CRI听力: Pianist Peng Peng Gong

He's preformed in South America, North America, Europe, and now has returned home to Asia for a performance of Chopin in Beijing this Saturday at the Beijing Concert Hall. You may not have heard of him yet, but take note: Pianist and Composer Peng Peng Gong is something of a prodigy. At the age of seven he could play Motzart Sonata's and and joked he ought to compose as well and he did.He could hear a symphony once and not only play it, but play it backwards as well. Something Motzart also was able to do. A mere teenager he appears to be a different kind of prodigy. Sana Qadar caught up with the young musician to talk about Juliard, music and more.



Discipline, maturity and humility—when it comes to classical music, those are the virtues that Peng Peng Gong says make a virtuoso. "The last thing you want in classical music is showmanship, unlike other genres. Because the works of the older masters were so disciplined in describing the world, to a proper musicians mind, they have no room for anything else".

Hard to believe he's only 18, but Peng Peng's nascent career reads like a checklist for the path to success. Born in Nanjing, his father taught piano, sparking an early interest in music. At age 7 he wrote his first composition. At 8 he performed his first concert. And at ten Peng Peng was 'discovered'.

"I once played a recital at my home town and in the audience was one of the former students of my former teacher who recites in the US and had returned home to visit. So she caught one of my recitals and she said I think you would be great and you should come to New York. I am willing to do everything to help you."

Since then Peng Peng has been studying at The Juiliard School in New York, one of the world's most prestigious performing arts conservatories. But China is still a major part of his life, with frequent trips between the two countries. And it was the devastating earthquake in Sichuan in 2008 that Peng Peng says took his music composition to another level.

"my passion for writing of this kind of extreme emotional expressions began after my 15th birthday because it was right after the giant earthquake in Sichuan. I would actually call that a major switch to a new period of my emotional thinking. And that's how I completed my first major work."

He wrote a requiem for the victims, calling it Sorrowful Tiantaishan.

While music accolades have poured in-he's won five awards from the American Society of Composers-Peng Peng isn't the first classical musician from China to make a name for himself internationally. As concert organizer and friend Sam Su explains, he was initially skeptical about Peng Peng's talent.

"I was introduced to his music by a music lover from Nanjing. And he said well you should listen to this fantastic pianist named peng peng. At that time I was rejecting, because I thought it was too much promotion of another new star. Because before that we already had Lang Lang and Nu Nu. And now Peng Peng. Next we will have Ding Ding and Dong Dong. So I was not interested. But once I listened to him play Chopin-The first three notes, and I was taken away."

Peng Peng will play Chopin and other works during his performance at the Beijing Concert Hall this weekend.

For CRI, Im Sana Qadar.