Yung-chiao Wei
Double Bass
“Bass Players with great technique and supreme artistry are non-existent. Well, there are a few exceptions: the legendary Gary Karr, of course, Eugene Levinson of the New York Philharmonic, and now Yung-Chiao Wei, a young, multi-talented female bassist from Taiwan” reads a recent New York Concert Review of Yung-Chiao Wei’s Carnegie Hall solo recital debut. Yung-Chiao Wei was also praised by The Miami Herald as "a two sided-talent - a competition winning pianist turned double bass virtuoso". Through her musical insight, breathtaking virtuosity and personality, Wei combines compelling, artistic performances on the double bass with a magical presence in stage.
Currently a double bass professor at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Wei is a recipient of numerous honors and awards, honors including the 2006 LSU Tiger Athlete Foundation Teaching Award, 2005 LSU Summer Research Stipend Grant, 2003 Taiwan Young Concert Artist Competition, both the 2nd Prize and Audience prize in the 2001 Izuminomori International Double Bass/Cello Competition in Japan, the New World Symphony Concerto Competition, the Texas International Festival Concerto Competition, two consecutive years the Interlochen Arts Academy Concerto Competition, the Academy’s Young Artist and Fine Arts Award, and first prize in the Taiwan National Music Competition.
Ms. Wei’s recent Carnegie Hall debut garnered tremendous praise from New York Concert Review Inc. Critic Anthony Aibel, who cited “Wei is a phenomenon”. Her performance of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata in A minor elicited another mention of praise; Aible affirmed that “nuance on the double bass is hard to accomplish, but Wei plays with subtlety of dynamics, color and expression one seldom, if ever, hears on the bass”.
Wei has appeared at major concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall, Davis Hall, Jordan Hall, Isabella Stewart Garden Museum, Ozawa Hall, Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall, National Concert Hall (Taiwan), Izuminomori Hall (Japan). Recent and upcoming performances include her New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in December 2003, concerto appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, the New World Symphony (FL) and several solo recitals throughout Taiwan. She has been invited to give performances and/or master classes at the Eastman School of Music, Interlochen Arts Academy, Ithaca College School of Music, Belize (Central America), Japan Double Bass seminar, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Taipei University of the Arts, Tunghai University in Taiwan, University of North Florida, among many. She served as a faculty member of the Bowdoin Music Festival in Maine, and was a juror for the International Bassist Society Competition in 2003.
As a chamber musician, Wei has collaborated with celebrated artists such as Leon Fleisher, James Buswell, John Gibbson and Joseph Robinson. She was invited by Denis Brott (artist director of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival) to perform in Montreal Chamber Music Festival, where she collaborated with Dennis Brott, James Campbell, Joseph Rouleau, Gabriel Gascon, Rosemarie Landry, Andy Simionescu, James Ehnes, Neal Gripp, Stephane Levesque, and James Sommerville. Her orchestra experience includes serving as principal bassist in the New World Symphony Orchestra (FL) under Michael Tilson Thomas; the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra in Boston. She has participated in several festivals including the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto (Italy) and the Pacific Music Festival (Japan). Wei has been featured on the radio and television throughout USA (CBS, WGBH, PBS), Japan’s NHK, Canada's CBC, Belize and Taiwan.
Wei stretched her repertoire from its classic European and Asian base to include a whole new genre, the Argentine tango. She joined 19 other women, the Leading Ladies of Tango-an all female tango performance in 2006 by invitation of Ted Viviani, executive producer of an Extreme Tango Production in San Francisco. She collaborated with the outstanding Argentinean singer Silvana Deluigi, Uruguay's virtuoso pianist Polly Ferman, Viviana Guzman (Flute), Anna-Maria Mendieta (Harp), Ina Paris (Violin) and two bandoneonists, Eleonora Ferrerya of Argentina and Bettina Hartl of Germany.
A native of Taiwan, Wei began playing the piano at age six and the bass at age twelve. She received her Master of Music degree with honors from the New England Conservatory in Boston and her Bachelor of Music degree with a Performance Certificate from the Eastman School of Music- the first bassist to be awarded such a certificate in twenty years. Her teachers include James Vandemark, Lawrence Wolfe, Stuart Sankey, Jeff Turner, Derek Weller, Peter Dominguez and Claudia Chen.
Wei is the first Double Bass soloist transcribed and performed in the famous Chinese Violin Concerto "Butterfly Lovers". It is recorded with pianist Chao-I Chou and will be released soon on Centaur Records.
School of Music
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-2504
Voice: 225/578-2678
Fax: 225/578-2678
E-mail:ywei1@lsu.edu
