Debra Li debra_lidan@163.com SOME 300 attended an unusual piano concert Wednesday evening at Mountain View Theater in the Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shekou, Nanshan District. The audiences were taken away by Sara Yang’s skillful interpretation of many a beloved piece in her meticulous yet passionate performance. Born and raised in Shenzhen, the 17-year-old amateur pianist’s twinkling eyes glowed when the audience gave her bravos at the end of the show. “This is a dream coming true for me,” said Yang, an 11th grader of the Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. She also hopes that her concert, offering free tickets to music fans in the neighborhood, may encourage others to pursue their dreams. “Amateur doesn’t necessarily mean lame, and I wish piano students who don’t plan to go pro can retain their passion, keep up their practice and embrace music as a lifelong friend,” she said. She performed the works of Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel and Debussy, quite demanding pieces even for those who have become professional pianists. “Personally I’ve been a big fan of the works of the Romantic period, but hope to balance the program out a little bit,” Yang told the Shenzhen Daily at an interview before the concert. “That’s why I also choose Beethoven’s ‘Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major, Op. 14, No. 1,’ a seemingly simplistic piece but written with techniques that would become the composer’s signature style later, as well as more modern works, such as Ravel’s two sonatines and Debussy’s beloved ‘Clair de Lune.’” Most of the program was dedicated to Chopin, with whom Yang has always found a resonance and by whom she has been deeply touched. The most challenging piece on the program was Chopin’s “Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23,” composed in 1831 during the composer’s early years in Vienna — a reflection of his loneliness in the city far away from his home. “The touching piece appeared in Polanski’s 2002 film ‘The Pianist,’ where the Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman performs it for a German officer who helps the pianist in hiding by giving him food and warm clothes, as WWII comes to an end,” she explained. “This is by far the toughest one I’ve ever practiced, and I am fully aware of my limitation in my techniques and approach to the profound passions that come with it, but I’m happy that I can finally complete it in a presentable manner,” she said. Yang has practiced the piece for one and a half years, and in the time leading up to the concert, has been practicing six to eight hours each day. She first got in touch with Chopin’s “Four Ballades” in 2017 at a music festival in Harbin, capital of the northeastern Heilongjiang Province. “I became fascinated by the works after hearing them played at the festival and after returning, found Zimmermann’s recordings and started listening to them repeatedly,” Yang recalled. She had also played parts of the pieces in secret, unbeknownst to her instructor Zhu Lingbing. “She would definitely disallow it, since it was beyond my levels then,” the girl said. The Holy Grail for Yang is the “Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op.83” by Johannes Brahms. “As this expansive, four-movement concerto demonstrates, the composer was able to blend beauty with fire, tenderness and drama in the most remarkable of ways. I, like many others, have also been touched by Brahms’ romantic feelings for Clara Schumann,” she said. “I will keep practicing and hopefully, be able to perform this piece at some point in the future.” Coincidently, it was through the Brahms masterpiece that Yang got introduced to Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 9,” which she performed at the concert. “I downloaded a recording of the Brahms concerto performed by Gina Bachauer, and that album happened to include this piece by Beethoven, which won me over immediately. I’ve listened to it numerous times, and started to play parts of it in the 8th grade.” Like many children born to well-educated parents in Shenzhen, Yang started playing the piano at an early age; and like others, she had met setbacks and wanted to quit. “I started to play the piano at 4, and my mom had pushed me when I was little, saying it’s important not to give up,” she recalled. The girl had stopped playing for three months while in the 4th grade, but one day when she heard her younger sister playing, she suddenly realized how much she wanted to play and regretted her previous decision. “Luckily, I always have the support of my parents, who found me a strict but patient teacher.” At 11, she became a pupil of Zhu, who graduated from and later taught at the Franz Schubert Music Conservatory in Vienna before returning to China. Zhu, born in a musician’s family in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, not only taught her students the knowhow, but also arranged for opportunities to expand their horizons and cultivate in them a passion for and a profound understanding of music. “It was in the summer of the 6th grade, while on a tour to Italy, that I found my passion for music and became determined to pursue it as a lifelong hobby,” she said. Zhu had taken her students to a two-week summer camp, combining five days of intensive training at the Padua Conservatory of Music with attending lots of concerts and visiting historical sites related to music and musicians. “We attended master classes lectured by established musicians and listened to lots of beautiful and interesting works at live concerts, which suddenly opened the door to a new world for me. It has proven to me that the pursuit of music is a long and worthy journey.” Over the years, Yang has won many awards at piano competitions, including first prize in the amateur group at the Asia-Pacific Young Artist International Instrumental Music Championship this year and first prize in the amateur group at the 2020 Hong Kong International Piano Competition. As the old saying goes, every dark cloud has a silver lining. Having her overseas study suddenly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic gave Yang an opportunity to brush up her piano skills. “While in Canada, I had to compete against my schoolmates for the opportunity to practice, since there are only a few piano rooms on campus. I also had to transfer a few times from taxi to train to reach my piano teacher for a session of training. Everything is more convenient when I am taking online classes from my home in Shenzhen, so I decide to push myself harder and see where I can get.” In addition to the piano, Yang plays the guitar, and trains in ballet and figure skating. “But my No. 1 hobby is classical music and playing the piano, full stop,” she said. The girl has also tried her hand at composing. Back in the 6th grade, she composed a three-minute mini concertino orchestrated for one trombone, two cellos, a violin and a piano, and performed the piece with her classmates at their primary school’s graduation gala. “I’ve also been trying at a longer, more mature piece, and am satisfied with the part I’ve accomplished so far, but certainly I am not in a rush as I continue to learn and improve,” she said. A top student at her school, Yang said she is inclined to explore liberal arts subjects in a university. “Many other talented people can explore the universe and make new discoveries about the world, but only I can tap into my creativity and explore the inside universe of me. I hope to have a future career related to literature, music, or fine arts and design,” Yang said. Her best friend Lu Aina and her younger sister Yang Di guested at the concert. Lu is a piano student of the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, the U.S. “My friend is a professional, and plays better than me,” she said. “I am happy to share the stage and entertain the audience.” | 