Candlelight Concert - American Minimalism

Renowned concert pianist and professor of piano Anthony Cardella is joined by esteemed musicians Zhaoyuan Qin and Ariana O'Connell to perform music by John Adams and Philip Glass. The program will include:

• John Adams: "Hallelujah Junction" for 2 pianos and "Road Movies" for piano and violin.
• Philip Glass: "Four Movements for Two Pianos" and "Sonata for Piano and Violin"

Anthony Cardella Bio:

Anthony Cardella is award-winning performer and composer who has won regional, National, and International piano competitions and has recently appeared in concert halls across the United States as well as in Spain, Italy, France, Serbia, Hungary, and Turkey. A Wisconsin native, Anthony moved to Los Angeles in 2019 after completing his undergraduate studies at the Lawrence Conservatory of Music. Since then, he has been performing, teaching, and collaborating in the Los Angeles area while teaching at Occidental College and The Colburn School and completing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music.

Anthony has been praised for his virtuosity, exceptionally delicate touch, and colorful playing that connects with his audiences on an emotional level, and is known for assembling programs that showcase the full extent of his technical abilities and vulnerability at the piano in tandem. Anthony actively seeks out music written by living composers to program and showcase in addition to standard Classical repertoire, and frequently assembles interdisciplinary performances with crossovers between art and film, some of which have included projected animations created by the USC School of Cinematic Arts, as well as contemporary artwork by esteemed American painters. As a composer, Anthony has been fascinated with synesthesia and the crossover between visual art and music, leading him to compose works inspired by the synesthesia of visual artists, with recent world premieres in Los Angeles and at the 2024 Venice Biennale where he premiered his Piano Sonata “Only Through Time is Time Conquered.”

Anthony holds a Bachelor of Music with honors in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Lawrence University and Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music in Piano Performance fromthe University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and is a Doctoral candidate at USC, where he served as a teaching assistant for the piano department while also doing research in musicology and pedagogy.

Anthony’s passions in pedagogy include modernized teaching approaches that value many genres of music including Classical, pop, rock, and improvisation to adequately prepare students for multifaceted careers and opportunities ahead of them, as well as injury prevention at the piano with specialized work and research done in Taubman Technique and ergonomic piano playing. His mentors have included Daniel Pollack, Michael Mizrahi, Silva Costanzo, Kevin Fitz Gerald, and Stephen Pierce.

Instagram: @anthonycardellapiano

Zhaoyuan Qin Bio:
Praised for his “dramatic and physical mastery”, “brilliant technique and musicianship”, Chinese pianist Zhaoyuan Qin is currently based in Los Angeles. An avid promoter of contemporary music, Qin has premiered numerous works by peer composers. He was one of the 2024 piano fellows at Tanglewood Music Center. Qin has appeared in festivals and conferences including College Music Society (2024), Asian Classical Music Initiative (2024, 2023, and 2022), New Music Gathering (2023), and Electronic Music Midwest (2023). He performs regularly with University of Southern California’s new music ensemble, Thornton Edge, directed by Donald Crockett.
Qin has given solo and chamber recitals, including charity concerts, across China and the United States. In 2021 he performed Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Conductor’s Orchestra and Andrew Downs at Indiana University. Qin won the second prize of The Sixth “Premio Citta di Imola” International Piano Competition in 2017. Later that year Qin co-directed, hosted, and performed in Concert of Piano Works by People of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which was part of a large project consisting of seminars and student-led research funded by SHCM. Qin was a participant in the 2019 Art of the Piano festival.
Qin is currently pursuing his doctorate in piano at University of Southern California, studying with Jeffery Kahane. In 2023 Qin received his Artist Diploma in Piano from Indiana University. He also holds degrees from New England Conservatory (20’ MM) and Shanghai Conservatory of Music (18’ BA). Qin’s previous piano tutors include Ick-Choo Moon, Norman Krieger, and Hong Huang.

Ariana O'Connell Bio:

Ariana O’Connell is earning her master’s degree in Violin Performance at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, studying with Glenn Dicterow. She earned second place in the 2019 Chicago Violin Competition and first prize in the 2019 Midwest Conservatory Concerto Competition. Ariana was the Associate Concertmaster of the California Young Artists Symphony from 2022-2024 and now holds the Colburn Foundation Concertmaster Chair. She received the 2023 Kathleen and Jerry Eberhardt Scholarship while attending Music Academy as a Violin Fellow. She has also recorded solos for the Gershwin Classical Kids Live CD, and performed with Laufey, the Blue Man Group, and more.  She has performed with the Chicago Sinfonietta, San Diego Symphony, and Dream Orchestra. Ariana plays on a scholarship violin graciously provided by the Galvin Foundation.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Herrick Interfaith Center, 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, United States