New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Frank Huang performs in concert with UNLV faculty at 7:30 p.m. April 13 in the Rando-Grillot Recital Hall of the Beam Music Center. The concert is free and open to the public.
Joining Huang are Ambroise Aubrun, violin; Wei-Wei Le, violin; Lucas Martin, violin; Kate Hamilton, viola; Dean Nancy Uscher, viola; and Andrew Smith, cello.
The program includes Sergei Prokofiev's Sonata for Two Violins, Op. 56 (1932) and Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20.
Huang joined the New York Philharmonic as concertmaster, The Charles E. Culpeper Chair, in September 2015. The first prize winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, he has established a major career as a violin virtuoso. Since performing with the Houston Symphony in a nationally broadcast concert at the age of 11, he has appeared with orchestras throughout the world including The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Hannover, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, and the Genoa Orchestra.
He has also performed on NPR’s Performance Today, ABC’s Good Morning America, and CNN’s American Morning with Paula Zahn. He has performed at Wigmore Hall (in London), Salle Cortot (Paris), Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), and Herbst Theatre (San Francisco), as well as a second recital in Alice Tully Hall (New York), which featured the World Premiere of Donald Martino’s Sonata for Solo Violin. Following more than 25 additional solo appearances with the Orchestra, in May 2022 he performs Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish, conducted by Music Director Jaap van Zweden.
In addition to his solo career, Frank Huang is deeply committed to chamber music. He is a member of the New York Philharmonic String Quartet, established in the 2016-17 season, and has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and Caramoor. He frequently participates in Musicians from Marlboro’s tours, and was selected by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be a member of the prestigious CMS Two program. Before joining the Houston Symphony as concertmaster in 2010, he served as first violinist of the Grammy Award–winning Ying Quartet and was a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music.
Huang was born in Beijing, China. At the age of seven, he moved to Houston, Texas, where he began violin lessons with his mother. He commenced study with Fredell Lack at the University of Houston and at 16 he enrolled in the pre-college program at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) where he studied with Donald Weilerstein. He continued studies with Weilerstein in college and earned his bachelor of music degree from CIM in 2002. He subsequently attended The Juilliard School in New York City, studying violin with Robert Mann. He is an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West. He served on the faculties of The Shepherd School of Music at Rice and the University of Houston, and currently serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School.
About the UNLV College of Fine Arts
The UNLV College of Fine Arts, one of the nation's largest fine arts colleges, boldly launches visionaries who transform the global community through collaboration, scholarship, and innovation. Established in 1992, the UNLV CFA encompasses the departments of art, dance, film, theatre, the School of Music, School of Architecture, Entertainment Engineering & Design, and is home to the Performing Arts Center, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, and Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. We illuminate the power of the arts amidst breathtaking advancements in science and technology. In doing so, we are creating a global destination at the forefront of transforming arts and design. To accomplish this, we encourage agency, inventiveness, problem-solving, and big-idea thinking in our students, faculty, and staff. We make education relevant through evolving curriculum and effective learning outcomes.
