Duo Diorama
MingHuan Xu, violin
Winston Choi, piano
Duo Diorama present a live performance featuring works of William Grant Still, Winston Choi, and Paul Schoenfield.
DUO DIORAMA is composed of Chinese violinist MingHuan Xu and Canadian pianist Winston Choi. They are compelling and versatile artists who perform in an eclectic mix of musical styles, ranging from the great standard works to the avant-garde. Comprised of two renowned soloists who can effectively blend their distinctive personalities together to create a unified whole, the Duo maintains an active performing and touring schedule – throughout Asia, North America, South America and Europe.
The Duo’s recent appearances at the Colours of Music Festival, Ebb and Flow Arts, the GroundSwell Series, the Mammoth Lakes Music Festival and Walla Walla Music Festival were met with critical and audience acclaim. Their recent South American tour included performances at the Festival Musica Nova in Brazil and Festival Encuentros. As the inaugural recipients of the Banff Centre’s Rolston Fellowship in Music, they have recently toured throughout Canada. Recent concerts in China included the Central, Shenyang, and Sichuan Conservatories of Music, as well as Shandong University. A feature broadcast on their Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall debut was covered by Voice of America.
Having commissioned and premiered over 40 works, Duo Diorama is a leading proponent of music of living composers with their insightful and dynamic interpretations. They take a very personal approach to the presentation of music of today’s culture – both those by established modern masters and today’s emerging young composers. Composers they have commissioned include Marcos Balter, George Flynn, Felipe Lara, Jacques Lenot, George Lewis, M. William Karlins, John Melby, Robert Morris, Robert Pollock, Huang Ruo, Daniel Weymouth, Amy Williams, Jay Alan Yim, and Mischa Zupko. They have also worked with composers William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Gunther Schuller, Bright Sheng and Chen Yi. In 2018, they will be premiering a new work written by Gilad Cohen, the recipient of the Barlow Prize.
A husband and wife team, the duo makes their home in Chicago, with their twins Lillian and Ethan.
MINGHUAN XU performs extensively in recital and with orchestra in China and North America. She is also a highly sought-after chamber musician, having collaborated with the St. Petersburg Quartet, Colin Carr, Eugene Drucker, Ilya Kaler, and Ani Kavafian. Xu was a winner of the Beijing Young Artists Competition and gave her New York debut at age 18 as soloist with the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra. Currently on faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, she plays on a 1758 Nicolas Gagliano violin.
WINSTON CHOI was Laureate of the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition (Canada) and winner of France’s 2002 Concours International de Piano 20e siècle d’Orléans. A prolific recording artist, he can be heard on the Albany, Arktos, Crystal Records, l’Empreinte Digitale (piano works of Elliott Carter), Intrada and QuadroFrame labels. He is Associate Professor and Head of Piano at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Artists’ biographies courtesy of the IMF.
