ABBA

Violinist who attended the Juilliard School and became a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra after his graduation in 1989. Other groups with whom he has worked include The Boston Conservatory, the Boston Pops, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Hawthorne String Quartet, the Juilliard Orchestra, the New Philharmonia Orchestra, and the World Orchestra for Peace.

He already has an impressive discography that includes America, American Visions, The Celtic Album, Chamber Music from Theresienstadt, Cradle Songs: Collected Lullabies from around the World, David L. Post: String Quartets Nos. 2-4, The Great War and the Shaping of the 20^th Century, Haas; Krasa: String Quartets, Holiday Pops, Jazz for Lovers, Journey to Romance, My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration, Sax Across America, Schulhoff: Concertos alla Jazz, and We Are All Connected: Berklee College of Music Reaches out to the Women of Darfur. He also appeared on the soundtracks of The American Experience and Last Dance.

In April 1996, he was a special guest of the Hawaii Youth Symphony at their Louis Vuitton 15^th Anniversary Concert, which was held at Blaisdell Concert Hall in Honolulu. It was a homecoming of sorts for Si-Jing, who spent part of his youth in Hawaii and whose family’s visa expired. Senator Spark Matsunaga came to their rescue, however, and Si-Jing won a scholarship to the ‘Iolani School.

The Hawthorne String Quartet joined forces with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in their 1996-1997 season. The program, entitled “Classics II: Out of Darkness”, paired Johannes Brahms’ “Tragic Overture” with Schulhoff’s “Concerto for String Quartet and Chamber Orchestra”. Next season, he was the guest soloist when the New Philharmonia interpreted Brahms’ “Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73”, Hector Berlioz’s “Le Corsair Overture, Op. 21”, and Alexander Glazunov’s “Violin Concerto, Op. 82”.

On 15^th February 1998, The Boston Conservatory recorded “Five Aphorisms for Violin and Piano, Op. 150” and “Haiku Seasons, Op. 124” by Gardner Read and “Piano Quintet in F sharp minor, Op. 67” by Amy Beach. Si-Jing figured in the first and third of these.

The Hawthorne String Quartet delivered the world premiere of Thomas Oboe Lee’s “Seven Steps to Heaven” at Boston College on 1^st November 2005.

They helped serve up the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s pre-concert recital on 8^th August 2008 at Tanglewoood’s Ozawa Hall. On the menu: John Harbison’s “Six American Painters”; Franz Joseph Haydn’s “String Quartet in C”; and, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “String Quintet in G minor”.

From 27^th February to 1^st March 2009, they served a residency at the Skidmore String Music Festival. The festival included a performance by the foursome on 28^th February that comprised Elliott Carter’s “Fragment No. 2”, Charles Ives’ “String Quartet No. 1”, and Franz Schubert’s “String Quartet No. 13” (“Rosamunde”).

They were joined by guitarist Joel Brown on 20^th April 2009 at Skidmore College’s Tang Gallery for the andante mesto from Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Quintet for Guitar and Strings, Op. 143”, the allegro moderato of Pavel Haas’s “String Quartet No. 3, Op. 15”, Gideon Klein’s “Fantasie a Fuga”, and Pavel Novak-Zemek’s “String Quartet No. 6” (“Bells of Light”).

On 5^th March 2010, they participated in the Menotomy Concert Series on 5^th March 2010 with a recital dedicated to the music of John Kusiak at Town Hall in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Si-Jing was one of a handful of musicians to share the stage with Andre Previn at the Prague Spring Festival on 28^th May 2010. Their program included Elliott Carter’s “Gra for Clarinet Solo”, Gideon Klein’s “Trio”, Mozart’s “Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581” and “Piano Quartet in E flat major, K. 493”, and the world premiere of Previn’s own “Clarinet Sonata”, with soloist Thomas Martin.

Si-Jing and Thomas were both on hand on 26^th September 2010 for The Terezin Music Foundation Annual Gala Concert in New York, New York. Along with harpist Jessica Zhou, they gave an airing of “Escape Routines” by Miroslav Srnka.

On 20^th November 2011, the Hawthorne String Quartet helped christen the Art of the Americas Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with a recital of Ives’ “String Quartet No. 1”, Thomas Oboe Lee’s “Morango… Almost a Tango”, and David L. Post’s “String Quartet No. 3”.

“Morango… Almost a Tango” and “String Quartet” were amongst the works they performed at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on 21^st November 2010. The late afternoon was rounded out by Johann Christian Bach’s “Quartet No. 6 in B flat, Op. 18”, Beethoven’s “Quartet No. 2 in G, Op. 18”, and Gideon Klein’s “Fantasie and Fugue for String Trio”.

On 26^th August 2011, the Hawthorne String Quartet, Thomas Martin and Jessica Zhou delivered the BSO’s prelude concert which included George Gershwin’s “Three Preludes”, Grandjany’s “Rhapsodie”, David L. Post’s “String Quartet No. 3”, and Miroslav Srnka’s “Escape Routines”. The main course consisted of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9”, with Lorin Maazel at the helm.

Sources: