ABBA

Violinist who graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1981 and went on to become a member of the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. In 1987, they appeared on the Christmas album, Gloria! Gloria!. She was one of the four violins featuring in a performance of Vivaldi’s “Concerto in B minor for Four Violins” at the Laurel Festival of the Arts in 1995. In 1996, she appeared as a member of Orchestra 2001 on the album, Distant Runes: Music of Our Time, Vol. 1.

She is now known as Mei-Chen Liao-Barnes and the Concerto Soloists are now known as The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and she serves as Associate Concertmaster and First Violin. Members of the newly named ensemble collected to help form The Colonial Players for a special concert entitled “A Colonial Holiday” on 17^th December 2004.

From 2006 to 2008, she was a featured artist with the Encore Chamber Players, and in that capacity, performed in a program entitled “Music for Flute, Violin and Cello” which spotlighted composers as variegated as Georg Philip Telemann, Reinhold Gliere, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. In 2008, she performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos at The Bach Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Artists with whom she has worked range from Elmer Bernstein to Thee Phantom. Her students include Brian Chang and Elizabeth McPeak. On 25^th February 2010, she and Derek Barnes performed Miklos Rozsa’s “Theme and Variations” in concert with the Main Line Symphony Orchestra.

Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia recordings

Adeste Fidelis (Frederick Oakeley/John Francis Wade)

RCA 6559-2-RC (Gloria! Gloria!)

Soprano – Benita Valente

The Philadelphia Singers

Conductor – Michael Korn

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