One of the world’s great flautists will perform with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra. Jasmine Choi is the former principal flute player with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In addition she has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Salzburg, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, New York, Seoul, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Munich, and others.
The Korea Times has referred to Choi as the “Goddess of the Flute”. And she was described as one of the “Top 10 Greatest Flutists in History” by the U.K.-based Sinfini Music website. She has recorded several solo CDs.
Choi will be the soloist at the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra final concert of the season on Friday (May 19) at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. The pre-concert talk begins at 7 p.m. followed by a performance at 7:30. Tickets are available on the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra website.
The orchestra is conducted by Ken Hsieh and the program includes Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian’s Flute Concerto in D minor.
The concert will also feature Russian composer Vasily Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor. Following the creation of this work, Kalinnikov’s admirers included fellow Russian composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Sergie Rachmaninoff.
Sadly, Kalinnikov died at the age of 35. It left many classical music lovers to wonder what else he might have accomplished had he lived a full life.
Hsieh has conducted this symphony before with the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra and the Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra.
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