A CONCERT at All Saints Church in Calbourne by pianist Ren Yuan and oboist Emma Vallender was well attended and very much enjoyed.
“Around £700 plus gift aid was raised towards running costs at All Saints,” said the rector Rev. David Bevington. “They were brilliant performances by the two soloists and around 50 to 60 people came to the recital.”
The two talented performers were former William Smith International Performance Scholar at the Royal College of Music, Ren Yuan, who performed a piano recital, and Island born oboist Emma Vallender. The two played together on Saint Saens Sonata and Gabriels Oboe from the film ‘The Mission’.
Ren Yuan is an extremely talented young pianist from Dalian, China with a passion for Chopin and Schubert. After graduating from Shenyang Conservatory Yuan joined the Dalian Huaxia Song and Dance Troupe. She performed with them in Japan and Russia before coming to London to study at the Royal College of Music (RCM) where she was awarded a William Smith International Performance Scholarship and where she studied with Nigel Clayton.
Ren Yuan has performed in Moscow, Prague, Warsaw, Beijing and, most recently, at New York’s Carnegie Hall. She also performed at the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Gala Concert at the RCM in the presence of HRH The Earl of Wessex. Yuan is currently studying for the prestigious Artist Diploma at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami.
Emma Vallender was born on the Isle of Wight and began her musical studies, aged eleven, under the tuition of Wendy Banks and, later, with Elizabeth Courtney. She attended Ryde School and toured with its orchestra and choir to Italy, Austria, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland.
In 2006 Emma won a place to study at Trinity College of Music in London and has studied with the renowned oboists David Thomas and Chris O’Neil. She has since moved to the Royal College of Music and is currently in her final year of a BMus course where she is studying with David Theodore and Christopher Cowie.
Emma was a finalist in the 2007 Harold–Clarke Woodwind Competition and in August 2008 Emma was selected to attend the Charterhouse International Music Festival. Emma is currently recording for Naxos record label with Trinity College of Music Wind Orchestra. She has recently gained a place at the Tchaikovsky Institute in Moscow to study for a year.
“I thought it went very well,” said Emma. “It was really good to play with Ren because she’s really amazing. We met when we played together at a wedding at St Paul’s cathedral.
“I’m hoping to play another recital on the Island at the end of August. I’d like to do something before I leave for Russia.”
Emma’s former music teacher Wendy Banks was at the concert. “I thought it was absolutely wonderful and I did cry I have to admit,” said Wendy. “She’s carrying out her dream.
“At the age of 11 she told me she was trying to succeed as an oboist and she really, really wanted to do well. She was a lovely pupil to teach and she was very determined from the very beginning showing real promise.
“There were only a couple of times I caught her out and I left messages in her oboe case saying that she hadn’t practiced that week which I think jollied her along. I taught her for five years, to grade six.”
“The church is very grateful to William Smith for arranging and presenting the evening,” said Rev Bevington.
