One of the world’s rising violin virtuosos will make her Canadian debut on Valentine’s Day at the Vancouver Playhouse. Tokyo-born Rio Arai will perform as the soloist at the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra’s Chamber Series concert. It will feature works by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.
Arai, who was born in 1999, has won several prestigious competitions. They include First Prize in the string section and the Audience Prize at the 15th Tokyo Music Competition. She has also captured First Prize in the violin section at the 87th Japan Music Competition, as well as the Leucadia Prize, Sumi Prize, and Kuroyanagi Prize.
Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra founder and music director Ken Hsieh says that he met Arai on the recommendation of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra’s concertmaster.
“She is already performing with all the largest orchestras in Japan—the NHK Symphony, Tokyo Symphony—and she has a huge following,” Hsieh tells Pancouver over Zoom. “These are the kind of artists I like to bring into Canada to really showcase the talents of the younger generation.”
The Edmonton-born Hsieh has recently returned from conducting orchestras in China and Japan, where he has many musical contacts. Arai is a protégé of Dutch superstar Janine Jansen. Hsieh describes Arai as a musician who performs with “strong conviction”.
“She’s actually very methodical,” Hsieh says. “It’s all from the inside. If you just close your eyes, you can feel how much she has really studied each note…and how it’s all thought out.”
Rio Arai performs Fritz Kreisler’s Schön Rosmarin.
Arai solo followed by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
Because Hsieh was recently conducting abroad and has another performance scheduled in Toronto, he has turned the Valentine’s Day reins over to resident conductor Stuart Martin. Following the intermission, Martin will lead the orchestra through Antonio Vivaldi’s highly romantic Four Seasons.
“What we wanted to do was really challenge young couples to come out and listen to the concert,” Hsieh says. He then quips that he hopes that young women will drag their boyfriends to the Vancouver Playhouse.
On a more serious note, the Vivaldi version of Four Seasons provides a bookend for the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra’s April 2025 performance of Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. It featured famed soloist Eugenia Choi, who played a 330-year-old violin.
“That was a lot of fun” and I thought the orchestra played really well under Stuart Martin (as he led that concert),” Hsieh says.
This will be a busy season for the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra. On February 28, Maestro Leslie Dala will conduct Dame Ethel Smith’s Mass in D Major and Kati Agócs-composed Hosanna of the Clouds. This concert at the Orpheum Theatre will feature soprano Julia LoRusso, mezzo-soprano Marianne Bertrand, tenor Lyndon Ladeur, and bass-baritone Mihnea Nitu as soloists, as well as the VBFC Symphonic Choir.
Piotr Alexewicz generated great pride in Poland when he won the Chopin Competition.
Spring Concert features Chopin Competition winner
On March 8, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra will return to the Orpheum Theatre for its Spring Concert, Melodies in Motion. Hsieh is excited to conduct this 2 p.m. performance, which will feature soloist Piotr Alexewicz.
“He is the only Polish winner of the Chopin Competition,” Hsieh declares..
“So, this is really quite exciting because we engaged him right before he got into the Chopin Competition,” he adds. “His manager was very adamant about me working with him, so I’m glad this opportunity worked out.”
The Vancouver Oratorio Society and Vancouver Chinese Choir Association will also perform at the Spring Concert.
The program includes Mikhail Glinka’s Russia and Ludmilla Overture, Joseph Haydn’s Awaken the Harp, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin and Piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 23 B-flat minor., and Huang An-lun’s Psalm 150.
This concert at the Orpheum will also feature star 16-year-old Tsawwassen pianist Mina Stefanovic. A student of Libby Yu, she came first in the Pacific International Music Festival Senior Category in 2023 and then won first prize in the Canadian Music Festival in 2024.
Stefanovic also impressed Hsieh by placing first in the Y Foundation Melodies in Motion Youth Music Competition 2025. This explains why she was selected to perform at the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra’s Spring Concert. Stefanovic will perform the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 18 C minor and Verdi’s Va Pensiero from Nabucco.
“Close to 85 applicants came in and played a movement of a concert of their choice,” Hsieh says. “We chose one winner.”
Watch Mina Stefanovic perform with the Richmond Orchestra.
For more information on the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra Chamber Series and other concerts, visit the website. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social.
