Cliburn 2009: May 22 - June 7
Print
E-Mail
tool name
closeWednesday, May. 20, 2009
Feng Zhang
A series of conversations with the Cliburn competitors
Feng Zhang
(Pronounced fung jaang)
Nationality: Chinese
Born: Zhengzhou, China
Lives: Shanghai, where he studies at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music
Age: 23
How he began with the piano: Zhang is the only child of parents he describes as "common people," who live in the Henan Province of China. He enjoyed playing with toy pianos as a small child, trying to mimic music he heard on television and radio. At age 9, his parents purchased a piano for him, and Zhang taught himself to play with music books and instructional CDs.
"At age 15, my parents found a teacher in my hometown who taught me for three years for free," Zhang says. "Then I passed the examination and entered the Shanghai Conservatory."
His feelings about the Cliburn: "I just think it’s a very famous competition, very large. I will get to hear a lot of very, very excellent pianists. I will be happy and excited to hear them and very happy to join that."
Zhang, who arrived in Texas on Sunday night, on his first impressions: "This is my first trip to the U.S. It is very beautiful. My host family is very beautiful and very kind. Today’s air is very fresh. The sky is very blue. I like it very much."
— Tim Madigan
Bass Hall
Online exclusive Follow the Star-Telegram’s coverage of the Cliburn at dfw.com/cliburn and on Twitter @dfwdotcom.
DFW.com is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impractical for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since DFW.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not DFW.com.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators; we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
