allegro vivo e con brio”.
“The Mei Duo will feature three American Women because of their basic acoustic music,” said Lilia López, operations manager of the Music Department.
The Duo has performed from such places as the Library of Congress and the Beijing Central Conservatory. Pianist Hao Huang, a four-time United States Information Agency (USIA) Artistic Ambassador, is on the faculty of Scripps College, where violinist Rachel Huang also teaches.
“We are very excited about having them here,” said López. “They have performed all over the world, including Scripps College.”
In July 1994, the Mei Duo was featured at the International Society for Music Education World Conference, where they discussed and performed the sonatas that will also be performed Sunday.
The musicians of the Mei Duo have been recognized by a number of organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also noted for their work in jazz analysis.
Rachel Huang received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and masters of music and doctorate of music arts degrees from State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. She is an active clinician and lecturer with the College Music Society (CMS) and Music Teachers’ National Association (MTNA).
Currently she is a lecturer in music at Scripps College but has taught on the full-time faculties of the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Rachel Huang’s husband, Hao, is the Duo’s pianist and has gained critical acclaim on four continents as a USIA Artistic Ambassador. He has appeared as concerto soloist with the Brevard Festival, the Music in the Mountains Festival, the George Enescu International Festival in Romania and others. He represented the U.S. in the Cultural Olympiad of Catalonia preceding the Barcelona Olympic Games.
Dr. Huang holds degrees from Harvard University, the Juilliard School and SUNY at Stony Brook, and is on the faculty of Scripps College.
The Mei Duo’s performance at the University of La Verne will be its first and López is looking forward to being host to similar kinds of performances in the future.
