The Arts Arena Concert

Galerie dorée de la Banque de France

18 October 2021 | 20:00 – 22:00

Location: Galerie dorée de la Banque de France, 3 rue de la Vrillière, Paris, 1er

The Arts Arena is pleased to present The Yale School of Music Recital with an ensemble and vocalist in the magnificent Galerie dorée de la Banque de France.  Details of the musicians and musical program will be posted as soon as they are available.

The Galerie dorée is located in the Hôtel de Toulouse, home of Louis XIV’s “legitimized” son, the Count of Toulouse. Its Music Master was Couperin the Great, and the Galerie is renowned for its gilded décor and superb acoustics; it is open only by invitation of the Governor of the Banque de France.

A reception will follow.

Musical Program

Ici- bas                                                                                                 Gabriel Fauré    (1’40”)

Après un Rêve                                                                                     Gabriel Fauré    (3’)
Clair de lune                                                                                        Gabriel Fauré    (3’)

Psyché                                                                                                 Emile Paladihle (3’)

Morceaux choisis de 6 Romances, Op.38                                             Sergei Rachmaninoff (9’)

  1. Margaritki
  2. Son
    6. A-u!

Magdalena Kuzma, soprano

Yi-Chen Feng, piano

Chaconne tirée de la Partita pour violon en rémineur, No. 2, BWV 1004J.S. Bach-Busoni (14’)

Yi-Chen Feng, piano

Sonate pour violoncelle en ré mineur                                                  Claude Debussy (11’)

  1. Prologue: Lent, sostenuto e molto risoluto
  2. Sérénade: Modérément animé
  3. Final: Animé, léger et nerveux

Douze chansons                                                                                   Claude Debussy (2’30”)

arr. Aleksandr Grechaninov

  1. Beau Soir

Christine Lee, violoncelle

Yi-Chen Feng, piano

Quatre Lieder Op. 27                                                                          Richard Strauss (4’)

  1. Morgen!

Magdalena Kuzma, soprano

Christine Lee, violoncelle

Yi-Chen Feng, piano

The Artists

Magdalena Kuzma

Praised for her “voice that instantly engages the listener: shining, free and lustrous” by Seen and Heard International, Polish-American soprano Magdalena Kuźma is rapidly establishing a name for herself in both the concert and operatic repertoires.

Kuźma recently won the ACPC Marcella Sembrich Vocal Competition, placed third and won Audience Favorite in the 2021 National Opera Association Competition, and has also been awarded Yale’s Harriet Gibbs Fox Memorial Prize, presented to the student who has achieved the highest grade point average during their first year at the School of Music. This season includes her debut as a vocal fellow at both Merola Opera and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute.

In 2019, Magdalena was chosen to be a fellow at the prestigious Music Academy of the West. There, she portrayed the role of Lila in the West Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain, directed by James Darrah under the baton of Daniela Candillari. Her highly acclaimed performance was commended by Opera News for having “stood out musically and dramatically” with “star quality leaving the audience wanting to hear more.” Previous role credits include leads Blanche de la Force in Dialogues de Carmélites and Anna in Die Sieben Todsünden with Oberlin Opera.

A vehement song interpreter, Kuźma was also a finalist in the 2019 Oberlin Concerto Competition, and in January of that year was selected to be mentored by Renée Fleming in the inaugural SongStudio, a Carnegie Hall initiative that explores the future of the song recital. There, she coached by both John Musto and Nico Muhly. She has competed in the Marilyn Horne Song Competition and this season performs a solo recital with the Carnegie Hall Citywide Recital Series. Kuźma was also selected as one of 16 singers to partake in Houston Grand Opera’s prestigious Young Artists Vocal Academy. She has won Arleen Shrut’s New Triad Competition and received grants from The George London Foundation, International Festival Foundation, & The Margot Bos Stambler ’84 Professional Development Award. As a young artist, in 2017 and 2018, Kuźma was at Chautauqua Institute, led by world renowned teacher, Marlena Malas. There, she performed Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore and Miles in Turn of the Screw.  In 2016, she made her Italian debut at Teatro Petrarca singing Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppea.

A recent graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory, she received a B.A. in Psychology and a B.M. in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Marlene Rosen. Previously, she studied at The Juilliard School with long-time mentor, Lorraine Nubar. Ms. Kuzma is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at Yale University’s School of Music, working with Gerald Martin Moore.

Yi-Chen Feng, piano

Taiwanese pianist Yi-Chen Feng has been awarded numerous prizes in competitions, including the first International Maestro Piano Competition in Taipei, the Grand Canal International Piano Art Festival and Lang Lang Piano Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, and the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition. In 2019, Feng appeared as a soloist performing Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.2 with the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra in the winner concert.

Feng has been featured in various venues as a soloist, including Brodbeck Music Hall of Hood College, Saint John’s Cathedral (Denver, USA), National Recital Hall (Taipei, Taiwan), Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Kaohsiung, Taiwan), and the Hangzhou Grand Theater (Hangzhou, China).

Born in Taipei, Taiwan. Feng began his piano studies at the age of seven. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at the Peabody Conservatory, Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Boris Slutsky. Feng continues his piano studies with Boris Slutsky at the Yale School of Music where he is pursuing his Artist Diploma.


Christine Lee, cello

Praised for her inexhaustible curiosity, Christine is one of the most versatile artists of her generation who performs extensively as a soloist and a chamber musician. She is the first prizewinner of the International Isang Yun Competition and a top laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition among her numerous competition victories. Her debut album, Voyage was released in May 2021 through the recording label, Outhere, where she invites her listeners on a journey of self-discovery and building cultural bridges.

In her hopes to make classical music a more relevant force in our society, she has launched Christine’s Notes on Youtube and carries out her bi-weekly live interview series with the top musicians of her generation on Instagram. She is also the creative director for the “We’ve got your Bach project during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing music and comfort to people and providing a platform for the musicians to continue creating and performing during a challenging period.

Committed to serving her community through music, Christine has organized fundraisers and charity concerts to bring unity through music. In her last fundraiser, she collected funds to build a moveable library for underprivileged children in North Philadelphia, where she considers it her second home.  She is pursuing her Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music.

Reservations are required: rsvp@artsarena.org

Covid restrictions will be strictly adhered to.

Priority will be given to members of the Arts Arena.