Sunday Matinee Series - Jun He & Shirley Xu

Admission is by koha, recommended from $10. Jun He started to play the violin when she was four-year old. In 1994, she went to the Subordinate Middle School of Xinghai Conservatory Guangzhou to study violin performance. From 1998 October, she studied in University Mozarteum Salzburg Austria with Prof. Harald Herzl. In 2000, she won the first prize of Alpe Adria International Competition in Gorizia, Italy. Jun graduated with a Master of Arts in violin performance at the University Mozarteum Salzburg in 2005. In the following year she was invited as soloist to play with the wind symphony orchestra of Private University Hualian in a concert tour including Hong Kong, Macao and many cities of Guangdong Province. In 2006, she taught violin performance in the Private University Hualian China, until her move to New Zealand. Jun graduated from the New Zealand School of Music with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance in 2014. She later regularly played in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and in the Bach Musica in Auckland. Currently Jun is the leader of the Manawatu Sinfonia. Shirley Xu is a pianist and teacher based in Palmerston North. With the support of the O’Donnell Scholarship, she completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington under Dr. Jian Liu. Her past teachers include Liz Locke and Min Min Tay. Shirley enjoys performing both as a soloist and in collaboration with other musicians. After teaching piano in Singapore, Shirley returned to Palmerston North in 2018, where she continues to teach and perform. Admission is by koha, recommended from $10.