NEW YORK, March 14 -- Chinese violinist Angelo Xiang Yu is among the 2019 recipients of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Development Grants, the Avery Fisher Artist Program announced here on Thursday.
"I'm very, very humbled and honored to receiving the prestigious award, one of the highest achievement for artists, " Yu told Xinhua before attending the awarding ceremony, slated for Thursday evening at New York City's Greene Space.
"I grew up listening to the CDs of artists such as Andre Watts, Gil Shaham, and Joshua Bell, who have won this award in the past. I never really even dreamed of my name on the Avery Fisher Career Award. I still feel like I'm in the dream," said Yu, who is from northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and now lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
"So it's a huge honor for me. And it also really motivates me to strive for excellence and to improve myself everyday," said the 28-year-old virtuoso, who performs on a 1729 Stradivarius violin generously on loan from an anonymous donor.
The Avery Fisher Career Grant, established by electronics pioneer and amateur musician Avery Fisher, is an award given to up to five outstanding instrumentalists each year. This year's other three grant recipients are JACK Quartet; Piano Duo, Christina and Michelle Naughton; Pianist, Henry Kramer.
In addition to winning First Prize as well as the Bach and Audience Prizes at the 2010 Menuhin Competition, Yu was awarded the 2nd prize at the Lipinski Wieniawski International Violin Competition, and the 3rd prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.
In March 2017, he was chosen to join the roster of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). In January 2019, he received the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, an annual prize that honors outstanding artistry and serves to acknowledge the promising future of selected performers of Lincoln Center.
The Avery Fisher Career Grant are a part of the Avery Fisher Artist Program, along with the Avery Fisher Prize and Special Awards. They are administered by the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
The Grants, which are currently 25,000 U.S. dollars, are designed to give professional assistance to young musicians who are deemed to have the potential for a solo career. Chinese pianists Wang Yujia and Zhang Haochen were also honored with the award respectively in 2010 and 2017.