×

Yan Chen

Chen Yan is a young professor of erhu in the Central Conservatory of Music’s Traditional Instruments Department. A performer in the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, she graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree, and received her master’s degree at the Central Conservatory of Music. Chen Yan has won many awards, such as the Silver Award of the Youth Group in National Erhu Competition; the Silver Award of the Youth Group in the Second CCTV National Instrumental Music Competition; Second Prize of the Youth Group in the “Wenhua Cup”; and the Excellent Professional Prize from Shanghai Art Talents. She has performed as an Erhu soloist in the Opening Ceremony of the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival many times. In 2009, she premiered a Carmen Fantasia adaptation arranged for Chen by Franz Waxman. In 2011, she premiered Zhang Chao’s concerto Tribute to the Sun at the Beijing Concert Hall, winning “Best New Artist Prize” of the Fourth Ethnic Art Exhibition and the “Best New Artist Performance Prize” of the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival. In recent years she has visited the United States, Germany, and Australia on tour with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra.

×

Elaine Douvas

Elaine Douvas, oboe, has been principal oboe of the Metropolitan Opera since 1977 and is on the oboe faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Since 1982 she has also served as oboe instructor at The Juilliard School and Woodwind Department Chairman there since 1997. Her career highlights include the Strauss Oboe Concerto with the MET Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, James Levine conducting, and Dutilleux's Les Citations with the MET Chamber Ensemble. Her three CDs include a solo recital and her quartet project "Pleasure is the Law", issued by Boston Records, and "Oboe Divas" on the Oboe Classics label. One of the most influential teachers in the USA, her students hold important positions in more than a dozen major orchestras and university faculties. In the summers, Ms. Douvas is an artist faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and she teaches three intensive, one-week oboe seminars: Le Domaine Forget Academy in Quebec, Interlochen (MI) Arts Camp, and the Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel, California. She has given master classes at the Curtis and Cleveland Institutes of Music, the Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music, the New World Symphony, and the Conservatories of Beijing and Shanghai. Her three albums of demonstration and written commentary for Music Minus One are used by teachers and students across the country. Originally from Port Huron, Michigan, Ms. Douvas trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with John Mack, at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Her first job was principal oboe of the Atlanta Symphony under Robert Shaw. For many years she has devoted her spare time to figure skating and earned her Gold Medal for Adult "Moves in the Field" in 2006. Photo by John Abbott.