Pianists Yasmin Rowe and Yiyun Gu perform together as Duo88 this December, with a selection of well-loved duets guaranteed to lift your spirits and warm your hearts.
The Duo88 performance, rescheduled due to lock down takes place later in the year. So in a bittersweet turn of events, if you couldn't make the original performance - now is your chance!
Programme including Schubert’s Fantasie, selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and beautiful Chinese folk songs.
Join Duo88 for a fantastic afternoon.
Schubert - Fantasie in F Minor
Fauré - Dolly Suite
Tchaikovsky - Selection from the Nutcracker
'The Little Cowherd' - arranged by Bao YuanKai
'Bamboo flute Tune' - arranged by Bao YuanKai
Piazzolla - Libertango
Duo88
Yasmin Rowe and Yiyun Gu
New Date: Sunday December 5, 2pm
Montsalvat Barn Gallery
Adult $45
Concession $30
Purchase Your Tickets Here
Yiyun Gu
Currently living in Melbourne, Yiyun Gu appears frequently on stage with the passion for sharing her love of music with more people. She has quickly established herself as a solo concert pianist and a chamber artist.
Yiyun started to learn piano at the age of 3 when she was in Shanghai. She had her first concerto experience with orchestra when she was 12, performing Mozart F major, and then the Yellow River Concerto when she was 13. She was the 2nd prize winner of the Zhi-Yin Youth Piano Competition at 1999 Shanghai Spring Music Festival.
Most recently, Yiyun performed solo recitals at Melbourne Recital Centre (2018, 2019 and soon in Nov 2020), Port Fairy Spring Music Festival (2017 and 2019). In October 2019, she worked with Australian New Goldberg Orchestra, performing arrangements of Chinese folk music by composer Bao Yuan-Kai.
In 2016, Yiyun performed two Beethoven sonatas: Op.2 No.3 and Appassionata at Brunswick Beethoven Festival. In 2015, she performed a fund-raising concert for the Dili Hospital, presented by the East Timor Hospital Support, the Team of Pianists, and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). In 2014, She Performed at Government House for the Governor of Victoria and guests from the Chinese Government. She has played many times for 3MBS radio station, Music Lovers’ Society of Victoria, and Allen House Concert Series at Ormond College. In March 2013, Yiyun was one of the 27 Australia’s finest pianists performing for 3MBS Beethoven Marathon at The Edge in Federation Square, Melbourne. In 2011, she performed with the Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra at Melbourne Town Hall, and was selected to take part in the Music Festival at Australia National Academy of Music.
Yiyun Gu completed Master of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with Stephen McIntyre AM, who is one of Australia’s most distinguished pianists and teachers. In 2015, Yiyun traveled to UK with a scholarship and a grant to participate in the Chetham’s International Summer School and Festival for Pianists, where she had master classes with many international pianists including Leslie Howard, Murray McLachlan, Graham Scott, and Helen Krizos. In 2016, she participated in Virtuoso & Belcanto Festival in Lucca, Italy, where she performed chamber music with musicians from Europe and America, and had lessons with Boris Berman.
Yiyun has participated in many national and international piano competitions, such as China International Piano Competition and Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition in Australia. She was awarded the 3rd prize at the 2015 ASKM (Australian Society for Keyboard Music) Gold Coast Open Piano Competition. She was one of the finalists of Australian National Piano Award in the years of both 2012 and 2014.
Besides her musical attributes, Yiyun has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in commerce.
Yasmin Rowe
Yasmin Rowe is a British concert pianist, solo recitalist and chamber musician. She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with a BMus First Class Honours, MMus with Distinction and a postgraduate International Artist’s Diploma in solo performance.
Shortly before graduation, Yasmin was invited to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto K271 with the Manchester Camerata.
She has performed concertos in cathedrals and other venues throughout the UK as well as in Australia with the Pro-Musica orchestra.
Yasmin won both the EPTA UK and Moray International Piano competitions in 2008 and the Antena 2 radio station competition in Portugal in 2015. She has appeared at numerous concert halls including the Wigmore Hall in London, Melba Hall and Melbourne Recital Centre in Australia, The Wuxi grand theatre, Shanghai concert hall and Forbidden City concert hall in Beijing, China.
Her live radio performances include her BBC Radio 3 debut in 2014 in a performance of Vaughan William’s song cycle On Wenlock Edge with the Zelkova quartet and tenor Nick Pritchard, a solo broadcast for Antena 2 in Portugal in 2016 as well as her solo Bach and Mozart recital on 3MBS radio in Melbourne in 2019 for their Kawai Live series.
Yasmin is passionate about chamber music and regularly works with and performs in her duo ‘Y-Squared’ with award-winning cellist Yelian He, her piano trio ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ with renowned violinist Wilma Smith, the ensemble ‘Collide’ with acclaimed saxophonist Joseph Lallo and her piano duo ‘Duo88’ with concert pianist Yiyun Gu.