A launching pad for musical soloists

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If you want to increase the odds of having a successful career as a soloist, it’s a good idea not play the marimba. Or grow up in Canada. There is a lot of excellent repertoire for the marimba and Canada routinely produces many fine musicians but the soloist game is usually reserved for pianists, violinists and cellists from America or Europe.

The market reality is that concert promoters have an easier time filling the hall for a violin recital than they do for something that looks, to most people, like a swollen xylophone.

So, then, how did Chinese-Canadian marimbist Pius Cheung end up with a career as an international soloist and recitalist with raves in several major American papers?

He practiced a lot, has natural musical talent and won the Young Concert Artists auditions in 2008.

For the full story on how the brainchild of New Yorker Susan Wadsworth has been launching the careers of some of our most beloved soloists for 50 years, click here.

--Marcia Adair