User:Yukawai

Ka-Wai Yu

Cello

Ka-Wai Yu is currently a Doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he studies cello with Brandon Vamos. He obtained his Master of Music in Cello Performance from Indiana University, Bloomington. A recipient of the Yamaha Music Scholarship, Yu received his Bachelor of Arts in Music with First Class Honours from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Yu holds the Diploma in Cello Performing from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, UK. His other major teachers include Csaba Onczay, Helga Winold, David Starkweather, and Ming-Yuen Cheung.

A First-Prize Winner at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, Yu was awarded the Most Outstanding Musician Trophy by St. Paul’s College Hong Kong and won the school’s Instrumental Solo Competition. He has performed at cello master classes of János Starker, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Llius Claret, Sharon Robinson, Lászlό Mezö, Jeffrey Solow, Elizabeth Dolin, Robert Jesselsen, David Requiro, Amos Yang, Mihai Marica, and Damian Kremer. In 2003, Yu received the Asian Cultural Council Scholarship to study with Anthony Elliott at the Aspen Music Festival. He has also attended the Orford Arts Centre, Montreal and the Toronto Summer Music Academy as a scholarship student.

Yu has appeared as concerto soloist at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts. He has given recitals at Hong Kong City Hall Recital Hall, Chinese University of Hong Kong Lee Hysan Concert Hall, Indiana University Ford-Crawford Hall, University of Illinois Smith Memorial Hall, Indiana Wesleyan University Baker Recital Hall, University Place Christian Church and Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign, Illinois, Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia, and Hong Kong St. John’s Cathedral. In 2000, Yu was invited by the World Red Cross Association to perform solo in a fund-raising concert in Hong Kong. He has also performed for the Music Teacher National Association Music Club and Clark-Lindsey in Urbana, Illinois, and King's Bridge Retirement Community in Atlanta, Georgia.

Devoted to chamber music, Yu has studied with members of the Tokyo, American, Pacifica, and Parker Quartets. He has also received chamber coaching from such musicians as James Campbell, Ik-Hwan Bae, Bion Tsang, Fred Sherry, Evgeny Rivkin, Dennis Helmrich, Ann Yeung, Julie Gunn, Geoffrey Pratley, Mary Wu, and Lily Koh. Cellist of the Yu’s Trio and Y2B Trio, Yu has given chamber recitals in Hong Kong and the United States.

Currently the Principal Cellist of the Eastern Symphony Orchestra and member of the Sinfonia da Camera, Yu was Principal Cellist of the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Stage Ensemble, Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra, and St. Paul’s College School Orchestra. He has also played in the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Danville Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Indiana University Philharmonic, University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, and Chung Chi Orchestra. As an orchestral cellist, Yu has worked with such conductors as Sergiu Commissiona, Muhai Tang, Joseph Flummerfelt, David Effron, Wing-Sie Yip, and Tsung Yeh. He has performed in concert tours to Chicago, Fort Wayne, Tokyo, Hamamatsu, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Early Music and research

With a strong interest in early music performance practice, Yu has studied viola da gamba and baroque cello with Wendy Gillespie and Jaap ter Linden. He has played basso continuo in performances in Hong Kong and USA. As a viola da gambist and baroque cellist, Yu is a member of the Concerto Urbano at University of Illinois, and plays in a local viol consort group. He has also played with harpsichordist Sonia Lee, and viola da gambist/cellist Benjamin Hayek in the Illinois area. In addition, Yu has studied Baroque and Classical performance practice under the tutelage of the renowned harpsichordist and musicologist Charlotte Mattax, and studied 17th Century music with John Hill at University of Illinois. As a Winner of the Early Music America Scholarship, Yu attended the Vancouver Early Music Festival in 2009. He was also coached by such leading early music experts as violinist Marc Destrubé, flutist Wilbert Hazelzet, and harpsichordist Jacques Ogg. This summer, Yu will attend the American Bach Soloists Academy in San Francisco.

A believer of the scholarly research’s importance in musical performance, Yu has worked with such scholars and theorists as William Kinderman, David Haas, Christina Bashford, Reynold Tharp, and Erik Lund. His Doctoral thesis topic is “When Concerto Meets Song Cycle: A Study of Vocal Influences in Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129, with Reference to his Dichterliebe, Op. 48’’.

Teaching

Yu thinks that to be a good performer one must also be a good teacher. He is currently on the faculty of Eastern Illinois University's Symphonic Honors Initiative Program, and on the faculty of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. He has taught cello privately for more than nine years in Hong Kong and USA, and was a cello class teacher at Po Kwok Secondary School, Hong Kong. He has given lessons for undergraduate cello students at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Well sought after as a clinician, Yu has given master classes at DePauw University, Indiana Wesleyan University, and at Lafayette Indiana. He was chamber coach in the Allerton String Chamber Music Symposium, Illinois and the University of Georgia Youth Music Camp, and has also coached sectionals of the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra.

Voice

Vocal music always has a central place in Yu’s life. He has studied voice with his mezzo-soprano mother Chiu-May Yu and with Hong Kong tenor Raymond Fu. He has performed in the master class of tenor Stephen Ng. A prize winner of Tenor Solo in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, Yu was tenor soloist in the Chung Chi Choir’s performance of Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio, Op. 12 in 2003. He also played one of the main characters ‘Wei Hung’ in the Chung Chi College musical production Obsession in 2001. As a member of the Opera Society of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Youth Choir, Yu has participated in the opera productions of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and in the production of the musical Les Misérables in Hong Kong. He was also a member of the Chung Chi Choir and Chamber Choir of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as St. Paul’s College School Choir and Madrigal Group. As a conductor, Yu was Choirmaster of the St. Paul’s College Senior Choir and led the choir to the Singapore Choral Symposium in 2001. He has studied choral conducting with Angela Tam at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Composition

Besides studying cello and voice, Yu has studied composition with Wing-Wah Chan at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His La Maladie Contagieuse for clarinet, double bass and female voice without words was premièred in the Bauhinia Concert 2003 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His The Lost Dream for piano trio was premièred in Hong Kong pianist May Cheung’s recital in 2004. Yu has also written some religious and pop songs. As a promoter of new music, Yu premièred Alfred Wong’s Night Poem II written for cello and Chinese orchestra in 2001.