Saturday 17th May 2025 1:45pm – 2:30pm
Wenchun Fan – violin, Jordi Bitlloch – piano
Programme
Claude Debussy Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L.140
- Allegro Vivo
- Intermède (Fantasque et léger)
- Finale (Très animé)
Amy Beach Romance for Violin and Piano, Op.23
Johannes Brahms Sonata for Violin and Piano No.3 in D minor, Op.108
- Allegro
- Adagio
- Un poco presto e con sentimento
- Presto agitato
Biographies.
Wenchun Fan is a performer-researcher currently completing a PhD at the University of Leeds, supervised by Dr Clive McClelland and Professor Michael Allis. Originally from China, she began learning the violin at the age of five. In 2013, she entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, studying with Jia Zhang, Liwei Tan, and Wei Xue. She has performed at prestigious events including the Beijing Youth Art Festival, the International Youth Art Festival, and the 33rd Harbin Summer Music Festival, where she collaborated with world-renowned conductor Zubin Mehta, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Harbin Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, Wenchun was awarded a full entrance scholarship and the George Henry Peters Scholarship to study at the Royal Northern College of Music under the distinguished violinist Leland Chen. Her studies were further supported by the China Scholarship Council’s Special Art Talent Cultivation scheme.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed widely across China and the UK. With the Ink Quartet, she won second prize at the 14th Luigi Cerritelli International Music Competition. Her practice-led research on Schubert has been presented at conferences including the BFE/RMA Research Students’ Conference (Newcastle), the SMI/ICTMD-IE Conference (Maynooth), and the ÖAW Schubert Workshop (Vienna). She has also given recitals for the Schubert Institute UK at Conway Hall, London and in Leeds, and performs regularly in WACIDOM’s concert series in Warrington.
Jordi Bitlloch was bornin France in a musical family, Jordi attended the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey as a teenager, studying under Ruth Nye, and later the University of Arts in Berlin (Germany) under Pascal Devoyon, where he earned undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in performance. During those years he also attended courses and masterclasses with Ferenc Rados, Klaus Hellwig, Heime Müller (chamber music), Dietrich Fiescher-Dieskau and Eric Schneider (vocal accompaniment). His international breakthrough came when he won second prize and audience prize at the International Beethoven Competition in Bonn (Germany). He has also garnered prizes in the European Piano Competition Vlado Perlemuter and Concours Aujourd’hui Musiques (France). He has performed throughout Europe as a soloist and chamber musician and has been a guest at festivals such as the Klavierfestival Ruhr (Germany), Music in Paxton (Scotland), Windsor Festival, Festival Jeunes Talents (France) and Euriade Festival (Holland). He is currently based in Manchester working as a performer and accompanist in the North West, and was Junior Fellow in Accompaniment at the Royal Northern College of Music between 2021 and 2023.
Next week’s concert – Chris Hardy (clarinet) and Hector Leung (piano)