By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-472772.mp3
12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Underway in Fort Worth
Dallas, TX –
Bill Zeeble, KERA 901 reporter: Van Cliburn Foundation president Richard Rodzinski says the growing number of Chinese competitors could simply be due to the numbers. The Chairman of the Beijing Conservatory Piano Department told him China counts 55 million pianists in the nation of 1.3 billion.
Richard Rodzinski, President, Van Cliburn Foundation: If you have 55 million pianists, you have a pretty good assurance that there's going to be at least 10 or 20 who are going to be absolutely phenomenal.
Zeeble: But there's a lot more to it. China's Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, locked Western music out the country, even though it had begun seeping in back in the late 1800's. In this dark time for many Chinese artists, when Western piano playing was forbidden, Patricia Tsai, from Taiwan, with relatives on the mainland, says some musicians still kept their pianistic love alive.
Patricia Tsai, Taiwanese pianist: Some people fortunately had one piano in an isolated house, they preferred to walk one mile, every day, in the dark, to a house, to practice piano.
Zeeble: With the end of the Cultural Revolution, those restrictions vanished. The Chinese pianists now in Fort Worth are the first post-revolution generation, and they're now competition-age. Beijing-native Ning An, who was born in 1976, says they've taken advantage of China's growing wealth and the newfound chance to travel and study abroad. The recently-named Cliburn semi-finalist says those opportunities didn't just pertain to music.
Ning An, Competitor, Van Cliburn Competition: There's a joke at MIT: it stands for Made in Taiwan, because of so many Asian kids. It's because a lot of kids from China came from one-child families, and the parents went through the Cultural Revolution where they had no opportunity to succeed and they put all their hopes for the future on their kids and their kids grew up having known discipline and concentration and how to work hard.
Zeeble: And because of that emphasis on education, renowned Professor Emeritus at Beijing's Conservatory, Zhou Guangren, believes great young Chinese pianists will keep emerging. A piano teacher in China now for 60 years, she's also a Cliburn competition judge, for the third time.
Zhou Guangren, Judge, Van Cliburn Competition: Education is stricter in China. Parents want kids to learn one instrument and the mother sits next to her child and watches them practicing every day, for one to 2 hours, yes? They really push the child to learn seriously. It's not just to play for fun. And children are quite obedient. Whether they like it or not, they're obedient. They work. And after several years they get used to it, and they love it.
Zeeble: Zhou Guangren also points out that just because Westerners, for hundreds of years, viewed China as an isolated empire, European classical music did exist there. The first National Academy of Music was founded in Shanghai in 1927. China also benefited from great teachers fleeing Hitler's Germany in the 30's and 40's, and the nation established Russian style specialized education for young artists in the 50's. It paid off, she says, even if the world didn't exactly notice.
Guangren: So for instance for the Tchaikovsky Competition, when Van Cliburn won first prize, our pianist Elu Xukwin, won 2nd prize. And during the 2nd Tchaikovsky, when Ashkenazy was first, we had also the 2nd prize.
Zeeble: The Chinese pianists in Fort Worth now have all studied outside their native country, whether in Hanover, New York, or elsewhere. But Guangren says Chinese teens of today - those trained start to finish in China - are so good, they should be ready for the next Cliburn competiton. Cliburn president Richard Rodzinski plans to be ready.
Rodzinski: In fact, I've already begun to study Mandarin Chinese.
Zeeble: The 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition continues through June 5th, with a $20,000 prize, concert management and recording contracts, and wardrobe awarded to the gold medalist. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.
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Visit KERA's Cliburn page for more coverage and special programs.
Visit KERA's Cliburn page for more coverage and special programs.