This hour-long concert takes place at the beautiful 200-seat Griswold Hall at the Peabody Conservatory. Because this hall is smaller than our other halls, there will be fewer individual tickets available. Please contact admin@bcgs.org to purchase individual tickets.
As one of the most influential young musicians today, guitarist Junhong Kuang was selected as one of the ‘30 Brilliant Classical Musicians Under 30 ‘ by conductor Julian Lloyd Webber. He has worked with many conductors including Darrell Ang, Michael Francis, Tonu Kaljuste, Kevin Griffiths, Jed Gaylin, Nell Flanders, Chen Xieyang, Chen Lin, Yin Jiongjie Hu Yongyan, Zhu Qiyuan, Fu Renchang, and shared the stage with musicians: Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, Pepe Romero, Lv Siqing, Li-Wei Qin, Tao Wang, and Zeng Yun. Junhong also works closely with composers Gerald Garcia, Yao Chen, Liu Peng, Jin Zhuosheng and Wen Ziyang. In 2017, Kuang was awarded the top prize in the classical guitar category of the prestigious ARD Music Competition, along with the Audience Prize and the Ifp-Musikpreis, making him the youngest prizewinner in ARD’s history.
Junhong has performed with several orchestras around the world, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Basel Collegium, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, Chengdu Symphony Orchestra, Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra. His recent performances including Tedesco’s D major guitar concerto with Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un Gentilhombre with Xiamen Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and Chengdu Symphony Orchestra, Concierto de Aranjuez with Bay Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Suzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xian Symphony Orchestra, Vivaldi’s D major guitar concerto with Harbin Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra and Sichuan Symphony Orchestra and Gerald Garcia’s China Sings with Zhejiang Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Junhong Kuang was invited to perform for the opening concert at the Madrid International Guitar Festival in Spain, to tour with Deutsche Grammophone recording Clarinetist Tao Wang in China and Japan, and to give a classes at the New York Juilliard School Pre-college, Hong Kong Chinese University, Peking University, and Tianjin Conservatory of Music.
Junhong Kuang began his study at the age of nine with Professor Xu Bao in Chengdu, China. He was accepted into the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University at the young age of 15, and is currently studying with the legendary maestro Manuel Barrueco. He is an associate professor of classical guitar at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and Pre-College faculty at The Tianjin Juilliard School.
Kuang’s brilliantly clean passagework and sparkling arpeggios in the outer movements seem effortless and are balanced by a sensitively played middle movement, deeply elegant by any standard.
Jim McCutcheon, American Record Guide, July 2021
Kuang’s performance is outstanding…His technical facility is mind-blowing. The way he dispatches the decorations and variations of the famous theme of the second movement is astonishing.
Phillip Scott, Fanfare, March 2021
Kuang’s readings are impeccably clean, bright, and graceful enough to satisfy Rodrigo’s wish that his concerto be ‘no stronger than a butterfly’.
Steph Power, BBC Music Magazine
Kuang performs the Bach Chaconne with not only technical command but with an impressive understanding of the architecture of the piece.
Kenneth Keaton, American Record Guide
