This recital marks a solo clarinet recital by Celia Yizhen, a Taiwanese clarinetist currently studying at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She is joined by pianist Tim Chong from Macau, who is also a student at RIAM.

The programme features key works from the clarinet repertoire, including the Clarinet Sonata by Saint-Saëns and Solo de Concours by André Messager, alongside other works that highlight both lyrical expression and technical brilliance. The selected repertoire reflects the performers‘ shared interest in French and late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century music.

Celia Yizhen He Chu is a clarinetist born in Spain and raised in Taiwan. She began her musical education in Taichung with Yung-Nyen Tien and continued her training at the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School in Beijing under Professor Fan Lei. She is currently based in Dublin, studying at the Royal Irish Academy of Music as a recipient of the 1848 Scholarship, under the guidance of John Finucane and Paul Roe.

Celia performs regularly in orchestral and chamber music settings, as well as in collaborative projects across different artistic contexts. She appeared in the premiere of Spirits Unsurrendered at Kilmainham Gaol and continues to perform in a range of Dublin‘s historic venues. She is a co-founder of the Westland Trio, where she also plays the harpsichord, focusing on baroque repertoire and its relationship with contemporary listening.

In 2022, she was named a Sony Music Global Scholar, and in 2024 represented RIAM at the Global Scholar Conference in New York.

Tim Meng-Kin Chong is a pianist and professional engineer, born in Macao and raised in both Macao and Canada. Tim worked as a civil engineer specializing in hydraulic system designs. He is currently studying at the Royal Irish Academy of Music under the guidance of Lance Coburn.