September 10, 2018 (Jackson, Miss.) - Belhaven alumna and Juilliard graduate Jocelyn Zhu will join fellow Juilliard graduate Mariella Haubs to perform music by artists who faced adversity, as part of their Concerts for Compassion Tour. This free concert is September 15, 7:30 p.m. at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall and is open to the public.
The violinists will perform music by Leclair, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and John Williams as well as African-American spirituals. They believe music can connect cultures and break down racial and social barriers. Zhu and Haubs created Concerts for Compassion to both inspire refugees through performances and encourage through stories about composers, many who were refugees themselves and struggled with similar adversity and still triumphed.
The duo gave interactive performances at schools and played benefit concerts for Red Cross, Caritas, Support International, and the Jesuit Refugee Services. They have already performed at refugee camps and venues across 25 countries in Europe, with later dates in Germany, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, New Zealand, Japan, and Philippines.
Violinist Jocelyn Zhu began her university studies at age fourteen at Belhaven University in violin and pre-medical studies, studying with Professor Song Xie and graduating Cum Laude. She then earned her Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School in 2017.
Zhu has performed in Asia, Europe, and North America, appearing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, and National Sawdust. She has worked with leading musicians of this generation, including David Finckel, Alan Gilbert, Joseph Kalichstein, Itzhak Perlman, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. She has been featured on PBS, Good Morning America, and The Today Show, and has played for dignitaries and celebrities worldwide, including Beyoncé, Joe Biden, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Zhu is a recipient of the Tarisio Trust Young Artists Grant, the Juilliard School Career Grant, the National Trustees Grant, the US Embassy Berlin Grant, and the Performing Arts Consortium Grant.
Mariella Haubs holds bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied as a Kovner Fellow with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. Her musical journey has brought her to over 30 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Haubs has performed in venues such as the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, and numerous philharmonic halls around the world. In 2014, she performed at the United Nations General Assembly at the invitation of Barack and Michelle Obama. Her chamber music collaborators include artists such as Joshua Bell, Lang Lang, and Itzhak Perlman.
Haubs has appeared in Vogue, Glamour, and numerous other newspapers and magazines around the world. Glamour magazine named her one of their Top 10 College Women of 2014. Reaching beyond her classical background and collaborating with artists from other genres, Haubs performed with Selena Gomez at Billboard's Women In Music event in 2015 and is also featured on rapper Mac Miller's track, “Congratulations.”