Guest conductor's debut
By Samuel

"美国音乐之声"专场音乐会由著名的德国指挥家托斯腾执棒, 这是厦门爱乐乐团聘请的第一位来自西欧的客席指挥.首次来厦, 美丽的城市及"琴岛"人民对音乐的热情给他留下了深刻的印象.

German musician Thorsten Maeder is the first visiting conductor from West Europe who has been invited to Xiamen by the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. He brought with him four pieces of music last Friday, which had never been played by the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra before. And his conducting won rounds of applause from the audience.

They worked on the new pieces five hours a day for four days straight before the Friday concert. He accepted the Common Talk reporters' interview during a 10-minute break at one of their morning rehearsals.

Walking out of the concert room, Thorsten had a quick wash of his face before he came to greet us. He looked younger than we had imagined, wearing a casual light-colored shirt, patches of which were dampened with sweat, even though it was only 19 centigrade outside.

"I have come to China many times but it is my first time to Xiamen. Actually, Rheinland-Pfalz of Germany is where I come from and it is a sister province of Fujian," he said.

Thorsten Maeder was the visiting conductor for the China National Symphony Orchestra before. He was invited to Xiamen this time by Ms. Zheng Xiaoying. "I am quite impressed by the musical education she has given to the city," he said.

"And I am surprised by the enthusiasm people show for music in Xiamen and how young people here are so willing to learn music," he added, "I like the cleanliness and fresh air of Xiamen. But what I like most is the sea here. And of course the seafood."

"You can tell people to come to the concert because all the pieces are completely new to the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. However, we are doing pretty well. I mean, musicians of the Orchestra are attentive and very cooperative," he said with a big smile on the face.

Speaking of his past musical education, Thorsten Maeder said he started to play at the age of three, then graduated from Dr. Hoch's Music School with a bachelor's degree specializing in piano and the pipe organ. He later went on to study how to be a conductor at Frankfort, under the coaching of Prof. Jiri Starek.

From 1995 to 2000, Thorsten gave lectures in Germany, Russia, Singapore, China and South Korea. He taught pipe organ at Hansei University of Korea from 2000 to 2001, and now is a music professor at Freie Waldorfeschule School of Germany.

 

A soaring young pianist
By Enid Chen
Photos by Yao Fan

上周五晚, 在音乐岛爱乐厅, 厦门爱乐乐团推出了一场"美国音乐之声" 专场音乐会.担任当晚钢琴演奏的是来自鼓浪屿, 毕业于英国皇家音乐学院及伦敦大学键盘系的研究生姚岚.这位年轻的钢琴家如今在国内外已获得优异成绩.这是她首次与厦门爱乐乐团合作.同时, 她也希望今后能将事业重心挪到厦门, 扎根于故乡, 辅导"琴岛"的琴童们.

At the concert "Music from America" held by the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra last Friday evening, a young talented pianist caught all the eyes and ears of her audience. It was Yao Lan, who has just graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London.

"It was a rewarding experience for me to play in the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time." The young and elegant pianist said after the concert, who also held a solo piano concert at the end of last year.

Born into an ordinary family in 1980 in Jiangxi Province, Yao Lan moved to Xiamen with her parents during her childhood. "When I was still a small child, I was intrigued by the giant piano at home which could make such beautiful sounds when I pressed my little hands on the black and white keys. I felt thrilled and exhilarated." Yao Lan, who began to learn piano at the age of four, recalled those early days in vivid detail. "From then on, I attended some classes to learn piano and my mother accompanied me in every class so that she could be my teacher at home."

When Xiamen Music School was founded in 1988, she became one of the first students there and began her learning at a professional music school and played diligently. During that year, she won the first prize in a piano competition for children, which filled her with more hope to apply to the primary school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music (中央音乐学院). And her wish came true six months later when she went to Beijing to study on her own as a 10-year-old child. "I should really thank my mother for that. She taught me to be independent since I was a young girl, so that I could manage everything by myself in Beijing."

A new turning point came during her first year in the Central Conservatory of Music, when she was offered a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She treasured this opportunity and grounded herself playing the piano during her three-year graduate program and one-year postgraduate program at the Academy. And her diligence paid off. She won several prizes in competitions throughout Britain and her musical piece in the 14th International Chopin Piano Competition was recorded and made into an album by a Polish company.

Fate smiled upon her, but truly Yao Lan knew that she had no time to rest on her laurels. Her debut solo piano concert held in her hometown - Xiamen at the end of last year, had drawn plenty of attention from the music field, one of whom was Zheng Xiaoying, the Music Director and Conductor of the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. Two months before last Friday's concert, Yao Lan received Ms. Zheng's invitation to play with the Orchestra.

"Xiamen has become more and more beautiful; the air is even cleaner; the city is even more worthy of its name - Music Island. The number of people at the concert really took me by surprise, because you can never expect so many people to attend a concert which is held regularly every week." Yao Lan attributed the widespread popularity of classical music to the great job fulfilled by Ms. Zheng and the Orchestra.

"Hopefully, in the near future, I will come back and settle down where my roots are, here in Xiamen. And also offer my help to educate the children who are really into music." Yao Lan firmly believes that music has brought her genuine happiness that will keep her moving along and soaring to new heights in the future.