Sunway Music Foundation Marks Second Anniversary with New York Concert

The Sunway Music Foundation, founded in 2023, is a New York-based nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting emerging musicians and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across music and the performing arts.

Through curated concerts, educational initiatives, and commissioned works, the foundation focuses on artistic growth at different stages of development, creating platforms where young artists can share the stage with more established performers and engage directly with audiences.

This mission was reflected in the foundation's recent second-anniversary concert at Cary Hall, located within The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Rather than functioning solely as a celebratory event, the program offered a cross-section of Sunway's ongoing work-bringing together education, performance, and artistic collaboration within a single evening."

The concert opened with a brief appearance by violin student Ori Chen, marking her stage debut after six months of study and highlighting the foundation's commitment to early-stage music education. Chamber music followed, with cellist Peijing Liao and pianist Avril Lin, whose return to the Sunway stage came shortly after the release of her debut album, Start on a Journey, in September 2025.

The program also featured pianist Wenbo Ai, appearing with the foundation for the first time in a performance of Claude Debussy's Études, L.136: No. 6, Pour les huit doigts. Her interpretation emphasized clarity, control, and rhythmic precision.

A central moment of the evening was the presentation of Sunway Opus, a newly commissioned work by composer Raymond Yang, performed by violinist Shiqi Luo and pianist Wenbo Ai. Developed through close collaboration between composer and performers, the piece reflected the foundation's emphasis on long-term artistic dialogue and creative development.

Interdisciplinary collaboration-another defining feature of Sunway's programming-was represented through a staged performance of Estrellita, featuring contemporary dancer Zhicheng Bu in collaboration with violin and piano. In addition, Shiqi Luo presented Estrellita and Edward Elgar's La Capricieuse as solo repertoire. Both works will be included in her forthcoming solo album, scheduled for release in 2026.

Later in the program, pianist Anqi Wang returned to the Sunway stage, continuing his long-standing artistic association with the foundation. The concert concluded with tenor Ziwen Xiang, whose performance of Donizetti's Ah! mes amis provided a virtuosic close.

With near-capacity attendance, the anniversary concert underscored the Sunway Music Foundation's growing presence within New York's classical music community. For the foundation, the annual gala concert is more than a celebratory event-it is a recurring meeting point between young artists and audiences. Each season, the gala renews Sunway's commitment to offering emerging musicians a professional stage and to inviting audiences to witness new artistic voices. At its core, the Sunway Music Foundation is guided by the vision of its founder, Shiqi Luo, who believes that every talented artist with a unique voice deserves the opportunity to be seen, heard, and remembered.