The Cellist

Adrian Fung has given solo recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall, the Goethe Institute, Montreal's Pollack Hall, the Toronto Centre of the Performing Arts, the Living Arts Centre, and Taiwan's National Concert Hall. He has been soloist with Ensemble 212, the Columbia Chamber Players, and will appear with the Oakville Symphony in Canada. Praised by the New York Concert Review and the San Francisco Classical Voice, Mr. Fung was awarded an Artist Grant from the New York Foundation of the Arts, received the Goodrich Award from the National Arts Centre of Canada, and was given the Bell Scholarship from Pinchas Zukerman's Young Artists Program. As a chamber musician, he has performed at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and the Orford Music Festival's "Musicians On Tour". A new music enthusiast, Mr. Fung has premiered several works from many composers, including a concerto and an amplified piece for solo cello written for him by Columbia University's Huck Hodge. He gave the world premiere of the latter in New York, which was commissioned and presented by the International Society for Contemporary Music. A graduate of McGill University and Mannes College, Mr. Fung studied cello with Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Fred Sherry, Antonio Lysy, David Hetherington and Susan Gagnon; chamber music with Vienna's Artis Quartet, members of the Orion String Quartet, and Bonnie Hampton. He is currently an Osher Scholar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and in residence at the Morrison Center of Chamber Music at San Francisco State University as a founding member of the Afiara String Quartet, where they are teaching assistants to the Alexander String Quartet.

The Rapper

Besides spending his time playing the cello, Adrian is also involved in hip hop, where he has performed at the Toronto Congress Centre, the Toronto Centre of the Performing Arts, Beat Junkie, Mississauga's Living Arts Centre, Markham Theatre of the Arts, and Audiowerks. Adrian, who goes by the stage name 8W, improvises his rapping, a technique called 'freestyling', as well as performing and writing his own songs. He is interested in combining both classical and hip hop forms in his most recent pieces. His single "Hollow", where he raps and plays the cello simultaneously, was given its premiere at the Toronto Centre of the Performing Arts and was subsequently performed throughout the province. "Hollow", which was bowed, was followed by "Struggle" which features an array of different pizzicato techniques. His music video for "Hollow", produced by Chelle-Shocked Studios, with CTV's Michelle Lee as director and editor, and the accomplished David Johns as chief cinematographer, was released in 2003. His independent album, "Lightning Strikes Twice", a joint effort with his friend epideMIC, is for sale.