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The Forum Presents Pianist Marc Yu

Jan. 14, 2009 – The Forum will present pianist Marc Yu at 8 p.m., on Saturday, Jan. 17, at Prior-Jollek Hall, Antilles Campus. Tickets are $40 and $10 and can be purchased at Reichhold Center for the Arts (693-1559), Dockside Bookshop, Interiors (Ft. Mylner) or Home Again (Red Hook Plaza).
Marc Yu was 2-years-old when his mother noticed he was singing along with Beethoven symphonies from his car seat. Lessons followed, and at the age of six, he made his orchestral debut playing a piano concerto and a cello concerto on the same evening.
Now nine-years-old, Marc has an impressive history of solo recitals, orchestra concerts and television appearances that include "The Tonight Show," "Oprah" and "Ellen." At six, he delivered a speech in the Library of Congress upon receiving a fellowship from the Davidson Institute (the youngest-ever recipient of this prestigious honor). At the invitation of Steinway Pianos, Marc inaugurated Steinway's Historical Piano Tour playing on Vladimir Horowitz's piano. He has been featured in cover story articles for the "New York Times Magazine" and the "L.A. Times."
In June 2007, in Las Vegas Nevada at the Lake Las Vegas Resort, Marc performed four-hand piano music (including Schubert's "Fantasie in F minor") with none other than his longtime idol, internationally-renowned piano virtuoso Lang Lang. Later that year he appeared in music festivals in San Remo and Genoa Italy, and on national television in Berlin. "National Geographic" then invited him to perform on a two-week tour of Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan to promote "My Brilliant Brain" (U.S. title: "Brain Child"), a documentary featuring Marc that they produced for the BBC.
Marc performed in tribute to Lang Lang during the Grammy Awards Salute to Classical Music in February 2008. Two weeks later he played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the California Philharmonic Orchestra. He was an invited speaker in Dubai at the World Summit Meeting in April that same year; then in June at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. he was to play for a benefit to aid the victims of the devastating May 2008 Sichuan, China earthquake. The following day he played for China's Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and members of the U.S. cabinet at the U.S. – China Strategic Economic Dialogue. Marc delivered moving and eloquent speeches both in D.C. and Maryland on behalf of the victims that he'd met earlier that year while in China, leaving tears in the eyes of VIP's and dignitaries.
On August 31, 2008, he collaborated with Lang Lang to a sold out crowd in London's Royal Albert Hall. In 2009, the two will perform again at Vienna's Musikverein, and then at New York City's Carnegie Hall.
"Carnegie Hall," said Lang Lang on camera, just after making his surprise announcement with Marc seated at his side, "not bad for a ten-year-old!"
Marc Yu is a piano student of Dr. Minduo Li at the Conservatory of Music in Shanghai and conducting with Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein of Occidental College (Los Angeles).
Marc Yu has his own Web site at www.marc-yu.com
Presented by the Forum, the project is funded in part by the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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