Violinist Huang Mengla and friends to present gala concert on Christmas Eve
Shanghai violinist Huang Mengla is joining his friends to present a gala concert at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on Christmas Eve.
This will be the fifth edition of the "Huang Mengla & Friends" concert series, for which Huang has invited violinist Sun Ping, Violist Chen Li, cellist Wu Minzhe, and pianist Xue Yingjia. Some of them are Huang's friends from primary or middle school.
"We know each other well as we have been studying together since childhood," said Huang. "The purpose of this concert series is to seek sparks between my musician friends, and introduce them to the audience."

Violinist Huang Mengla
The concert will start with Debussy's "Sonata in G Minor for Violin and Piano," which will be followed by Schubert's "String Quartet in D Minor Death and the Maiden."
Other programs include Liszt's "Harmonies Du Soir," Shostakovich's five pieces for two violins and a piano, as well as Beethoven's "Archduke."
"This is quite a rich program list, involving string quartet, piano Tio, as well as violin-piano dialogues," said Huang. "We picked melodic pieces so that audiences can easily get involved in our performance."
Huang said the concert will create a relaxing and intimate atmosphere like chamber concerts.

Huang says the concert will create an intimate atmosphere like a chamber concert.
"Compared with recitals, I usually feel less pressure when performing in a gala concert," said Huang. "But the preparation for a multi-performer concert consumes much more time and energy."
Huang said he is planning to involve a pipe organ and other innovative combination of instruments into future editions of the "Huang Mengla & Friends" series.
"Piano and violin are a harmonious but too common a pair. I will keep looking for new ideas and involve more musician friends in this series," he said.
Performance info
Date: December 24, 7:30pm
Tickets: 120-580 yuan
Venue: Shanghai Oriental Art Center
Address: 425 Dingxiang Rd, the Pudong New Area
