Internationally touring Cheng² Duo performs an evening of classical chamber music at The Myrna Loy in Helena Thursday, Jan. 19.
The Cheng² Duo, one of CBC Music’s “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30,” will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at The Myrna Loy.
The Chinese-Canadian sister and brother duo, Silvie on piano and Bryan on cello, pronounce their name as Cheng Squared Duo. They’ll be performing “beloved masterwork sonatas for cello and piano by Johannes Brahms and Sergei Prokofiev,” complemented by lesser-known short pieces by Antonín Dvorak and David Popper,” wrote Silvie in an email.
The award-winning musicians are making their first tour of the Pacific Northwest, but have graced stages from Carnegie Hall, to Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy and much of the globe.
Bryan was First Prize winner of the 2022 UNISA International Music Competition, and Silvie is recipient of the Roy M. Rubinstein Award for exceptional promise in piano performance
Silvie launched into piano as a very young child, discovering her love of the instrument by plinking away on a toy electronic keyboard and starting piano lessons at 5. Bryan was so impressed with his sister’s playing, at 3 he begged to take up an instrument. He fell in love with the “deep and scary” sound of the cello.
The Cheng² Duo’s music is beautifully suited to the intimate setting of The Myrna Loy, wrote Silvie.
“Most of the chamber music we perform was created and meant to be shared in intimate settings, so venues like The Myrna Loy are perfect for us to deeply connect with the audience. We always speak at our concerts, providing biographical information about the composers or sharing personal anecdotes about the specific pieces we have chosen, and we treat every concert as a musical journey. It’s our hope that every listener will be able to experience an incredible range of emotion and feel transported to an array of soundworlds, allowing a brief escape from our everyday worries.
“We look forward to making new friends in Helena! We invite you to come with an open mind and heart, and can guarantee that you will experience a memorable emotional experience with us.”
Critics agree. The Sunday Times in the UK, called the Cheng² Duo “brilliant” and “truly exhilarating.” And the Lake Champlain Islander wrote, “Extraordinary playing … you could sense the entire audience caught between gasping and holding back tears. It was that powerful.”
Tickets for the concert are $25 and are available online, at the box office at 15 N. Ewing, or by phone, 406-443-0287.