Grosse Pointe Symphony Hosts Free Summer Concert

GROSSE POINTE, MI — The Grosse Pointe Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer concert is coming up on Aug. 5. The free concert will begin at 3 p.m. and showcase movements from the Mozart g minor Symphony No. 40 and two soloists.

“The big surprise is the Haydn Flute concerto written by Michael Haydn, not Joseph his more famous brother,” said William Hulsker, president of the Grosse Pointe Symphony Board. “As always a little Bach is perfect summer music. This summer it's Bach's concerto for Violin in E major.”

The featured soloists for the show are Ian Plansker, flute and Jing Zhang, violin. Here’s a look at their backgrounds:

Ian Plansker is a fourteen year old flautist, harpsichordist, and composer from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. He currently studies flute under Sharon Sparrow and Caen Thomason-Redus; and harpsichord with Glenn Burdette. He has won numerous awards for flute performance, including first place, two years in a row, in the Tuesday Musicale’s Student League Competition and first place in the SEMFA Rachel Stornant Competition. Ian has also had many of his compositions performed, including violin, flute, harpsichord sonatas; orchestral overtures, orchestral dances, and is currently writing a orchestral suite in the French rococo style.

His favorite era of music is the baroque, from which he particularly enjoys the music of Rameau, Royer, and Francoeur. In the pursuit of his passion for baroque music, he recently attended Oberlin Conservatory's Baroque Performance institute on a scholarship for historical, baroque flute and harpsichord, which he found to be one of the most significant experiences in his musical career thus far.

Besides music, Ian studies Cecchetti ballet, where he is working on his Professional Elementary Syllabus. As well as the martial art, Tang Soo Do, in which he holds a first-degree blackbelt. Ian will be attending Grosse Pointe South High School as a freshman, this fall.

Violinist Jing Zhang began studying the violin at the age of 4. She entered the Shanghai Conservatory of Music on the Fu Cheng-Xian Scholarship at the age of 10 as the youngest of only four violinists accepted that year. She received her Master’s of Music and Bachelor’s of Music in Violin Performance from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Donald Weilerstein.

Jing has performed extensively around the world--her most memorable concert performances including those given in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Singapore and her native China. She has appeared in numerous recitals and programs, including the Temple Israel’s Schmier Concert in Detroit; the premiere of the Perlman Music Residency Program in Vermont; and many others at New England Conservatory and Shanghai Conservatory--where she has often been invited to visit back and play as a top graduate and renowned alumna. Jing has also performed as a soloist with the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.

Jing has won multiple national and international competitions, including fourth prize at the Fourth International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, the Gold Award in the Second "Pu Gong Ying" National Violin Competition, and third prize in the Seventh National Youth Violin Performance Competition. She was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition and in the 2012 San Diego Symphony auditions for violin. Jing was a finalist in the 2011 Cleveland Orchestra and 2012 Chicago Symphony Orchestra auditions. She has attended festivals such as the Morningside Music Bridge Summer Camp in Canada, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, the Perlman Music Program and the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop.

Outside of her mastery of the violin, Jing starred in a 2002 Chinese film "Together," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In her spare time, Jing enjoys spending time with her friends and being outdoors.

The concert will be held in the Moross Cafe in Ascension St. John Hospital, located at 22101 Moross Street in Detroit. For more information, visit www.gpsymphony.org.

Images via William Hulsker

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