Category: Music

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About Royce Rich

     Twenty-two-year-old violinist, Royce Rich, is establishing himself as one of Canada’ up-and-coming young artists. Having appeared on concert stages as soloist and chamber musician across Canada, the USA, Italy, Germany and Austria, Royce has performed as soloist with the Brampton Symphony Orchestra, Lions Gate Sinfonia Orchestra, Durham Chamber Orchestra, Smazal Chamber Orchestra, and twice with the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra. 

     Royce is currently a full-scholarship recipient of The Jack Whiteside Scholarship as an Artist Diploma Program student at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, studying under the tutelage of Mayumi Seiler. He completed his undergraduate performance studies with distinguished pedagogue, Victor Danchenko, at The Glenn Gould School. Winner of the coveted Gabora Prize for “Best Specific Performance” at the Nineteenth Annual Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy, he was a member of the Bacewicz Quartet and won 1st Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2016 Friends of Chamber Music Competition in Vancouver.

     As a frequent solo recitalist and chamber musician, Royce has appeared in concert series’ such as West Vancouver Community Arts Council, St. Andrew’s Noon Hour, Clearly Musical Home Concerts, Neumann Production, Concerts @100, Valley CrossWay, and Music Friends, among others. He has also had the opportunity to play for and work with distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Leon Fleisher, Aaron Rosand, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Bramwell Tovey, Barry Shiffman, Tania Miller, Bryan Epperson, Martin Chalifour, Ilya Kaler, and Anne Shih. Aside from keeping a busy performance schedule and maintaining an active teaching studio in the Greater Toronto Area, Royce loves running, cycling, swimming, hiking, cooking, and getting together with friends over a delicious cup of coffee and dessert. He enjoys engaging with his supporters and followers by writing E-Newsletters and staying connected on social media through Instagram (@roycerichmusical). Royce plays on a fine 1757 Lorenzo Carcassi violin generously on loan to him from a Canadian benefactor of the arts.

About the Performance

Dear KnoxVan Concerts supporters,

     It it my great pleasure to be performing for you for the first time in partnership with KnoxVan Concerts, and I am thrilled to be sharing a dynamic and colourful recital program with you! 

     When you listen to a particular piece or song performed live, what are you most looking forward to experiencing in that moment? Is it the tone of the instruments? Are you most looking forward to experiencing the guest artists? Is it the melodies, the rhythm, and the energy of the composition? Better yet, perhaps it is a combination of all of these elements that draw us close together to experience one thing: the music. 

     Prior to the pandemic, I had a long musical bucket list of short encore works I had wanted to one day record and share – encore pieces either written specifically for the violin with piano, or arrangements of ballets and operas transcribed for both instruments.Throughout this past year and a half, the beautiful melodies and moving rhythms you will hear in our recital program have allowed me to grow in my musical and stylistic approach, and stay creatively up-beat as a performing violinist. 

     The first piece on the program is entitled Valse Bluette, a charming short-piece written by Riccardo Drigo who was an Italian theatrical composer and ballet music conductor. 

     Valse Bluette has become my favourite piece to play for my friends and family members at dinner parties or simply to jam and make music for the fun of it. 

     Followed by Riccardo Drigo’s music is a gorgeous duo for the violin and piano composed by opera composer, Richard Strauss. He wrote Improvisation and Finale from his Sonata in E-flat when he was just twenty-three years old. The Sonata was written in less than a year and was inspired by his passionate love for German operatic soprano, Pauline de Ahna. She eventually married Strauss and the two would form a close professional relationship, as well. 

     Richard Strauss’ Sonata in E-flat has the word opera written all over it – he takes advantage of the highest, most sensitive registers of the violin throughout several melodious episodes while showcasing the pianist’s technical prowess in the midst of scintillating scalier runs up and down the piano. This piece is always a treat to perform with a terrific concert pianist, and I enjoyed recording Richard Strauss’ Sonata with Jeanie Chung. 

     I love showcasing several musical bonbons at the end of my recitals and I look forward to performing Peter Tchaikovsky’s introspective Melodie, Niccolò Paganini’s heartwarming Cantabile, as well as Guitarre and Playera, pieces inspired by Spanish flare composed by violin virtuoso, Pablo de Sarasate. 

     Thank you again to KnoxVan Events for hosting me and my colleagues. I am grateful I could continue making and recording music with such talented pianists as my friends Jeanie Chung, Michael Onwood, Thomas Torok and Monica Lee. 

See you the concert!