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World-Class Harpist in Residence at U of I

Per Dusty Rhodes, of the U of I News Bureau:

Harpist Naoko Yoshino, who has been performing with orchestras around the world since she was 17, will perform in a recital March 26 (Tuesday) at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The performance will mark the culmination of her three-day engagement at the University of Illinois, where she will be the Frances P. Rohlen artist-in-residence beginning March 24 (Sunday).

Yoshino has been featured with many orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has been a frequent performer at international festivals, including the Lucerne Festival, the Salzburg Festspiele and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. In 1994, she performed at the Vatican to commemorate the restoration of the Sistine Chapel.

Her residency at the U. of I. will include two master classes – at 3 p.m. on Sunday (March 24), and at 11 a.m. on Tuesday (March 26) in the recording studio of the Music Building (Room 1035) – and a lecture-recital at 7 p.m. Monday (March 25) in the Music Building Auditorium (Room 2100), in which Yoshino will discuss her collaborations with a variety of contemporary Japanese composers and top musicians. These events are free and open to the public.

Tickets for the Tuesday solo recital are $4 for students, $7 for senior citizens and $10 for all others.

Yoshino’s solo recital will include works by C.P.E. Bach, Brahms, Debussy and Respighi, and Takashi Yoshimatsu’s “Lyra Scenes, Op. 99.”

Yoshino’s residency is sponsored by the U. of I. School of Music, the College of Fine and Applied Arts Frances P. Rohlen Visiting Artist Fund and the Lorado Taft Lectureship on Art Fund, the Illinois Japan Performing Arts Network and the American Harp Society Roslyn Rensch Central Illinois Chapter. 

For more information, contact Ann Yeung at annyeung@illinois.edu.

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