Queen Montreal

Sir James Paul McCartney, CH, MBE (born 18 June 1942), is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He gained worldwide fame as the bass guitarist and singer for the rock band the Beatles, widely considered the most popular and influential group in the history of pop music. His songwriting partnership with John Lennon was the most successful of the post-war era…

Kerson Leong recently participated in the award-winning Tribute to Ysaÿe (FUG758). Here is his first solo recital for Alpha. The young Canadian violinist’s career began at the age of thirteen when he won the First Prize of the Junior division of the Menuhin Competition in Oslo in 2010. In 2018 he was named artist-in-residence with the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. An associate musician at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the mentorship of Augustin Dumay, he has already performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival and Wigmore Hall. The Quebec newspaper Le Devoir, which has followed him since the start of his career, speaks of ‘the purity of intonation, the brilliance of the high notes, the power of the sound… Kerson Leong has remained as brilliant as ever, but he has added a new patina and, deep down inside himself, a new class.’

Brigitte Meyer was born in Biel, Switzerland, where she experienced a happy childhood that, as far back as she can remember, was shaped by music. She gave her debut with orchestra at age eleven and went on to study at the conservatories in Biel and Lausanne, where she graduated at the age of nineteen with a degree in performance. She had already begun an active concert career but wished to continue her studies in Vienna – a decision that was rewarded by a personal invitation to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna from Bruno Seidlhofer, who later spoke of three outstanding pupils: Friedrich Gulda (the genius), Martha Argerich (the great virtuoso), and Brigitte Meyer (the great musician). Meyer received the Bösendorfer Prize in Vienna and was a finalist at the Clara Haskil Piano Competition in Vevey.