Chinese piece headlines Carnegie recital

Concert pianist Tian Jiaxin will join the ranks of world class musicians with a performance at Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium on Feb 18, the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve. And she's offering the audience a special holiday gift.

In addition to playing Mozart, Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven, Tian will also perform a work by the contemporary Chinese composer Zhao Zhang — The Chinese Dream.

"Having dreams brings people hope," said Tian. "And hope drives you to success."

The Chinese Dream is the latest creation of Zhao, a well known composer in China. The piece is inspired by Confucius' Yi Zhuan (Commentaries on I Ching: the Book of Changes). The piece combines piano themes from the West with ancient Chinese musical idioms.

Tian described the piece as a full of fresh and lofty ancient charm, presenting to the audience a picture of China's 5,000-year-old history.

"The entire piece will be fully integrated with Chinese traditional and modern elements," she said, "played on a Western classical piano, using a variety of musical techniques to imitate chimes, stone-chimes; guqin, guzheng and pipa (traditional Chinese musical instruments)."

"I always try my best to promote Chinese music on the world stage," said Tian. "This time, by performing Chinese Dream, I hope audiences can enjoy the combination of traditional and contemporary Chinese music."

"It will be a novel and unforgettable experience for both the audience and me," Tian added.

The Chinese Dream premiered in Harbin City, Heilongjiang province in celebration of the 65th anniversary of The People's Republic of China. The Carnegie Hall Chinese New Year performance will be Jiaxin Tian's third public performance of the work.

Tian was recently added to the prestigious Steinway Artist list. She has performed extensively in the US and China in recent years.

haidanhu12@chinadialyusa.com