East Meets West

PERFORMERS:
Wang Zhiquan
Ye Xuanrong
Wang Yiguo
Gu Xinhao

Ma Chang won't be able to take part in the concert for personal reasons

PROGRAMME:
He Luting
The Buffalo Boy’s Bamboo Flute

Octávio Pinto
Scenas infantins

Zhao Xi
The Lost Key

Enrique Granados
Los Requiebros from Goyescas, Op. 1 No. 1

Zhang, Zhao
The Folk Song Suite

Lowell Liebermann
Gargoyles

Chen Qigang
Instants d’un Opéra de Pékin

Maurice Ravel
La Valse

The Concert is being held with the support of the
"Double First Class" University Construction Projects
Supporting Shanghai High-level Local University Projects

About the Concert

Founded in 1927, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music is the oldest operating higher institute of music education in China. Its history can be traced back to musicologist and composer Xiao Youmei, who studied in Leipzig and Stuttgart, and educator Cai Yuanpei, who also studied in Europe. Xiao, the Conservatory’s first director, brought European traditions of music studies to China and invited foreign musicians working in Shanghai to teach at the newly-opened Conservatory. He did the same thing for China that Anton Rubinstein did for Russia. Thanks to Xiao, Chinese musicians could practice various performing traditions, including Russian ones as there were many teachers who emigrated from Russia to China after the Revolution. One of the first professors to teach piano at the Conservatory was Boris Zakharov, a friend and classmate of Sergei Prokofiev. Composer Alexander Tcherepnin, who was interested in Chinese music, lived and taught in China for several years in the 1930s.
It is the next generation of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music piano graduates that gained international recognition. Li Ming-Qiang became a prize-winner at the International Chopin Piano Competition and at the George Enescu International Piano Competition in the 1960s. Yin Chengzong (future composer and creator of the Yellow River Piano Concerto) was a prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. The Conservatory soon regained its status of a leading music institution in Asia after a 10-year break caused by the Cultural Revolution in China. The Chinese piano school, which has both drawn from the classical traditions and established its own traditions, can nowadays be considered an equal among equals.
Those young pianists studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music who will perform at the East Meets West concert have already taken part in international competitions, appeared in recitals, and performed in concerto. Each of the students will perform European classical repertory pieces and works by Chinese composers, which are practically unknown to Russian audiences.
Vladimir Khavrov

About the performers

Zhiquan Wang started to play piano at the age of 4. He is currently a student at the Affiliated Music Primary School of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (class of Tang Zhe). He has won a number of awards at different competitions including the 1^st prize at the Sunflower National Piano Competition for Young Artists, the 1^st prize at the Shanghai Spring International Piano E-Competition. He has performed at the Shanghai International Piano Festival, the Silk Road International Piano Festival and the Frankfurt International Music Festival among others.

Xuanrong Ye began to play piano at the age of 5. Currently she is studying with Tang Zhe at the Affiliated Middle School of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She won the 4^th prize at the Nutcracker Youth International Piano Competition, the 1^st prize at the Shenzhen Piano Open Competition (2017) and the 1^st prize at the Pearl River International Piano Competition in Japan (2018). She has been invited to perform at the Ningxia Grand Theatre, the Ningbo Grand Theatre, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center and many other venues.

Yiguo Wang is a student at the Affiliated Music Middle School of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (class of Zhe Tang). His competition awards include 2^nd prize at the Steinway & Sons Junior Piano Competition (2017) and 1^st prize at the Kawai Asia Piano Competition (2017). He has performed in different countries and at different music festivals, such as the Stars on the Baikal in Irkutsk and the Mallorca Music Festival in Spain. He has collaborated with the State Academic Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.

Xinhao Gu started to play piano at the age of 4. He is currently a student at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (class of Tang Zhe). He has won many prizes including the 1^st prize at the Irmler International Piano Competition in Germany, and the Grand Prix at the Shanghai Spring International Piano E-Competition. He also has performed as a soloist with many orchestras in China, including the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Hunan Symphony Orchestra and the Hebei Symphony Orchestra.

Age category 6+