Recital: Lin/Braddock

Violinist Ching-Yi Lin’s recent performances and masterclasses have taken her to the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Norway, the Shenyang and Xi’an Conservatories in China, Northwestern University, Louisiana State University, and the University of British Columbia. She’s also performed in New York on the Museum of Modern Art’s Summer Garden Series, Sejong Center in South Korea, and in Taiwan at the National Concert Hall in Taipei.

Her new album on MSR Classics features sonatas for violin and piano by Ives, Bolcom, and Corigliano. In reviewing the album, Gramophone noted the “panache and warmth” of Ms. Lin’s playing and described the interpretations as “a series of tender, lively, and challenging conversations.”

A dedicated and creative teacher, Ching-Yi Lin is Associate Professor at Western Kentucky University and also serves on the faculty at the Indiana University Summer String Academy and the WKU Summer String Institute. Previously, she served on the faculty of the Sommersymfoni i Kristiansand in Norway.

As a board member for the Daraja Music Initiative, a non-profit organization in Moshi, Tanzania, Ching-Yi initiated a beginning strings program for students of the Majengo Primary School in 2016. Over 60 string instruments were donated from across the United States for this endeavor. The program offers college music majors an international opportunity to teach, inspire, and make an impact in a global classroom setting.

In 2013, Ms. Lin was presented with the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service in Washington, DC, recognizing her work in bringing music into the lives of young people throughout her community. And in 2017, Ching-Yi received a Sisterhood grant from Western Kentucky University to direct student teachers and volunteers in teaching the violin to refugee children in Bowling Green, KY.

Dr. Lin holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and she undertook additional studies at the Vienna Conservatory. Ching-Yi plays on a violin made in 1863 by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume. www.chingyilin.com

Violist Andrew Braddock’s teaching and performing career has recently taken him to the Sejong Center in Seoul, South Korea, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, and the International Viola Congress in Rotterdam. 

A passionate educator, he has given masterclasses at Vanderbilt University, the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, Taiwan, the University of Oklahoma and many others. He is currently on the faculty of Western Kentucky University (WKU) and the WKU Pre-College Strings Program. In the summers, he teaches at the Indiana University Summer String Academy and directs the WKU Summer String Institute, an intensive summer camp for students ages 4 to 18 based around chamber music and orchestral performance. His creative teaching includes his work with the Daraja Music Initiative in Moshi, Tanzania, the Bridging Cultures Through Music project, and various outreach programs in his community. 

Dr. Braddock is the editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society, the most prominent peer-reviewed publication for viola scholarship. With its three issues per year, the journal presents musicological and music theory research relating to the viola, in addition to pedagogical insights and current reviews. Most recently, Dr. Braddock spearheaded an issue devoted to the 40^th anniversary of George Rochberg’s viola sonata, examining it from various musicological, historical, and theoretical perspectives. He previously served as the journal’s New Music Editor, and currently serves on the board of the American Viola Society.

He is the principal violist of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and he regularly plays with the Nashville Symphony and the Nashville Opera. He holds degrees from Indiana University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Kentucky. His principal teachers are Atar Arad, Kathryn Plummer, and John Graham. Visit his personal website for his recordings, writings, and arrangements for viola. andybraddock.com