Shanghai piano students learn, compete, perform at La Sierra

 

Young students from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music are on campus for clinics and competition.

Minghui Zhang, age 15, studies with Elvin Rodriguez, chair of La Sierra University's music department during the 2012 Across the Pacific Piano Festival and Competition.
Minghui Zhang, age 15, studies with Elvin Rodriguez, chair of La Sierra University's music department during the 2012 Across the Pacific Piano Festival and Competition.
Runyang Wang, age 8, studies with Christopher Zhong, leader of the Across the Pacific Piano Festival and Competition and faculty member with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
Runyang Wang, age 8, studies with Christopher Zhong, leader of the Across the Pacific Piano Festival and Competition and faculty member with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
Chengcheng Luo, age 16, studies with Alison Edwards, pianist and piano pedagogy program leader at California State University, Fullerton.
Chengcheng Luo, age 16, studies with Alison Edwards, pianist and piano pedagogy program leader at California State University, Fullerton.
Xinqing Yu, age 9, first place winner, junior division, of the 2010 Across the Pacific Piano Festival and Competition, practices on Aug. 1 for her recital that took place Aug. 2 during the 2012 festival and competition.
Xinqing Yu, age 9, first place winner, junior division, of the 2010 Across the Pacific Piano Festival and Competition, practices on Aug. 1 for her recital that took place Aug. 2 during the 2012 festival and competition.
Rihanna Zhang, age 14, studies piano with Edward Francis, a pianist and faculty member with Cal State Northridge, Pepperdine University in Malibu, and Moorpark College.
Rihanna Zhang, age 14, studies piano with Edward Francis, a pianist and faculty member with Cal State Northridge, Pepperdine University in Malibu, and Moorpark College.

By Darla Martin Tucker<br/><br/>While Olympic athletes strive for medals in London, young piano students from Shanghai are competing this week at La Sierra University as part of a U.S. tour.<br/><br/>The university's music department is hosting the 2012 Across the Pacific Piano Festival and Competition comprised of approximately 30 piano students, most from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in Shanghai, China. The students range from elementary to high school age and are studying performance nuance and stylistic interpretation at La Sierra's music department on July 31 and Aug. 1. On Aug. 2 and 3 they will give competitive recitals in junior, intermediate and young artist divisions, followed by a performance of competition winners in Hole Memorial Auditorium on Aug. 3 at 7 p.m.

Additionally, pianists Xingqing Yu, Susan Qin, and Angela Xu, winners of previous piano festival competitions, will give a performance on Thursday, Aug. 2, at 7 p.m. at the auditorium. They will play works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin and other composers. Admission to both performances is free. Additional information is available at 951-785-2036. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside.

The piano competition at La Sierra is part of a U.S. visit for the festival's participants. The students will travel from La Sierra to Las Vegas, Nev. and on to New York City where they will tour the famed Juilliard School at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and other sites.

La Sierra has hosted the piano festival since 2007. The university's Director of Keyboard Studies Elvin Rodriguez heard of the possibility to bring the event to La Sierra through a mutual friend who connected him with festival leader Christopher Zhong, a faculty member with the Shanghai Conservatory.

The piano festival's master teachers are Alison Edwards, who leads the nationally recognized Piano Pedagogy Program at California State University, Fullerton; Edward Francis, a concert pianist and national award-winning educator who serves on the faculties of Cal State Northridge, Pepperdine University in Malibu, and Moorpark College; and La Sierra's Rodriguez, a piano soloist, chamber recitalist and composer who chairs La Sierra's music department and coordinates its music technology program.

PR Contact: Larry Becker

Executive Director of University Relations

La Sierra University

Riverside, California

951.785.2460 (voice)

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