Great Scot - The Scotch Family Magazine - Issue 150 April 2017 GS150-ONLINE Version_FA | Page 51

Masterful
performances
support Scotch’s
Indigenous
Scholarship Fund
Masterful performances by cellist Yelian He
('02), pianist Yasmin Rowe and the wonderful
Pro Musica Orchestra under the baton of
John Ferguson captivated the audience at the
second annual Scotch College Foundation Ian
Roach Concert on 26 November.
Held in the James Forbes Academy’s
superb Ian Roach Hall, the concert program
featured three classic works: Faure’s
Masques and Bergamasques, Saint-Saens’
Cello Concerto No.1 and Beethoven’s Piano
Concerto No.5 (Emperor).
Proceeds from the 2016 Ian Roach
Concert are being directed to the Scotch
College Indigenous Scholarship Fund, which
aims to embed indigenous and non-
indigenous students, staff and the broader
school community in the foundational belief
that education is both the key and the hope for
the future of indigenous Australians.
Soloist in the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto
was Yelian He, who attended Scotch from
1997 to 2002, having come to Australia at the
age of seven. Earlier, at three years of age, he
began to learn the piano, and at five learned
the cello. Yelian has performed in almost all of
Australia’s and the UK’s well-known venues,
including the Melbourne Recital Centre, Hamer
Hall, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, and
Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in
London.
In October 2011, Yelian was presented to
Her Majesty the Queen after performing at an The Foundation was most grateful to
Xiaojian Ren and Qian Li, Bruce Sheng and
exclusive reception in Buckingham Palace.
Soloist in the mighty Emperor Concerto
was British pianist, Yasmin Rowe, who
performs as a solo recitalist, chamber
musician and concerto soloist throughout the
UK and abroad. Yasmin recently released a
very successful first commercial CD, and she
has been selected by British Airways to record
music for the airline’s on-board entertainment
system.
Among many awards, Yasmin won first
prize in the EPTA UK Piano Competition, the
Moray International Piano Competition, and
most recently the Antena 2 competition in
Portugal. Yasmin frequently teams up with
Yelian in ‘Y-Squared’, a duo which they formed
after meeting at a master class in 2008.
At the Ian Roach Concert, Yelian and
Yasmin performed their concertos with
considerable virtuosity and sensitivity, earning Teresa Chen, and to Angela and David Li for
sponsoring the concert. Foundation Manager
Sandra Dick, and Kathy Alsop and Judy Flynn
from Scotch’s Music School played major
roles in preparing and presenting the evening’s
concert to a most appreciative audience.
Donations to the Scotch College
Indigenous Scholarship Fund are tax
deductible. If you are interested in supporting
the fund, please contact the Director of
Development, Tim Shearer, on 03 9810 4301
or [e-mail]
prolonged applause from the audience. During
Yasmin’s performance, Yelian took his place as
a cellist in the Pro Musica Orchestra.
Among the guests in the 300-strong Ian
Roach Hall audience for the concert were
former Principal, Dr Gordon Donaldson,
Foundation President, Michael Robinson
(1955), and Mrs Judy Roach, who kindly
granted the Foundation permission to name
the concert in her late husband’s honour
(Ian Roach – 1943). Also present were Dr
Xiao Chen, Cultural Consult of the People’s
Republic of China in Melbourne, and Mr
Nelson Cook, former principal cellist of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, who taught
Yelian He at Scotch and at Melbourne
University.
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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