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(Macao, June 4, 2012) – The Venetian^® Macao-Resort-Hotel welcomed a select group of six distinguished musicians from the preeminent Philadelphia Orchestra for an exclusive and intimate performance Monday at the Venetian Theatre. The Venetian Macao is Premier Sponsor of the Orchestra’s current four-city Residency & Tour of China.

Featuring violinists Richard Amoroso and Jonathan Chu, violists Che-Hung Chen and Burchard Tang, as well as cellists Glenn Fischbach and John Koen, the “Exclusive Chamber Performance from The Philadelphia Orchestra” was held at 8 pm at the luxurious Venetian Theatre Monday night, in front of a delighted audience that included government officials, celebrities, music students from the Macau Conservatory and other musical schools, and Mr. Nicholas Platt, former U.S. Ambassador and President Emeritus of Asia Society. The ensemble’s selection for the evening featured movements from the works of Rossini, Bizet, Mozart, Borodin and Tchaikovsky.

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2012 Residency & Tour of China coincides with the upcoming 40th anniversary of its first trip to the People’s Republic in 1973. The group has already travelled to Beijing and Tianjin and performs in Guangzhou and Shanghai on June 5 and 6 respectively. The Orchestra’s China initiative not only takes place in the four major Chinese cities, but also brings education and community programs to emerging cities and provinces, aimed at furthering its role as a cultural ambassador, sharing its musical talents and furthering awareness of classical music.

In addition to its role as Premier Sponsor, The Venetian Macao also serves as Macau Community Outreach Sponsor. As such, the integrated resort will hold a community event and a professional exchange programme on June 5, with the six musicians giving a one-hour performance to 40 members and 20 staff of the Macao Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind at the Venetian Theatre, and conducting three two-hour classes with the Orchestra’s Principal Percussionist Christopher Deviney at the Macao Conservatory School of Music, giving local young musicians a chance to benefit from the interaction with the esteemed symphonic performers.

Led by chief conductor Charles Dutoit, The Philadelphia Orchestra remains one of the preeminent orchestras in the world. The symphony orchestra has an extraordinary history of 112 seasons, and is renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for an unrivalled legacy of music-making firsts, including its 1973 China visit and its innovative move to become the first orchestra to create an online store for purchasing music.

About The Venetian^® Macao-Resort-Hotel
The Venetian^® Macao-Resort-Hotel is Macao's first integrated resort featuring stunning replicas of the famous canals and architectural icons of Venice, Italy. The Venetian Macao features 3,000 suites, 1.2 million square feet of convention and meeting facilities as well as a 15,000-seat CotaiArena™ designed for world-class sports events and electrifying entertainment. The Venetian Macao is also home to the unique, 1,800-seat luxury Venetian Theatre, hosting the best in international and Chinese entertainment; more than 30 renowned restaurants; MALO CLINIC Health & Wellness; the incredibly fun QUBE indoor playground and more than 300 retailers at The Grand Canal Shoppes. Outdoor recreation areas include swimming pools and cabanas and a mini-golf course.


About The Philadelphia Orchestra
Renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for an unrivalled legacy of “firsts” in music-making, The Philadelphia Orchestra remains one of the preeminent orchestras in the world.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has cultivated an extraordinary roster of artistic leaders in its 112 seasons, including music directors Fritz Scheel, Karl Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Christoph Eschenbach, as well as the Orchestra’s current chief conductor, Charles Dutoit. In the 2012-13 season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will become the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Named music director designate in 2010, Nézet-Séguin brings a vision that extends beyond symphonic music and into the vivid world of opera and choral music.

Philadelphia is home and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. The Orchestra also performs for Philadelphia audiences at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Penn’s Landing and other regional venues. The Philadelphia Orchestra Association continues to own the Academy of Music – a National Historic Landmark – as it has since 1957.

The ensemble maintains an important tradition of presenting community educational programs for local audiences. Today the Orchestra executes a myriad of education and civic partnership programs, notably its Neighborhood Concert Series, Sound All Around and Family Concerts, eZseatU and more.

Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, The Philadelphia Orchestra touches the lives of countless music lovers around the world. The Orchestra annually performs at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center while also enjoying a three-week residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York and a strong partnership with the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.

For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.

