Fripp Island Friends of Music opens 40th Anniversary season
By Margit Resch
Special to The Island News
According to his website, celebrated pianist Junwen Liang is going to “showcase his artistry and passion for his music” on October 20 at an “esteemed venue” … Fripp Island.
Fripp Island — an esteemed venue for music. Indeed!
For 40 years, Fripp Island Friends of Music — FIFOM — has been bringing acclaimed musicians of all kinds from all over the world to the Chapel in the Community Centre. The five yearly concerts are always topped off by the audience with enthusiastic, standing applause, and concluded by a catered reception, where the audience can meet and chat with the musicians, while nibbling on delicious hors d’oeuvres lovingly prepared by Harold’s Chef Services.
FIFOM will start its 40th Anniversary season in October with a piano concert performed by the fabulous young keyboard artist Junwen Liang, who is celebrated for his “captivating” performances (Stroll Magazine) and acknowledged as “an extremely gifted and promising young artist” by the New York Concert Review. Recently praised for his “engaging stage presence, helpful spoken introductions to the music, and confident programming skills” (In the Spotlight), Liang is poised for a major career. Wait. Why do we say,”poised?” He already is a major figure in the international world of celebrated pianists.
Liang’s amazing story is told beautifully by the Digital Journal under the apt title: Unlocking the Keys to Musical Brilliance. His global journey started at age 9 in Nanning, China, where his father, a violinist, introduced him to the piano.
“I remember the first time I touched the keys. It was like a revelation — as if the piano had been waiting for me all along,” Liang recalls.
Starting with his first public performance in Nanning at age 13, he unfailingly drew his audience into his musical world that ranged from 18th-century classics to the Romantic masterpieces by composers such as Bach, Schubert, and Chopin. His prominence and acclaim grew rapidly, earning him accolades from reviewers and invitations to prestigious venues all over the world, to concert halls like the Berlin Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall, to festivals like the Aspen Music Festival, and to numerous piano competitions where he, more often than not, won first prize like in the Nouvelles Étoiles International Music Competition (France), or the Princeton Festival International Piano Competition.
Soon enough, Liang caught the eyes and ears of music professionals, and established musicians asked him to collaborate with them, like the principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker who invited Junwen to play with him (and four string musicians from the Peabody Institute) the famous Piano Quintet called The Trout by Franz Schubert.
“To learn from a musician of such caliber was an honor beyond words,” Liang says. “It was a masterclass in every sense of the word — an experience that has forever shaped my approach to music.”
In June 2023, Liang had a defining moment in his career. He was invited by the Texas State International Piano Festival to perform a Mozart piano concerto with the Central Texas Philharmonic Orchestra.
“It was a dream come true,” Liang says. “To stand on stage, surrounded by the swell of a professional orchestra, was an experience I will never forget.”
While performing constantly, all year long all over the United States and abroad, solo or in the company of famous orchestras and individual instrumentalists and singers, Liang managed to also study, to obtain a college degree and, just recently, to earn a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Richard Goode. His past mentors include Christopher Guzman (Penn State), Roberto Plano, Edward Auer (Indiana University), and Chris Dimaras (Ithaca College). Junwen currently teaches in the Music Department of the University of Pennsylvania.
Liang will perform on Sunday, October 20, at 5 p.m. at the Fripp Island Community Centre, 205 Tarpon Boulevard. The concert is presented by Fripp Island Friends of Music and supported by the S.C. Arts Commission.
Attendees get a free pass at the Fripp gate. Tickets at the door are $30 for adults and free for students thanks to the Peg Gorham Memorial Fund. You are invited to join the musicians at a complimentary reception after the performance, catered deliciously by Harold’s Chef Services.
Questions? Email or text Vanessa Peñaherrera at vandy116@gmail.com or 704-807-0255. Go to frippfriendsofmusic.com for more information.
Why become a member?
FIFOM encourages you to become a members of Fripp Island Friends of Music. Membership gives you access to all five concerts, including the post-performance reception. The basic FIFOM membership, $100, has not changed. It saves you $50 compared to the sum of five $30 tickets. To become a member, text or call Vanessa Peñaherrera at 704-807-0255.
By the way, membership underwrites the FIFOM mission — our Music-in-the-Schools program — which is to support and enhance student music programs in Beaufort County schools. Last season, FIFOM distributed almost $9,000 to five area schools north of the Broad River, funding sheet music, instruments, music camp participation and an artist in residency program (to name a few). Memberships go a long way toward bringing smiles to our area’s music students and teachers.
Want To Go?
Who: Classical Pianist Junwen Liang
What: Fripp Island Friends of Music series
When: 5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 20
Where: Fripp Island Community Centre, 205 Tarpon Boulevard
Tickets: Adults at the door, $30; students are free thanks to the Peg Gorham Memorial Fund. Membership with Fripp Island Friends of Music gives you access to all five concerts, including the post-performance reception, for $100, has not changed. It saves you $50 compared to the sum of five $30-tickets. To buy tickets or become a member, email or text Vanessa Peñaherrera at vandy116@gmail.com or 704-807-0255. Go to frippfriendsofmusic.com for more information.
Fripp Island Friends of of Music 2024-25 Season
Oct. 20, 2024: Junwen Liang, Classical Pianist
Nov. 17, 2024: Zoë Lewis, Singer/Songwriter
Jan. 12, 2025: South for Winter, Multi-instrumentalists
Feb. 2, 2025: Project Trio, Flute, Sax and Bass
March 16, 2025: Robert Gardiner Jazz Quartet
