Shepherd School violinist Boson Mo to be featured on American Public Media program May 14-16

Graduate violinist Boson Mo was recently selected to represent Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as a part of American Public Media‘s (APM) “Performance Today” Young Artists in Residence Series. The segments will be broadcast on KUHA Classical 91.7 May 14-16 at 10 a.m. daily and will be available online at http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/.

BOSON MO

Last month, Mo traveled to the APM studios in St. Paul, Minn., for a series of recording sessions with “Performance Today” host Fred Child. The program’s Young Artists Series invites musicians from the top American conservatories to participate in a weeklong residency, where they perform and discuss their backgrounds, ambitions and what it means to be a musician.

“This was one of the best experiences I’ve had as a young musician,” Mo said. “Talking in depth with Fred Child was great because I rarely have opportunities to explore these works so deeply in my own thoughts. Artistically and personally, it was a whole lot of fun.”

Andrew Staupe, a doctoral piano student of Shepherd School Professor of Piano Jon Kimura Parker, joined Mo for the recording sessions. Staupe is an emerging star in the world of classical piano and made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 2012.

“Having Andrew as my collaborative partner for this project was fantastic,” Mo said. “He has been on the show before and he’s from St. Paul, so he knew a lot of the people at the studio.”

A student of Shepherd School Professor of Violin Paul Kantor, Mo received third prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, the Prix Joseph-Rouleau at the 2010 Montreal International Violin Competition in Canada, the Canadian Music Educators’ Association’s W. Harvey Award for the Best Small Ensemble Performance, third prize at the Concours Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and first prize at the Canadian Music Competition. He has participated in the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition and the Menuhin International Violin Competition and has attended the Perlman Music Program (New York), the Banff Centre’s Chamber Music Residency, Morningside Music Bridge (Calgary) and the Aspen Music Festival and School as a fellowship recipient for four consecutive years. More information on Mo is available at http://moboson.wordpress.com/.

This is the second year of the Shepherd School’s participation in the public radio program. To hear the 2013 sessions with cellist Coleman Itzkoff, visit http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/02/25/coleman_itzkoff-yar.

“Performance Today” is America’s most popular classical music radio program. The show is broadcast on 292 public radio stations across the country and reaches approximately 1.4 million listeners each week. Visit www.classical917.org/kuha.php for the schedule and program information.