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Ishida to Sing Mozart and Scarlatti

Yukiko Ishida, an internationally renowned coloratura soprano, will perform works by Scarlatti and Mozart on Friday, April 4, at 8 p.m. in the Meagher Theatre. Pianist Hiroshi Kurokawa will accompany her and perform four solo sonatas by the same composers.

Ishida is associate professor of music at Neumann College, artistic director of the Neumann College Concert Chorale, and minister of music at Union Methodist Church in Havertown.  She has performed concert tours and lecture series worldwide, including in France, Ger­many, Italy, Japan and throughout the U.S.

She has appeared as a soloist with the Czech National Orchestra (Prague, Czech Republic), St. Giles Orchestra (Oxford, England), Chitose Symphony Orchestra and Sapporo Symphony Or­chestra (Japan), National Philharmon­ic (Washington, DC) and the Delaware County Symphony (Aston, PA). In addition, she served as a vocal instructor of an international chamber festival in Evian, France, and director of the Chitose Higher Education program in Hokkaido, Japan.

Ishida has won numerous awards, including the Combs College Centennial Award, the Liberace Competition, the Cascarino Memorial Competition and the Mario Lanza Competition.  In September 2007, she won the Vocal Solo Performance Award from the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, and was invited to give recit­als during her London concert tours in January 2008.

Known for performances with great power of expression, Kurokawa has recorded CDs in China and, in 2006, began a five-year piano recital series in Hakata and Yokohama, Japan. Last year, he performed in Austria. His skills and reputation have also earned him the position of judge for the Ariake Piano Contest, the Nippon Piano Educational Music Audition, the Asian International Music Contest and the Kitamoto Piano Contest. He is currently an associate professor in the department of music at Ferris University.

Richard Sayers, an associate professor of music at Neumann and director of the College Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble, will accompany Ishida on Mozart’s L’amero, Saro Costante.

General admission is $8. To reserve tickets, call 610-558-5626.

3/24/08