One of my first goals after the trip to Beijing is to learn and
present the music I have acquired to the public. As part of the
advanced music performance scholarship program, I will be working on
selected piano pieces from China. This work will culminate in a piano
recital at MIT in the spring. This same recital will be repeated at
the 1998 Singapore Arts Festival Fringe. In preparation, I am
currently learning the music and translating biographies of the
composers.
To provide a context in which to understand the music, I plan to
have a parallel exhibition of some of the photographs I took while in
China. I have a total of approximately 600 photographs, both color as
well as black and white, taken with a Pentax K1000 camera. I had a
very favorable meeting with the director of the MIT Art Association,
Ed McCluney; and he has approved my request to have approximately 80
of these pictures exhibited at the Weisner Student Art Gallery in
conjunction with the recital. I am currently applying for a grant to
enlarge and frame the photographs.
Most of the pieces I have collected have not been heard outside of
China except at international piano competitions when Chinese
competitors are required to present a piece from their home country.
Even more rarely are they available in recording, and then, only in
China, Hong Kong or Taiwan. I hope to fill this gap in the American
music scene by getting the public radio stations interested in
recording and airing some of these Chinese piano pieces. Eventually,
I hope to record this music for wider distribution.
