Jeremy Zhu
Francine Kay
By Waid Rainey
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — As part of Conway’s 10th celebration of Artsfest, violinist Jeremy Zhu and pianist Francine Kay will visit the University of Central Arkansas as artists in residence.
Kay will give a solo recital at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, in the Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall. Kay and Zhu will give a collaborative recital at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, also in the recital hall.
Both recitals are free and open to the public.
“I am very excited about this residency,” said Dr. Linda Hsu, faculty sponsor for the residency. “It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to work with top-notch teachers and for our entire community to be able to enjoy superior performances.
“Both Francine Kay and Jeremy Zhu are incredible artists who will no doubt bring us inspirations and better understanding of fine art. I studied violin with Jeremy Zhu for many years after completing graduate school, even after I began teaching at UCA. If this community considers me to be pretty good at playing and teaching the violin, they should come hear the real master.”
Kay, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard, has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, North America and Asia, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Salle Gaveau, The National Gallery, Roy Thomson Hall, The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and Bargemusic. Her internationally acclaimed recordings have been broadcast on NPR, the BBC, WFMT and Radio France. Kay, a lecturer at Princeton, regularly gives master classes in Canada, the United States and Poland.
Zhu has a master’s degree in Violin Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. He is a principal performing artist at the LORE Society for Performing Arts & Education and is also an artist faculty in violin, chamber music and ensemble at the LORE Academy for Performing Arts. His teaching and performances have taken him to Chile, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and China, performing with distinguished musicians such as George Kern, Gerald Fauth, Shmuel Magen, Emanuel Gruber, Charles Castleman and Samuel Adler. Zhu was a senior faculty member in violin and chamber music and the director of string ensembles at Eastman for more than 16 years.
Other residency activities, free and open to the public, include:
- Kay, public lecture, Sept. 23, Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, 3-3:50 p.m.
- Kay, piano masterclass, Sept. 23, Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, 4-5:30 p.m.
- Zhu, violin masterclass, Sept. 23, Snow Fine Arts Choir Room 107, 4-5:30 p.m.
- Zhu and Kay, chamber music masterclass, Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
- Zhu, violin technique workshop, Sept. 24, Snow Fine Arts Choir Room 107, 3-4:30 p.m.
For more information about the residency, contact Hsu at (501) 450-5765 or Lindah@uca.edu.
The Artist in Residence program is funded by UCA’s arts fee and is administered by the College of Fine Arts and Communication. For more information about the program, call the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication, at (501) 450-3293 or e-mail jdmiller@uca.edu.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Music, and Film, Theatre and Creative Writing as well as the School of Communication. The college’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call (501) 450-3293.