Additional notes to Editors

1. Richard Amoroso, Violin
Violinist Richard Amoroso joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1998 after serving as a member of Concerto Soloists (now Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia), Peter Nero and the Philly Pops®, and as a substitute violinist with the Orchestra. He also performed with various local music groups, including Pro Musica, the Mendelssohn Club, the Philadelphia Singers, the Academy of Vocal Arts, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Mr. Amoroso has performed as soloist with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, the North Penn Symphony, and in a trio recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He returned to Carnegie in 2004 to perform a solo recital.

Mr. Amoroso’s relationship with The Philadelphia Orchestra began in 1984 at the age of 14 when, when he won the Orchestra’s Student Competition and subsequently performed as a soloist with the Orchestra. A native Philadelphian, he attended Settlement Music School on scholarship, and also studied with Philadelphia Orchestra retired Concertmaster Norman Carol, as well as with former Orchestra Co-Concertmaster William de Pasquale, Rafael Druian, and retired Orchestra Associate Concertmaster David Arben.

Mr. Amoroso holds a bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College, from which he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. His instrument is a Nicolo Gagliano from 1765. He resides in West Chester with his wife, Anne, and children, Sofia and Alex. He is an avid golfer and sports fan.

2. Jonathan Chu, Violin
Violinist Jonathan Chu is widely sought-after as a chamber musician and recitalist. With the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, he has toured throughout Japan and Europe performing in some of the finest halls in the world as well as in New York. He also has a wide range of experiences with other professional ensembles, having been a member of the Saint Louis Symphony and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and serving as concertmaster with the Juilliard Orchestra and guest principal with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Chu joined the viola section of The Philadelphia Orchestra at the start of the 2009-10 season.

Aside from his work with professional ensembles, Mr. Chu enjoys a range of other musical experiences. He has participated in Caramoor’s “Rising Stars” series, performing with musicians such as Anton Kuerti, Gary Hoffman, and Timothy Eddy. With the Fader Piano Quartet, he was a prizewinner at the Coleman Competition in Pasadena. He is also a founding member of the Io String Quartet. Mr. Chu has attended festivals including Marlboro, Yellow Barn, and Taos. He can also be heard on the album of the rock band Vampire Weekend playing both violin and viola.

Mr. Chu is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree along with a second major in economics, and the Juilliard School, where he received a Master of Music studying with Robert Mann. He plays on a Hiroshi Iizuka viola made in 2004.

3. Che-Hung Chen, Viola
Violist Che-Hung Chen joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in spring 2001, the first-ever Taiwanese citizen to become a member of the Orchestra. He was the first prize winner at the seventh Banff International String Quartet Competition as a member of the Daedalus Quartet; he was also awarded the Pièce de concert prize for the best performance of a commissioned work and the Székely Prize for the best performance of a Beethoven quartet. A three-time top prize winner at the Taiwan National Instrumental Competition, Mr. Chen entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age 14, where he studied with Joseph de Pasquale, retired Philadelphia Orchestra principal viola, and served as principal viola of the Curtis Symphony.

Mr. Chen has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and given recitals throughout the United States and Asia. As a participant in the Marlboro Festival, he has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and performed on their 50th anniversary concerts in Boston and New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Orion, Mendelssohn, and Tokyo quartets, and with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lang Lang, and Hilary Hahn. Mr. Chen has also participated in festivals such as the Ravinia, Caramoor, Kingston, and Bridgehampton chamber music festivals and Music from Angel Fire. He has also performed with the Brandenburg Ensemble and Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra.

Mr. Chen currently serves on the faculty of Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music and Temple Music Prep.

4. Burchard Tang, Viola
A native of Maryland, Burchard Tang joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in September 1999. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in May 1999 from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Joseph de Pasquale, retired Philadelphia Orchestra principal viola, and Choong-Jin Chang, the Orchestra’s current principal viola. Mr. Tang has served as principal viola with the Curtis Symphony and the New York String Seminar, and he has performed with the Brandenburg Ensemble.

A 1993 winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition, Mr. Tang performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra as a soloist in a Student Concert in November 1993. Other honors include the Temple University Preparatory Division Concerto Competition and second prize in the Senior Division of the Fischoff Competition in 1996.


