Chinese pianist Zhou Shanxiang (Kit Armstrong) born in the 1990s set off a classical music whirlwind in Shanghai and Beijing with five recitals spanning 500 years of piano history.
"How many people at the scene bought tickets for all five piano recitals?" On March 15, when the host asked this question while standing on the stage of the National Center for the Performing Arts, more than a dozen audience members raised their hands. They come from all over the country. Many of them just finished listening to one or more of Zhou Shanxiang's five recitals in Shanghai in January this year. Unsatisfied, they simply flew to Beijing to continue following his music "marathon" of five performances over three days. .
At the last recital in Shanghai, Zhou Shanxiang played a 14-minute improvisation, spanning Bach, Couperin, Beethoven, Ligeti, and then back to Bach, using his current feelings to pay tribute to different eras. Tribute to the composer.
"A once-in-a-century genius." Lin Jia, a music critic who has lived in France, lamented in the audience that last year Zhou Shanxiang performed an impromptu performance in Germany with the theme of Bach and Ligeti. "All the concertos in the kit performance were brilliant. The colorful excerpts are all improvised and never repeated. To a certain extent, he brought back a great classical music performance tradition."
Piano educator Chen Xueyun flew to Shanghai to listen to all five recitals, with a total of more than 70 people For the first piece, Zhou Shanxiang completed this musical long march without a page of music score. What surprised Chen Xueyun was that this "post-90s generation" had a deep understanding of Liszt's late works, like an old man who had experienced many vicissitudes of life, but when he stood up for the curtain call, he was a shy and cute big boy. "Some people say that he He created a new era of music performance. I just want to say that he led me to the future of music."
When the media paid attention to Zhou Shanxiang's experience of "composing music at the age of 5 and going to college at the age of 9", some musicians seemed to have discovered a treasure. Fans liken him to a "contemporary Mozart".
A genius only seen in American dramas
"Today, a musician has to spend a lot of time promoting. I want everyone to know that there is a different musician." When Zhou Shanxiang debuted on the Shanghai stage this time, the 75-year-old Pianist Zhu Xiaomei made a rare appearance to introduce her old friend to the audience.
Zhou Shanxiang had performed in Shanghai in 2017 and 2019. At that time, only senior classical music fans knew about it, but he is already a celebrity in the United States, Europe and Japan.
Zhou Shanxiang was born in Los Angeles, USA in 1992. His mother is a scientist. At the age of 7, he took composition as an elective at Chapman University and physics at California State University. At the age of 9, he studied biology, physics, mathematics and music at Utah State University.
His manager in the Mainland, Zhang Kexin, recalled the first time they met, "both excited and mysterious." Zhang Kexin knows many of Zhou Shanxiang's unusual experiences. For example, he entered the world-famous Curtis Institute of Music to study piano at the age of 11, but chose to drop out after a year. At the age of 12, he studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music in the United Kingdom, and later received a sixth degree in Paris. University master's degree in mathematics.
Zhang Kexin has worked with many top performers, but he is still surprised by this young man.
Before the performance, Zhou Shanxiang did not practice piano. He only tried the piano in the concert hall and sat in his room to read the music scores. Even though he hadn't played some pieces in several years, he could still recall them with his brain.
He reminded Zhang Kexin of the 23-year-old genius Dr. Spencer Reed in the American TV series "Criminal Minds". He has an extraordinary IQ and memory, and a brain so sophisticated that it can fill a museum. "There really are geniuses like Reed in reality. Piano skills are very important to It is no longer a problem for him, he has already memorized the key combination of each piece through multi-dimensional thinking."
In 2005, Zhou Shanxiang, who dropped out of Curtis, chose to study with piano master Brendel. The master has seen many talented piano boys in his life, but he was inspired by this boy and understood the way of thinking of Mozart and Schubert. The teacher-student friendship between the two was filmed into the documentary "Lighting the Piano Bench" by British director Mark Kidder.
Brendel praised this student for his combination of emotion and reason, "He is the greatest genius I have ever seen. His understanding of piano works combines fresh vitality and delicate processing."
But Zhou Shanxiang does not want others to regard him as a genius. He regards it as a genius, “Since I was a child, I have always been doing things that interest me."
He is equally interested in mathematics, biology, physics and music. After finishing high school mathematics at the age of 5, he began to learn composition and piano. This parallel learning method has never stopped since then, until he obtained a master's degree in mathematics. That’s why I chose to pursue music.
“If I become a musician, I can also realize my potential as a mathematician. "He likes music because music can be shared, performed around the world, and can also be used to re-translate classical music from hundreds of years ago in his own way.
Mathematics is a world of fantasy for him, a world that uses An elegant way to explain the world. Music is also a kind of mathematics. To a certain extent, the existence of music fills his love for mathematics from another aspect.
From classical music to the future of music
initially took over Zhou Shanxiang's five games in three days. The "Five Hundred Years of Piano" marathon concert project put a lot of pressure on Li Xiangrong, the planner in charge of the Shanghai station performance.
