Connect2Culture is bringing back the The Concert Truck

Joplin, Mo. — Connect2Culture is revisiting its nomadic performing arts roots (before it came home to the Cornell Complex) by bringing The Concert Truck to Joplin for seven special performances held throughout the community from May 15th through 19th! This 16-foot box truck transforms into the ultimate mobile concert hall, inviting audiences to experience firsthand how music can bring communities together in extraordinary ways.

Performance Schedule:

Wed, May 15 | 10am: Freeman Health System

Wed, May 15 | 1pm: Thomas Jefferson IDS

Thu, May 16 | 6:30pm: Third Thursday

Fri, May 17 | 10am: Mercy Park Pavilion

Sat, May 18 | 11am: Joplin Empire Market

Sun, May 19 | 10am: The Wildwood Senior Living

Sun, May 19 | 2pm: Joplin Public Library

Teaching artists Susan Zhang and Gabrielle Chou, will play both piano four hands and violin/piano duos throughout their time in Joplin. Their performances in this traveling music venue will strengthen the Joplin community by redefining the concert experience and making live music accessible to everyone.

“What a great way to keep the music going as we end our 23-24 performance season,” says Emily Frankoski, Executive Director of C2C. “Although we are very happily at home presenting performances at the Cornell Complex, we still like taking the music out into the community to share our passion for the arts and hopefully ignite that same passion in others.”

Featured Artists:

Susan Zhang: Acclaimed as a pianist with “astounding musical authority” (Columbia Free Times), Susan Zhang made her orchestral debut at the age of twelve with the Augusta Symphony. She has since been featured as a soloist with the South Carolina Philharmonic, the Aiken Civic Orchestra, the University of South Carolina Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. She has performed in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre and Woodruff Arts Center as well as numerous other venues in North America, Europe, and Asia. Her recordings have been featured on SC Public Radio.

Susan was a prizewinner of the Thousand Islands Chopin Competition, the Bauru-Atlanta Competition, the Burgos International Music Festival Competition, the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, South Carolina MTNA Young Artist Competition, and the University of South Carolina Concerto Competition. Her summer festival appearances include Pianofest in the Hamptons, the Banff Piano Master Class, Burgos International Music Festival, the Southeastern Piano Festival, and Brevard Music Center.

Susan is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, and the University of South Carolina. Her primary teachers have included Marina Lomazov, Joseph Rackers, Enrico Elisi, and Boris Slutsky. Susan currently serves on faculty at the Gilman School and Peabody Conservatory.

Gabrielle Chou: Gabrielle Chou is a New York-based pianist and violinist seeking to defy genres and break barriers in music education and performance tradition. On both instruments she performs solo, chamber music, and in large ensembles, teaches and lectures, coaches chamber music, improvises, collaborates with composers and dancers, and is active in community engagement and activism. Gabrielle plays everything and is particularly passionate about chamber music, contemporary music, and collaborating with composers and artists. She is a founding member of the contemporary chamber collective Away From Keyboard and plays with Metropolis Ensemble, Nu Deco Ensemble, Protestra, Sound Off: Music for Bail, After Arts Featured Artists, the Center for Musical Excellence, and Concerts for Compassion.

Gabrielle’s education includes the Colburn Music Academy, The Juilliard School (BM ’17, MM ’18), and the City University of New York’s Graduate Center (DMA ’23), where she wrote her dissertation on play structures and game mechanics in music. Her teachers include Jerome Lowenthal and Richard Goode on piano, Lewis Kaplan on violin, and Emanuel Ax, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Timothy Eddy for chamber music. Gabrielle is the winner of the Center for Musical Excellence’s 2018 International Performing Arts Grant and has been a piano and violin soloist with orchestras and performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. In addition, she is an avid proponent of new music and contemporary collaborations and has premiered new works at Juilliard, the Yale School of Music, National Sawdust, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Recent residencies include Associate Piano Faculty Artist at the Sarasota Music Festival, Artist in Residence at piano Sonoma, and Fellowship Artist in violin at Mostly Modern | The Netherlands.

Currently in New York Gabrielle serves as Assistant Professor of Music at Baruch College, chamber music coach at the New York Youth Symphony, and staff pianist at The Juilliard School. In her free time, she enjoys frequenting art museums and aquariums, playing board and video games, birding, and reading science fiction.

About The Concert Truck:

The Concert Truck is a traveling music venue that strengthens communities by redefining the concert experience and making live music accessible to everyone.

Impassioned by their love for music, pianists Nick Luby and Susan Zhang converted a 16-foot box truck into a fully functioning mobile concert hall, complete with lights, sound system, and piano. Since then, The Concert Truck has presented concerts across the country in city streets, music and arts festivals, schools, neighborhoods, parks… anywhere you can think to park a truck.

In addition to sharing original programming with local communities, The Concert Truck strengthens relationships between arts organizations and the communities they serve. The Concert Truck has partnered with the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera, Aspen Music Festival & School, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Southeastern Piano Festival, Piano Cleveland, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra to share music and build new audiences with their local communities and has featured guest artists such as James Ehnes, Lawrence Brownlee, Shaun Martin, and Jerome Lowenthal.

The Concert Truck created an online children’s show in partnership with the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival that has been presented to over 55,000 students in North Carolina schools. The Concert Truck has also worked with major music institutions such as Rice University and New World Symphony to mentor young artists in community engagement and entrepreneurship.