5. Glenn Fischbach, Cello
Glenn Fischbach, cello, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Orlando Cole and William Stokking. Following his graduation, Mr. Fischbach spent six seasons as principal cello of the Savannah Symphony. He performs regularly as a substitute musician with The Philadelphia Orchestra and is on the faculty of Temple University’s Music Preparatory Division. He is a member of the Belmonte Piano Trio with his wife, violinist Jennifer K. Lee, and pianist Robert Durso. Mr. Fischbach comes from a musical family. His father is a member of the violin faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park, and is the co-author of the well-known Viva Vibrato! method books. His brother is a violist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and his sister is artistic director of the Southold Dance Theater in South Bend, IN, and a former dancer with American Ballet Theatre.

6. John Koen, Cello
John Koen has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1990. He appears regularly on the Orchestra’s Chamber Music series, and performed during Wolfgang Sawallisch’s 1993 Opening Week Festival and the subsequent National Pubic Radio broadcast of Schumann’s Piano Quintet with Maestro Sawallisch as pianist. Mr. Koen has been a frequent guest on the Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble series since 1993 and is also a member of the Mondrian Ensemble and the Network for New Music. He performed with the ensemble 1807 & Friends Chamber Music Society from 1990 to 1993.

Mr. Koen has appeared as a soloist with the New Symphony Orchestra of Sofia, Bulgaria, under the direction of Rossen Milanov. Mr. Koen also appears regularly as a soloist with the Lansdowne Symphony (PA), of which he has been principal cello since 1992. He was a nominee for the 1998 Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA) for his performance of Winter Toccata for solo cello by Robert Maggio, which Mr. Koen commissioned, and is featured on a recording of works by Robert Maggio entitled Seven Mad Gods (Composers’ Recordings, Inc.).

Mr. Koen studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with David Soyer and Peter Wiley, the original and current cellist (respectively) of the Guarneri Quartet, from 1985 to 1990, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Performance degree; he also studied at the New School of Music with Orlando Cole (1984-85). In 1988 Mr. Koen performed in the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra as solo cellist on European tours with Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Bernstein, and Sergiu Celibidache, including a television broadcast throughout Eastern Europe from Gorky Park in Moscow with Maestro Bernstein, and as a member of the Salzau Quartet in a performance for President Richard von Weizsäcker of Germany. Mr. Koen taught at the College of New Jersey (Trenton) from 1996 to 2001.

In 2004 Mr. Koen received The Philadelphia Orchestra’s C. Hartman Kuhn Award, given to “a musician who has shown both musical ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance the musical standards and reputation of The Philadelphia Orchestra.”

7. Christopher Deviney, Principal Percussion
Christopher Deviney became principal percussion of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2003. Prior to assuming this title, he was section percussionist in the Houston Symphony. Mr. Deviney has also previously performed and recorded with the New Orleans Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. Before beginning his current tenure in Philadelphia, he was a substitute percussionist with The Philadelphia Orchestra on many occasions. He traveled with the Orchestra on its 1991 tour of Europe with Riccardo Muti and its 1996 tour of Asia with Wolfgang Sawallisch. Mr. Deviney also joined the Orchestra for recording sessions with conductors Charles Dutoit, Myung-Whun Chung, and David Zinman.

Mr. Deviney has performed professionally at the Bard Music Festival and as a featured soloist with the Brevard (FL) Symphony. He has been featured in a number of chamber settings and recitals at Tulane University and Temple University and with the Network for New Music, the Atmos Percussion Ensemble, and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Series.

Mr. Deviney was a student at the Aspen Music Festival where he was the recipient of the first Charles Owen Memorial Fellowship. He was also a two-year Tanglewood Institute Fellowship recipient. Mr. Deviney received his Bachelor of Music degree in percussion performance from Florida State University, where he studied under Gary Werdesheim, and his Master of Music degree in percussion performance from Temple University, where his teachers included Alan Abel (retired associate principal percussion of The Philadelphia Orchestra).

In 2002 Mr. Deviney was a featured clinic presenter at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. He has presented clinics for PAS Day of Percussion events in Louisiana, Florida, and Pennsylvania. He is an adjunct professor at Rutgers University and has given master classes at Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music. In addition he has given professional coaching at the New World Symphony. In 2005 he received the Florida State University Dohnányi Award for Excellence in Music Performance.

Mr. Deviney is a proud endorser of Sabian cymbals, Pearl/Adams concert percussion, and Innovative Percussion mallets. He resides in Elkins Park (PA) with his wife, Tonja, and daughter, Caitlyn.