Accomplished Classical Pianist Coming To Husson University's Gracie Theatre

Husson University welcomes celebrated classical pianist Fei-Fei (pronounced fā-fā) Dong to the stage of the Gracie Theatre on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at 2 p.m. Support from the Husson Recital Fund, created by John E. Kilgore, Jr., is helping to make this concert and other classical music performances possible at the Gracie Theatre.

"The Bangor area is rich with young, talented musicians, whom I hope will be inspired by Fei-Fei's youth, passion and talent. We are delighted to invite all students and children to attend her performance free of charge," said Jeri Misler, managing director of the Gracie Theatre.

This Gracie concert program features Beethoven's Sonata - Opus 31 Number 3, Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen, Claude Debussy's L'isle Joyeuse, and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Six Moments Musicaux - Opus 16.

Praised for her "bountiful gifts and passionate immersion into the music she touches" by Cleveland's The Plain Dealer, Fei-Fei won the Concert Artists Guild Competition and was a top finalist at the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. She continues to build a reputation for her poetic interpretations, charming audiences with her "passion, piquancy and tenderness," both in the US and internationally, including her native China.

Fei-Fei's 2020-2021 concert season will take her across the globe in concerto performances, recitals and chamber music collaborations alike. Highlights include performances with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic in Germany, a tour of Spain with the New York Youth Symphony, as well as concerto engagements with the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Big Springs Symphony and Symphony in C. This season also brings a new special project titled "The Inner Voices" with violist Dana Kelley and clarinetist Yoonah Kim, featuring the music of Mozart, Schumann and Brahms.

Born in Shenzhen, China. Fei-Fei began piano lessons at the age of five. She moved to New York to study at The Juilliard School, where she earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees under the guidance of Yoheved Kaplinsky.

Additional career highlights include performances with the Fort Worth Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, Austin Symphony, Denver Philharmonic, Anchorage Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, and the Juilliard Orchestra. Internationally, she has performed with Canada's Calgary Philharmonic, Germany's Rostock and Baden-Baden Philharmonic orchestras, and in China with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, China National, and Shenzhen Symphony orchestras.

Fei-Fei was showcased prominently as a Cliburn finalist in the documentary film Virtuosity about the 2013 Cliburn Competition. The film premiered on PBS in August 2015. She is based in New York City.

According to the Huffington Post, "Fei-Fei's unforgettable Beethoven Fourth stretched the dimensions of the music's time and space with risk-taking rapture... It was illuminating, poetic Beethoven..."

Tickets for this concert are $15 - $20 for adults. Children under the age of 18, and any college student with a current I.D. are invited to attend the performance free of charge. Tickets can be reserved or purchased by calling the Gracie Theatre box office at 207-941-7888. Classical music fans can also purchase tickets by visiting the box office in person on any weekday leading up to the performance on February 9 at 2:00 p.m. or at the door the day of the concert. Patrons who purchase their tickets earlier with get the first choice of available seats.

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