Things in Pairs Audrey Wright & Yundu Wang

• Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644 - 1704): Mystery Sonatas & Passacaglia:
• 1 Biber: Mystery Sonatas & Passacaglia: No. 16 in G Minor, Passacaglia, C. 105 “The Guardian Angel” 10:05
• Rain Worthington (b. 1949): Balancing on the Edge of Shadows:
• 2 Worthington: Balancing on the Edge of Shadows 05:31
• Joseph Bologne de Saint-George (1745 - 1799): Sonata for 2 Violins No. 1 in B-Flat Major, G. 209:
• 3 Saint-George: Sonata for 2 Violins No. 1 in B-Flat Major, G. 209: I. — 06:45
• 4 Saint-George: Sonata for 2 Violins No. 1 in B-Flat Major, G. 209: II. Aria con variatione 04:24
• Arvo Pärt (b. 1935): Fratres (Version for Violin & Piano):
• 5 Pärt: Fratres (Version for Violin & Piano) 11:02
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 "Cock-Crow":
• 6 Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 "Cock-Crow": I. Allegro moderato 10:50
• 7 Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 "Cock-Crow": II. Adagio espressivo 06:01
• 8 Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 "Cock-Crow": III. Scherzo. Allegro 02:06
• 9 Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 "Cock-Crow": IV. Poco allegretto 08:59
• Total Runtime 01:05:43

Info for Things in Pairs

Concept albums are few and far between, and rarer yet in classical music. THINGS IN PAIRS, a conceptual as well as a musical beacon by violin/piano duo Audrey Wright and Yundu Wang, fills this gap. The tracks on THINGS IN PAIRS were not just carefully curated – rather, they were selected and sorted with the precision of a steady-handed artist stacking a formidable house of cards. Spanning five centuries, these pieces contrast the classical Joseph Bologne with modern minimalist Arvo Pärt, Baroque virtuoso Biber with the contemporary Rain Worthington, all under the watchful eye of Viennese Classical Beethoven.

Audrey Wright, violin
Yundu Wang, piano

Audrey Wright
is a multifaceted artist across solo, chamber music, and orchestral realms. She is Associate Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Concertmaster of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, has performed across the globe in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, and the Vatican, and has soloed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, and the Cape Symphony Orchestra. With a passion for innovative programming and juxtaposing a wide range of musical styles, her repertoire spans the early 17th century to modern day and her performing experience includes the full spectrum of these musical styles, from period performance practice to the premiering of new and personally-commissioned works.

Originally from Cape Cod, MA, Wright developed a love of ensemble and collaborative playing from a young age. During her high school years, she went on several international tours with youth orchestras in the Boston area, and spent two years attending the prestigious Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts. As a participant in the Verbier Festival from 2012 to 2016, she performed with the Verbier Festival Orchestra and Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and was concertmaster under the direction of Gábor Takács-Nagy, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Kent Nagano, Iván Fischer, and Charles Dutoit.

In 2013 Wright was accepted as a Fellow in the New World Symphony, a position she held for one year before joining the Fellowship String Quartet at the University of Maryland, the Excelsa Quartet. As a member of the Excelsa Quartet from 2014-2016, she traveled throughout North America and Europe giving concerts and competing in international competitions. The quartet worked closely with members of the Guarneri, Emerson, St. Lawrence, and Juilliard quartets, and in 2015 commissioned and gave the world premiere of John Heiss's Microcosms. It was in 2016 that Wright left the quartet to join the second violin section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and in 2018 she won the position of associate concertmaster. Since 2019 she has held the title of concertmaster of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and regularly serves as guest concertmaster for the Nu Deco Ensemble in Miami, FL.

As a highly sought-after chamber musician, Wright has performed on such chamber music series as Meeting House Chamber Music (Cape Cod, MA), Jackson Hole Chamber Music (Jackson, WY), Manchester Summer Chamber Music (Ipwich, MA), Great Lakes Summer Chamber Music Festival (Detroit, MI), and in many concerts in the greater Baltimore area, including Chiarina Chamber Players, Community Concerts at Second, Pro Musica Rara, Hood College Chamber Music, and the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, where she has performed on a number of the exquisite instruments within the Smithsonian Instrument Collection. Other collaborations include artists Mayron Tsong, Paul Watkins, Roberto González-Monjas, Russell Hartenberger, Roger Tapping, John Heiss, John Gibbons, and Christopher O’Riley on the national radio program "From the Top", as well as chamber ensembles such as the Axelrod String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, and Boston Trio.

This 2021-22 season, Wright embarks on an exciting period of performances and carefully curated projects that are fueled by the desire to draw connections where they might not have been obvious before. Her upcoming debut album, Things In Pairs, features pianist Yundu Wang and is scheduled for release in 2022 on the PARMA Recordings Navona label. She is in the planning stages of several multi-disciplinary collaborations, and recently completed an intensive “Beyond Bach” solo violin recital series at Baltimore’s An Die Musik. Other upcoming solo performances include Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to performing, Wright is a passionate teacher and chamber music coach, and has developed a specialty in coaching orchestral audition excerpts. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, she released her own series of excerpt tutorial videos on YouTube that has received considerable attention from violinists around the world. She was the Director of the Homewood Chamber Music Seminar at Johns Hopkins University from 2017-18 and now maintains a small studio of private students. Previously, she coached chamber music at the University of Maryland School of Music, and held teaching positions at the International School of Music in Bethesda, MD, Beechwood Knoll Elementary School in Quincy, MA, and Panama Jazz Festival in Panama City, Panama.

Wright holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (BM ‘11, MM ‘13) and the University of Maryland (DMA ‘19). Her primary teachers include David Salness, Lucy Chapman, Bayla Keyes, and Magdalena Richter. She plays on a 1763 J.B. Guadagnini violin generously on loan from conductor Marin Alsop.

Yundu Wang
is a Chinese-American classical pianist currently based in Boston MA. A passionate chamber musician and collaborator, Yundu has performed widely throughout the U.K., United States, and Europe. Notable venues include Barbican Hall, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Jordan Hall, Sendesaal Bremen, St Martin-in-the-Fields, TivoliVredenburg, and Wigmore Hall. Yundu has collaborated with artists Henk Guittart, Paul Katz, Alan Kay, Roger Tapping, and Sam Walton. She has toured throughout Germany and the U.K. with the Neos Ensemble and violinist Savitri Grier.

In addition to her collaboration with violinist Audrey Wright on her debut album, THINGS IN PAIRS, Yundu is performing with cellist Christine Lamprea (Longy School of Music of Bard College) to promote their augmented reality concert, presented by Immersphere.

Wang has participated in numerous festivals, including the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Aspen Music Festival, Holland Music Sessions, and Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland. As a soloist, Yundu has won top prizes at the Honors Competition at the New England Conservatory of Music, the Seiler International Piano Competition, the Julia Crane International Piano Competition and the Cincinnati World Piano Competition, among others.

Wang graduated with Honors from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and received a master’s with distinction at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She was recently awarded a Doctorate of Music from the Guildhall School, supervised by Ronan O’Hora, Cormac Newark, and Elinor Payne (University of Oxford). Her doctoral research explores, through interdisciplinary and multi-methodological study, the relationship between speech and musical performance. Her work also involves autoethnographic examinations of musical expression, East Asian identity, and the performer’s voice in Western classical music.

This album contains no booklet.