Songs of Dedication: Xiaohe (Grace) Gu in Recital

Songs of Dedication: Xiaohe (Grace) Gu in Recital

A Message from Grace:

The word "dedication" has many different meanings, whether it is devoting to a divine being, paying tribute to a loved one, or self-sacrificing for a cause. Having curated a program of arias and art songs from various time periods and cultures, I'd like to bring you on a journey of exploring what dedication meant for those people and perhaps, what it means to you too. Some of the composers I will be singing include Mozart, Handel, Bellini, Laitman and Huang Tzu, just to name a few.

It is an honor to have my wonderful coach Michael and my talented friend Tracy accompany me in this recital. I would like to thank Michael and my teacher Linda for helping me put together this program. Also, gratitude to all my family and friends for their support and love.

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Xiaohe (Grace) Gu is a soprano, pianist and composer from Shenzhen, China. She holds a B.M. in Professional Music from Berklee College of Music. Since 2019, Grace has been studying with Linda Balliro, Associate Professor at Berklee. Over the past five years, Grace has held numerous recitals and band shows in Boston, Chicago and her hometown Shenzhen. She has also composed and arranged works for instrumentation such as chamber orchestra, voice/piano, jazz trio, and solo piano. Starting this September, Grace will attend Longy School of Music to pursue her M.M. in Vocal Studies.

For the past 35 years, Mr. Michael Strauss has been active in and around the Boston area as a performer, accompanist, conductor and vocal coach. He has recorded with various chamber music ensembles for WGBH radio. Mr. Strauss toured with The Boston Music Theater featuring a program of American music in 1999 for the 50th anniversary of NATO in Brussels. The program was revived in 2001 in both Paris and Brussels, and in 2002, in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Mr. Strauss served as an opera coach and lecturer with the Opera Department at New England Conservatory from 2001-2022, and a Professor on the faculty of Boston Conservatory from1992-2022.

Tracy Cui is a violinist from Shenzhen, China, where she studied violin with former Shenzhen Symphony orchestra's concertmaster, Fan Yang. She currently works as a research assistant in Brigham Women's Hospital and is a Harvard SPH alumnus in Computational Biology. Tracy enjoys playing chamber music and orchestral works, and was a former member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.