UNLV Performing Arts Center, November 15
This week, Ira spoke with ArcoStrum (Strauss Shi - violin, erhu, dizi; TY Zhang - classical guitar, electric guitar) performing November 15 in the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall at the UNLV Performing Arts Center. In this episode of “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” TY and Strauss talk about how they met and became friends before becoming a musical duo; how they came from soloist backgrounds; why they decided on no limits to their musical choices and elements; how it all starts with excitement; combining fun with performance; calling it a show but with a professional level; why everything artistic has a goal (be entertaining); how Strauss got his name; their first concert in China as a duo; how they developed the name ArcoStrum; why their approach (core genre) is “modern traditional”; developing the “ArcoStrum Experience”; and how artist competitions encouraged them to think out of the box.
Lauded as a winner – and Audience Prize recipient – of the 2023 Concert Artists Guild (CAG) Elmaleh Competition in New York, the ArcoStrum consists of three-time international First Prize-winning violinist Strauss Shi and TY Zhang, the Grand Prize winner of Guitar Foundation of America – International Concert Artist Competition (GFA-ICAC).
Highlights of their 2022-2023 season included major debuts at the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, Festival Cultural Zacatecas (Mexico), National Sawdust, Austin Chamber Music Festival, and Caramoor.
The Duo champions unique concert programming through original transcriptions of beloved classical repertoire and traditional Chinese instrumental music infused with modern instrumentations, as well as virtuosic non-classical instrumental progressive rock.
TY and Strauss met at The Juilliard School and soon discovered their chemistry not only in life but in music-making. ArcoStrum is committed to pushing boundaries and redefining the 21st-century violin-guitar art form, presenting a new chamber music that is mixed-genre, multi-cultural, and cross-era.
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