Master double-bassist and composer Xavier Foley will visit Key West for an Impromptu Concert performance at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 401 Duval St. He’ll be accompanied by pianist Kelly Yu-Chieh Lin.

Foley is Impromptu’s 2017 Rising Star recipient.

Born in Marietta Ga., Foley was the First Prize winner of the 17th Annual Sphinx Competition Senior Division, which he followed up with a performance with the Sphinx Orchestra in Detroit Symphony Hall in February of 2014.

Additionally, Foley placed first in both the International Society of Bassists Competition Junior Division in 2009, again in the Senior Division in 2011, and in 2010 he was the winner of the Eastern Music Festival Concerto Competition.

Early in his development as a classical bassist Foley was accepted into the “Talent Development Program” under the auspices of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
“I’m very excited to be playing in Key West for the first time,” Foley said. “During the concert, I’ll be performing my “Star Sonata” for the first time in public. It’s a long story with a lot of elements going on, and I’m pushing to then also play it at my upcoming Kennedy Center debut.”

Foley has appeared as soloist (in addition to the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra) with the Nashville Symphony, Brevard Concert Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and made a solo debut at Carnegie Hall where he also performed with the New York String Orchestra. In 2016 he earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he has studied both performance and composition.

Kelly Yu-Chieh Lin began her musical studies at an early age on the piano, violin, viola and erhu (a two stringed bowed Chinese instrument). Soon after, she was winning national competitions and awards on all four instruments in her native Taiwan.

At the age of 13 she moved to the United States where she was invited to perform with the Eastern Music Festival Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra and the Santa Barbara Symphony.

At the Key West concert, the duo will perform “Cello Suite No. 1 BBW 100,” including “Prelude,” “Allemande,” “Courante,” “Sarabande,” and “Minuets I & II,” by Johann Sebastian Bach; “The Falling Seagull,” by Foley; the “’Skyline’ Sonata for Double-Bass and Piano,” including “Apex,” “Twilight,” and “Dawning,” by David Orr; the “Allegretto-Capriccio ‘a-La-Chopin,” by Giovanni Bottesini; the “Sonata in b-minor for Double-Bass and Piano,” including “Allegro Moderato,” “Adagio Cantabile,” and “Allegro,” by Johannes Matthias Sperger; and the aforementioned “’Star’ Sonata for Double-Bass and Piano,” including “Obscurity,” “Gravity Waltz,” “Shards of Light,” “Discovery,” and “Star Sonata.”

Tickets for the concert cost $20, and are available at www.keystix.com, or at the door on the afternoon of the event. Cash, checks, or credit/debit cards accepted. Students admitted free. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, call 305-296-1520, or visit www.keywestimpromptu.org