Local violin prodigy Jonathan Chan, 22, is coming home from his studies in London, England next month to perform in two special benefit concerts.
Presented by the Performing Arts Lodges (PAL) Studio Theatre Society, the Up Close and Personal, A Classical Cabaret show will feature Chan performing on his 1715 Montagnana violin - along with special guests, maestro Bramwell Tovey, Jan Bislin, and Anna Hagan - selections from Baroque to contemporary music on Sunday, June 23 at the PAL theatre in Vancouver.
Chan has been playing violin and piano since the age of four, and at eight he made his first appearance with an orchestra. Since then, he has performed throughout Europe, China, South Africa and North America.
In 2003, he was invited to perform at a concert at Toronto's Air Canada Centre to mark the retirement of former Prime Minister Jean Chrtien, sharing the stage with renowned artists Oliver Jones, Paul Anka and the late Oscar Peterson.
Currently studying for his master's at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Chan is a three-time grand prize winner of the Canadian Music Competition, and two-time recipient of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award, an award given to the most gifted musicians in Canada under the age of 30.
His violin, valued at $900,000, is on loan from the Canadian Council for the Arts instrument bank.
"It's amazing to play," he said of the nearly 300-year-old antique instrument, in an interview last year with the NOW. "It's a one-in-a-million opportunity to be drawing an incredible sound from an incredible piece."
The June 23 concert will start at 2:30 p.m. in the PAL studio theatre and on the rooftop garden, with catering by The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Vancouver, and again at 7:30 p.m. in the studio theatre.
Both shows will be at the PAL Theatre, 8th floor, 581 Cardero St. in Vancouver.
Tickets to the 2 p.m. show are $100 plus service charges, with a $50 tax receipt issued upon request. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are $44 including service charges, or $23.75 for students, including service charges. All tickets are available through www.TicketsTonight.ca or 604-684-2787.
Net proceeds benefit PAL Vancouver and Theatre Project Development Fund. For more information, visit www.palvancouver.org.
