Wanchi will premiere a piece titled Rising on the Wings of Dawn by American composer Judith Shatin. She will also perform Paul Ben-Haim’s Sonata in G Minor for Solo Violin. Fellow JMU faculty member Lori Piitz will join Wanchi in a program that also features works for violin and piano.

Wanchi is an active solo and chamber musician, having performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center with Curtis on Tour, and at numerous festivals worldwide. Her playing of Eugène Ysaÿe’s sonatas and J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin under the Centaur Records label received high praise, citing “her incisive techniques and an exceptionally rich and beautiful tone” (Phil’s Classical Reviews, Audio Video Club of Atlanta). In May 2019, she released her fourth CD under the Centaur label, which features music by William Walton and Benjamin Britten in a collaboration with longtime friend and pianist Robert Koenig. Full bio

Lori Piitz enjoys an exciting musical life that includes such diverse opportunities as a solo recital at Steinway Hall in New York City, a four-hand recital at the Kennedy Center, and performing in a German opera house dressed as a baby chick! She has performed at music festivals in the U.S and abroad, including festivals of the American Liszt Society, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, and the Music & Beyond Festival and Festival of the Sound in Canada. Ms. Piitz was recently the piano soloist in Gershwin’s Variations on “I Got Rhythm” for piano and orchestra at the Staunton Music Festival. Her interest in pianist health led to membership in PAMA (Performing Arts Medicine Association) and studies in injury-preventive piano technique with Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink. In 2002, Ms. Piitz joined the piano faculty at JMU where she works with talented piano students and teaches graduate courses in pedagogy, piano literature and “Preparing for the Job Market.” Full bio