Music Series at Akin to open with pianist Chung

Award-winning pianist Lucille Chung will open the second season of Midwestern State University's Music Series at Akin at 7:30 p.m. November 1 in the renovated Akin Auditorium. Newly reupholstered and repainted seats, new flooring, and carpeted aisles are a few of the improvements made to the 75-year-old auditorium. 

MSU's Music Series at Akin debuted earlier this year with pianist Yefim Bronfman, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan. Dr. Ron Fischli, Dean of the Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts, said that he was pleased with the turnout and the response to the series, and is excited about this season's guests. "These are internationally known performers, and it is a feather in our cap to bring them to MSU," Fischli said. "Thanks to the Prothros and the Foundation, we can bring them here at a phenomenal price." The series is sponsored by the Perkins-Prothro Foundation and Dale and Joe Prothro with the Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts at Midwestern State University. 

Chung made her debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at age 10, and was invited as soloist on the orchestra's tour to Asia. Before she was 20 years old, she had graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. She has performed in venues such as Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall in the United States and internationally in London, Amsterdam, and Madrid. Chung also played with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra in November 2011. 

Chung and her husband, pianist Alessio Bax, are the artistic directors of the Joaquin Achucarro Foundation based in Dallas. The foundation aims to maintain the legacy of Spanish pianist Achucarro with study opportunities, and recitals and concerts. Her latest CD is Mozart & Me, recordings of both well-known and more obscure Amadeus W. Mozart compositions. 

In 1989, she was named first-prize winner at the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. She won second prize at the 1992 Montreal International Music Competition, at which she also won a special prize for the best interpretation of an unpublished work. In 1993, she received an outstanding achievement award from the Governor General of Canada and in 1994 won second prize at the First International Franz Liszt Competition in Weimar. In 1999, she was awarded the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Irish pianist Barry Douglas will close the season Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Douglas won the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow ‑ the only non-Russian since Van Cliburn to have won this prestigious award outright. He won the Bronze Medal at the Van Cliburn Competition in Texas in 1985 and the top prize in the Santander Paloma O'Shea competition in Spain. 

General admission tickets are $25 for each performance, or $40 for season tickets. Tickets for senior citizen and military are $22.50 for each or $36 for season tickets. Tickets for MSU faculty and staff are $15 or $24 for season tickets. MSU student tickets are $10 each or $15 for season.