Towards the Flame - Solo Piano Recital

Concert Pianist https://tong-wang.com

Co-founder and Artistic Director of Windwood Music Festival https://windwoodfestival.com

Pianist of Duo Perdendosi https://duoperdendosi.com

Tong Wang is a Canadian concert pianist leading innovative initiatives across areas of performance, research, and community engagement. Her projects explore the role of art in relation to identity, culture, and current social-political issues. Her multimedia performances incorporate writing, art, audio-visual materials and audience interaction. As a soloist and chamber musician, Tong has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, and ensembles across North America and Europe. As a multidisciplinary artist, she has written the libretto of a new opera, “Labyrinth of Tears”, funded by the Canada Council, FRQSC, and SSHRC. Her doctoral research studies the aesthetic of “cuteness” in popular and classical music. Tong recently toured a recital on multiculturalism, “我们Us” in Lunenburg, Montreal, Basel, and presented the interactive concerts “We’re Not Really Strangers” and “My Neighbours Totoro and Claude!” at the Verbier Festival. In 2022, Tong launched the Windwood Music Festival in Airdrie, Alberta to engage with rural farming communities through classical chamber music. In 2023, Tong toured with Duo Perdendosi across eastern US & Canada and premiered with cellist Leah Plave a new commission by Alice Ping Yee Ho, “Four Impressions of China”. As a recipient of the Canada Council Arts Abroad Touring grant, Tong toured “Dark Tales” with Duo Perdendosi across eastern Europe in 2024. Tong is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Schulich School of Music, McGill University in Montreal. Tong continues to embark on solo and chamber tours across the US, Canada, and Europe, showcasing her dedication to fostering global connections through art.

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/skye.pianist

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twangpiano

Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 (21 min) 

1. Grave - Doppio movimento 
2. Scherzo 
3. Marche funèbre 
4. Finale. Presto 

*Alice Ping Yee Ho – A Manic Ride Through Lollipop Hell (10 min)

1. The Labyrinth
2. A Sad Lullaby
3. The Great Escape

-intermission-

Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 6 (21 min) 

1. Allegro con fuoco
2. quarter=40
3. Presto
4. Funebre

Stravinsky/Agosti - Firebird (12min)

1. Danse infernale 
2. Berceuse 
3. Finale

*“This solo piano work is based on the story of my one act horror-anime-opera “Labyrinth of Tears”, a project in development with the talented Montreal based writer/pianist Tong Wang. It tells the adventure and friendship between five wizardry schoolgirls from an imaginary Academy of Magical Arts. Four girls journey into the inner world of their friend who suffered from eating disorder, and attempt to rescue her from a mysterious coma through combating dangers and solving puzzles in the “Labyrinth”. This adventure is captured in three movements of contrasting characters: “The Labyrinth”, “A Sad Lullaby”, and “The Great Escape”. The piano writing fuses genre of “pop” and classical” styles, and demands great technical virtuosity. The dramatic use of colors, extreme dynamics and registers create an intense musical expressions throughout, one can imagine the terrifying inner psyche and an escapade that pretty much depict “A Manic Ride through Lollipop Hell”. This work is commissioned and written especially for the brilliant pianist/writer Tong Wang, through the support of Toronto Arts Council.”

-Alice Ping Yee Ho

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Redpath Hall, 3461 Rue McTavish, Montréal, Canada