The "Five Hundred Years of Piano" project was planned by Zhou Shanxiang upon invitation for the ancient Austrian city of Linz. Five solo concerts , each show is based on a hundred years, from the Renaissance to the Baroque, from the rigorous classical period to the fantasy romantic period, and then from the 20th century when multiple styles coexist to the avant-garde 21st century. Based on his own vision, he selected 70 Many of the most worth-listening pieces. These include the core masterpieces of composers in the history of classical music, as well as the legacy of John Boole, William Byrd, Thomas Preston and other niche composers.
is one of the best in the country A young pianist who is not well-known in the classical market, and a set of unconventional repertoire, is a test for the performance market and the audience's aesthetics. But what Li Xiangrong did not expect was that after the first concert in Shanghai, his reputation would rise. The box office for the next four shows began to rise. By the time we arrived in Beijing, music fans from all over the country had caught wind of the news and quickly drove up the box office.
In an interview before the Beijing concert, Zhou Shanxiang said frankly that he wanted to tell a hundred years of history in a concert History is difficult. In the end, he decided to choose a particularly interesting story in each century to tell the story of that era according to his own personality and ideas.
's five intensive performances in three days tested the pianist's skills, physical strength, and style. His control ability is a test. But Zhou Shanxiang does it with ease, often glancing at the repertoire to be performed that day before going on stage. His fingers have strong control, and he has carefully thought about the relationship between different eras and repertoire, showing a lightness and ease state.
He compared himself to a curator. The audience is like entering an art gallery and listening to one era after another in chronological order. "I am alone on the stage, telling stories in a dramatic way, It is equivalent to the pianist replacing the orchestra and troupe. "
Li Xiangrong has planned many solo concerts, and once felt that such performances had reached a bottleneck. But in Zhou Shanxiang's case, the piano has become a leap-forward medium to express his independent self, "He let One sees a completely different path from that of a traditional soloist. ”
Looking at the classical music circle, everyone’s path to promotion is through competitions, and the number of repertoires is almost the same. But Zhou Shanxiang is different. He refused to participate, and based entirely on his personal interests, he unearthed the legacy of classical music history. He used His unique thinking and broad vision bring vitality to the already tired classical performance market. Like a new generation of explorers, he takes the audience deep into the past 500 years and illuminates some forgotten corners.
Classical music often He is serious and elegant, but he is not a lofty preacher. Instead, he takes the listeners on a relaxed musical journey that began in the 16th century. Sometimes, he will use slow and plain narration to describe the composer or the story behind the piece. Stories, and his thinking. Sometimes, he uses precise and free playing to bring people to the splendid golden ages.
What is even more special is that in the encore part of each concert, he will perform it with the mind of a composer Improvisation. For him, improvisation is a way to revive the tradition of classical music. “In the days of Bach, Mozart and Liszt, all players improvised."
He does not regard classical music as "classical", but uses a contemporary framework to analyze ancient music scores. "What touches us in classical music is the eternity of history and the immortality of the past. Although the music score is old, the aesthetic taste and expression in it will never change. "
He likes to study ancient musical instruments and ponder the sound effects of past eras. His archaeological interest was awakened in the music scores from 500 years ago. No one knew what Bach's creative concept was at that time, and how to play classical music. In fact, It is defined by the ears of modern people. He uses his own thinking to perform and reconstruct, "Classical music is not only a historical concept, but also modern music, always affected by current fashion. "
His understanding of classical music includes his love for mathematics and natural science, as well as his lifestyle, values, tastes and emotional preferences. He dares to break some frameworks, "A work of art must allow various misunderstandings. , to have a chance to survive for a long time. ”
In 2013, 21-year-old Zhou Shanxiang bought the St. Teresa Church of Ilsons in France, which was built in 1929. He spent a lot of energy repairing the long-abandoned church and sometimes lived in it to practice piano. He has played in more than 200 churches. It was in this church that Bach's Zhu Xiaomei met Zhou Shanxiang. She did not expect that a young child could be willing to be alone and accompany the piano in this secluded place. What impressed Zhu Xiaomei deeply was that the church was too old and had no heating. , it is very cold in winter, but Zhou Shanxiang can live peacefully in a small cabin in the church. When it is cold, he will go to the underground wine cellar to get a glass of wine. In his house, there are replicas of the works of the Chinese painter Zheng Banqiao that he likes.
Zhou Shanxiang from He has not yet defined his future. He has a wide range of interests. He will start grinding beans and explore the practice of tofu because he likes to eat tofu. He will also try to develop games and study how AI interprets classical music. He believes that AI's interpretation can break some inherent stereotypes. He himself does not think that piano is the only career path. In the future, he may also embark on the path of a scientist or mathematician.
In recent years, the church has launched some interdisciplinary projects for international and local people, which have become international media reports The focus. Zhou Shanxiang does not live in the church for much time now, but he often takes the train to go to the church, repairs and maintains it, or cooperates with the local orchestra to hold music festivals, making this once abandoned landmark a local music and cultural center again.
