Dear Friend -
We first met Lok Ping and Lok Ting Chau as semifinalists of the 2013 Dranoff Competition They were one of the youngest duos ever to compete in the history of the Competition. We have had the great pleasure to watch them mature artistically, and the even greater pleasure of contributing to this growth through our joint projects.
Last week I pointed out the close-knit connection of the Dranoff with Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann. This same sense of family holds true with Ping and Ting. They were students at the Musikhochschule Hannover in Germany with Aglika Genova and Liuben Dimitrov, themselves laureates of the Dranoff Competition in 1999. Duo Genova & Dimitrov have built a brilliant career as concert pianists and recording artists along with being beloved and sought-after teachers to many of today’s piano duos. Another family link to the Chau sisters is Dranoff boardmember Maxine Long who has sponsored and invited Ping and Ting into her home for all their US visits.
Like so many artists, Ping and Ting’s life has been an international one. Born in Hong Kong, they spent many years in Europe during their training and education. They returned to live in Hong Kong, and have been performing in Europe, the United States and of course, in Asia.
Then came the big intermission. The pandemic moved across the world before it came to our hometown. It affected our far-flung artists who live in hard-hit places such as Hong Kong and Bergamo, Italy. We are grateful to know that Ping and Ting are well, as are the Duo Daniele and Davide Trivella from Bergamo, Italy, whom we will showcase next week.
The performance world is saddened by not being live with artists and fans. All artists express how much they miss having the connection with their audience that only a live concert creates. Nonetheless, we can still enjoy great music and support them with direct communications, and financial contributions.
The last Dranoff public live performance was in February in the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center. Now we are building our next performance season with both live online and multimedia music presentations. And this week, we will begin to bring you
A Breath of Music -
short (fewer than 5 minutes) music selections that our artists feel communicate a sense of not only beauty but peaceful closeness
Please remember to take care of yourself. It is only when one is strong that one can be of service to others.
Warmly,
Gabriele Fiorentino
President,
The Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation
Piano Slam
